Terrifier 3 is the brand new instalment brought to us by Damien Leone, a guy I got the pleasure of meeting a few years ago and had a great chat with him when Terrifier 2 released. It’s crazy to me that alongside Joker 2, Art The Clown and Terrifier became the only clown that the audience cared for on the big screen. As views for Joker 2 plummeted rapidly to repeated online hate, the online rumblings of a different clown began to take over.

I think it’s fascinating that October was generally dead in terms of cinema offerings which I think is partly because of Hollywood being initially afraid of putting some cash grab horror remake alongside Joker in the cinema or test the waters with some creepy indie flick, Damien however, rose to that challenge. What Terrifier 3 managed to do was incredible, peaking the curiosities of the general audience to see ‘who could sit through terrifier 3’ meant a massive surge in viewership. Watching Terrifier and Terrifier 2, films nobody I knew had really heard about, suddenly everyone was talking about Terrifier 3. That in my books, is a pure testimony to the success of Damien’s new film as much as it is a reflection of the abject failure of Joker 2 to resonate with audiences.
If anything this is the biggest favour any studio could have offered Damien for T3, a complete open goal to be essentially the only film worth watching before Halloween AND it is a horror film AND it was a great film!
What directors ever get as much luck as that with their low budget (in comparison to major releases) horror film, having the entire cinema calendar to themselves.

My brief thoughts on Terrifier 2 I think echoed a lot of other people’s opinions as well, the bedroom scene was insane but a big bulk of T2 was probably unneeded in the grand scheme of things making the film feel far too long and drawn out in parts.

Damien has stated in an interview that part of the deal with Terrifier 3 is that he had to keep it under 2 hours and I think for him this is a good lesson of “less is more.”
T3 does a much better job of focusing on the elaborate kills and set pieces whilst making the dialogue in-between more meaningful and impactful to the story and lore that is being developed as these movies go along.
The core centre of the film in many ways are these kill scenes which is great, you can do that as your baseline template because that’s what the audience is there for and then weave in what story you can between them. People going to see this film for the most part have probably seen the prior 2 films and weren’t likely expecting as much plot as we got. Therefore I think that focusing on kill scenes satisfies the general audience who aren’t as familiar, in what they want to see before Halloween, whilst giving those who stuck around some lore to chew on.

T3 was set around Christmas and therefore is ultimately a holiday horror film but there is nothing bad about that. There is no corniness here, every holiday aspect of the narrative only serves as a device for Damien to push the boundaries of what can be shown in cinema, as Christmas ultimately is centred around children.
As a result the opening scene is pretty much the bedroom scene in terms of visual impact and this is fully by Damien’s design. Rather than waiting for the end to realise what depravity Art The Clown is capable of, you see it from the get go. For a wider cinema release, the audience knows straight away if this film is for them or not.

In my viewing with my friends we did have a couple walk out, I’m pretty sure they didn’t come back but funny enough, that wasn’t the scene that did it. I think it might have been the shard of mirror scene in the attic.

T3 left me jaw dropped, grossed out and absolutely buzzing with just how well it was crafted.
But also surprisingly it actually had me laughing, there was some decent comedy in this film which helped to break up some of the grossness, giving it just enough levity where it can be humorous but still in character. Especially for Art The Clown
Every member of the cast from Art to the poor construction workers were a much higher calibre then we’ve had previously. Not only has everyone grown into their character more as the films have progressed, but now that we have a clear narrative structure as well, Damien is clearly more capable of getting what he wants out of every scene. The budget helped the film feel more worldly by letting Art explore around to different places from a Mall to a bus strop and throughout every encounter you’re kept on edge on if the person sitting across from him will be a victim or not.
It also meant that Damien was able to hire a team of professional make up artists, that alone just saves so much time and energy that can be directed into directing.

The ending sets us up for exactly what is to come in T4, we already can theorise from those ending scenes just where we could end up and why. Me and my friends spent the entire way home and the days afterwards discussing possible theories. That is what you want from a franchise like Terrifier. To come from something so small, it is now grown to the point where we are speculating on what is to come beyond the kill scenes. I think this helps me feel more excited for T4, rather than it being just something to stick on when there’s nothing else available.

Feel Reel Rating: 7/10