As Halloween arrives, we get to the end of our Outposter’s walk through his 31 Chills Of Halloween and onto BlastofsilenceJJ’s final pick. So what is it? It is one that seems to have split Outposter opinion…
Terrifier 3 (2024) – Director: Damien Leone
I can’t talk about this movie without mentioning how we got here. The patient slow build into what is now a horror phenomenon, on its way to becoming a juggernaut, and the hard work of the people behind it is commendable.
I have not seen the short film that introduced Art the Clown to the world but his segment in All Hallows Eve was eye-catching. Terrifier built on that and led to Terrifier 2.
T2 was an epic horror undertaking that saw Leone push all his chips on the table and push the boundaries of length and violence in a horror film. With a budget of only $250,000, the film had a box office haul of £15.7 million, shocking the world. The violent mime with a horribly funny sense of humor had finally made his mark.
That brings us to Terrifier 3. It has become the highest-grossing unrated film of all time. Raking in over $50 million as of this writing on a $2 million budget. However you feel about the film or the contents therein, this is a huge win for independent film.
In a time where morons with little or no talent throw money away on rewrites and re-shoots, spending $200 to $300 million while tanking at the box office, this guy delivers his passion project on time and on the cheap… and he didn’t sell out. He made it his way and kept it unrated. A big risk, but it paid off.
As for the story, Terrifier 3 picks up 5 years after the events of Terrifier 2. Sienna is released from a mental health facility and goes to stay with her aunt and uncle. Her brother Jonathan is now in college and trying to move on with his life. Art and his sidekick Victoria are, of course, terrifying people.
Characters are introduced only to be killed off and I do agree with the critique that Terrifier 3 is more mean-spirited than the previous installments of the franchise. Part 3 is grimy and dirtier with even more supernatural elements at play.
Victoria is so gross and unsettling to look at that I felt relief when the murderous clown Art came on screen. That’s not to say that he is upstaged. This is his show, no doubt about that.
This is probably the most violent film I have ever watched. Some of the bits are just unrelenting. The one that sticks out in my mind is Art using liquid nitrogen to freeze body parts and bashing them with a hammer. Watching hands and feet break like that made me wince. He takes his trusty axe and chainsaw mayhem to even bloodier heights.
One of the flaws is how little our heroine Sienna and her brother have to do in Terrifier 3. Art doesn’t get a lot of pushback. He just keeps rampaging with little resistance. Another is some of the lore remains unexplained and can feel like the filmmakers are making up the rules as they go along.
I didn’t like Terrifier 3 as much as Terrifier 2, but I almost went to watch it again with my friend just two days after seeing it, still excited about it. The only thing stopping us was he had not seen Part 2 yet.
There’s a cool synth-wave song over the end credits by Dreamkid called Chrissy that has no business being as good as it is. It hits you with nostalgia as you sit there after watching all the carnage by suddenly bringing you back to a bygone era of the slasher genre.
Being young, going to carnivals, and winning posters of your favorite boogeyman. Hearing your friends talk about a scary movie they snuck in to see. Or renting the newest terror at the video store for Halloween. I guess that’s why I support these guys.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN.