Ho, ho, holy shit.
Terrifier 3 is out and Art the Clown is painting the town red once again, as he returns to Miles County in time for the holidays. Sienna is fresh out of a psychiatric hospital, coping with the events of the previous film which took her friends and her mother from her. She seeks refuge with her aunt Jessica, her uncle Greg, and her niece Gabbie. Jonathan is off to college and seemingly well-adjusted considering the circumstances, but when Sienna runs into Art in the wild, old wounds are broken open as the body count starts all over again. This time, however, Victoria Heyes, the only survivor of the original Miles County Massacre, disfigured and once left for dead, has joined her once-assailant as a vessel of evil. The Christmas carnage comes to a head as Hell awaits, setting up a potential final showdown for the ages.
Terrifier 3 – Overcoming a Strong Second Act
The Terrifier franchise has turned into the indie slasher that could, and with great reason. A compelling antagonist in Art the Clown, jaw-dropping (and ripping and smashing) practical effects, and some of the most creative and brutal kill scenes in all of horror history all have made Damien Leone’s love letter to grindhouse a household name. In my review of Terrifier 2 from my own personal blog, I had commented that while the film went over well, it found itself in a precarious position regarding its third act. Would a third act be a runaway success like part two was? Would the tale of the Miles County Clown be able to be continued in such a way that was satisfying as much as it was sanguine?
In a word, yes. The cold open is downright brutal, with a family annihilation a la Amityville Horror that is unforgiving. Frankly, I can understand why this scene caused walkouts, as even if you know what’s coming in a Terrifier film, this sequence is a lot, particularly when the son is killed off-screen, albeit with squishy and stomach-churning sound effects painting enough of a picture.
This, as well as the mall bomb massacre, has been a huge point of contention with viewers who were shocked by Art killing children. Yes, as someone who spent years of her life working in public schools, I had my reservations and issues with these scenes, though I had to remind myself that this is far from the first time a minor has bit the dust in a horror movie. Hell, even Frankenstein had the nerve to do so almost a century ago, during the vaunted Universal Monsters era of horror. This is also helped by the fact that we don’t see little Jimmy get chopped up or blown up, we see the aftermath and the images thereof don’t linger.
In the case of Terrifier, we get the explanation that Art is the embodiment of evil, a Michael Myers-like character with no real motivation beyond terror. While the mall bomb incident may have been a bridge too far given the world we live in today, it does fit within Art’s modus operandi (which is to say that he really doesn’t have a specific modus operandi), the act’s shock value notwithstanding.
This also highlights an evolution found in the films: the second film featured two set piece kills: one large group kill in the Clown Cafe tommy gun shooting, and one more intimate, seemingly personal kill in Allie’s bedroom flaying. Compare this to the first film which only had the intimate kill, that being Dawn’s hacksaw bisection. Here, we have the group kill that is the mall bomb (two if you count the aforementioned family annihilation in the cold open) and the intimate kill that is Cole and Mia’s shower scene that would make Hitchcock himself run for the hills. If nothing else, this sets up an expectation for the films, which of course begs the question: how the hell are they gonna top these in Terrifier 4 and possibly Terrifier 5?
Threading the Moral Landscape
To this end, I have a bit of fear for what these set piece kills could mean in future installments. Art the Clown is a modern horror icon, he is this generation’s Jason Voorhees or Ghostface without question, and as such fans are rooting for him and his vicious brand of violence. What I fear is what happened with Freddy Krueger in the remake of Nightmare on Elm Street; that is, a villain that cannot be rooted for. The remake positioned Freddy as a child killer and a pedophile, whereas Wes Craven explicitly wrote Freddy to be a child killer, but further allegations were thought up by the would-be lynch mob. I bring this up to say that it is difficult to root for someone who made a bunch of kids go boom, to say nothing of the Clown Cafe (this was a dream, so I’m willing to give this a pass… for now). Wherever these signature scenes go from here, I hope that the creators can strike a balance between shock value and sensibility, which I realize sounds ridiculous for a slasher film, but I digress.
Big Gamble, Big Reward
Pensiveness aside, Terrifier 3 was a huge swing that has paid off. Going to the theater to see a double feature of parts two and three felt like it was a horror holiday, as if Christmas came early. Seeing an unrated, independent splatter film take #1 at the US box office and #3 worldwide was not something I had on my bingo card, but here we are. David Howard Thornton acts his Alabama ass off as Art, somehow being more animated than his first two appearances, while Samantha Scaffidi plays an excellent second fiddle as Victoria. Lauren LaVera as Sienna Shaw, this generation’s Laurie Strode, is downright mythical in her portrayal. She is a girl deeply affected by her past, dealing with hallucinations and survivor’s guilt, but when the chips are down, she is a fighter for those she loves and is a leading lady worth rooting for. Cameos from Chris Jericho, Daniel Roebuck, Clint Howard, and Jason Patric make for some great nostalgia pops and gnarly kills, particularly Roebuck’s agonizing liquid nitrogen-fueled death as Santa.
Given how we ended on part 3, part four will likely be as off-the-rails and fantastical as they come, which is no small bar set by this franchise, but given Damien Leone’s commitment to his vision for Terrifier, and the runaway success of this film and its two predecessors, Art’s masterpiece is sure to be an all-timer.
Terrifier 3 is now in theaters, with home video releases currently slated for a December release. Rumors are also abound about a theatrical re-release of the film for the holiday season, although nothing has been confirmed at this time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CKEni-lr1E&pp=ygUcdGVycmlmaWVyIDMgcmVkIGJhbmQgdHJhaWxlcg%3D%3D