Jay Rohr
Terrifier 3 isn’t a movie, it’s an endurance test. This isn’t technically a film so much as a gauntlet of gore. Gluttonous horror gourmands can delight in gorging on grotesqueries aplenty. However, the squeamish would be well advised to pass. Terrifier 3 is almost its own kind of slasher gore porn meant for a niche audience. Yet even they may not find themselves overwhelmingly delighted.
The sequel follows shortly after the events of Terrifier 2, Sienna Shaw (Lauren LaVera) her brother Jonathan (Elliot Fullam) have picked up the pieces in the aftermath of their shattering encounter with Art the Clown. Fragile but persevering, they reunite with family for the Christmas holiday. Unbeknownst to them, Art has resurrected and resumed his sadistic antics. It’s only a matter of time before he comes for them.
Narrative has never been the attraction here. Still, Terrifier 2 did set up a few threads to follow. These are mostly abandoned or so poorly utilized they may as well be nonexistent. Regardless, any plot here is purely meant to arrive at set piece slasher spectacles.
In that respect, Terrifier 3 excels to a certain extent. The vividness of Art’s atrocities is a testament to the effectiveness of practical effects. The savage butchery on display borders on being an anatomy lesson. Every vivid wound delivered can easily inspire a cringe or flinch. The problem, though, is how predictable they become.
The previous film had a way of finding a new peak during each slasher set piece. When matters seemed at their worst, Art made them more awful. It amplified the cruelty, increasing the horror for audiences observing each atrocity. However, Terrifier 3 often feels like run-of-the-mill slasher kills enhanced by high quality effects. It’s like watching a standard action flick with a damage cam realistically showing wounds inflicted by bullets. Instead of getting imaginative with a chainsaw, Art often does exactly what one expects.
Furthermore, at risk of spoilers, Terrifier 3 tries to raise the ante by killing children. Not to sound psychopathic, but kids have too often enjoyed a certain presumed immunity when it comes to slashers. The problem here is that Terrifier 3 feels like a flick aiming for controversy. This escalation doesn’t make Art more terrifying; the kid kills are more distasteful than unsettling.
The Christmas angle actually does that much better. It reminds how Art isn’t shackled by a confining mythology. This killer could be creeping anywhere at any time. In addition, it seemed to me Terrifier 3 managed to slip in a few subtle nods to other Christmas slasher classics such as Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984). Something enhanced by cameos from a few horror legends.
Lauren LaVera returns to the role of Sienna West. Should she choose the route, she could easily be a scream queen of the highest caliber. Her emotional displays cover a full, believable spectrum, while her willingness to do her own stunts means she can add authenticity to acts of horror. It’s just a shame that writer-director Damien Leone doesn’t give her character a more compelling part.
The film wants to be aftermath horror exploring the consequences of being a survivor, yet it does so in the most cliché ways possible. Many of which reduce the role instead of exploring the situation. There’s room enough in the franchise for two stars, but Terrifier 3 chooses to focus on Art the Clown. Granted, that makes sense. It just feels like a lost opportunity for LeVera as the humanity and Art the horror.
That said, David Howard Thornton returns to the role with panache. His unsettling miming continues to make Art an iconic villain. The mute madman is easily king of the killer clowns. His cruelty for the sake of being cruel as well as his obvious, albeit nonverbal, delight in suffering makes this monster hauntingly unsettling. The only downside here is that he seems to have lost a creative step along the way. Art is less of a slasher innovator here and more of a formulaic wholesale slaughterer.
The rest of the cast do well enough. No one really stands out, though none hurt the film. Perhaps Alexa Blair Robertson is worth mention as a true crime podcaster who pesters the Shaw’s for an interview. Her role offers some interesting commentary on people all too enthusiastic about killers. Samantha Scaffidi returns as the disfigured Victoria Heyes, however, most of her performance is lost under too many prosthetics.
![[L-R] Clint Howard as “Smokey” and Daniel Roebuck as “Santa” in the horror film, TERRIFIER 3, a Cineverse release. Photo courtesy of Jesse Korman/Dark Age Cinema. Couple of older fellows drinking in a bar, one in a Santa costume.](https://filmobsessive.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/TERRIFIER-3_10-700x466.jpg)
Terrifier 3 asks the question how much gore can a gore-mand gorge before they bore? That isn’t to say there aren’t a few delightfully over the top instances. But the previous picture had more. Perhaps I’ve just seen too many horror films, however, the set piece slasher spectacles here rarely involved something shockingly unexpected. Make no mistake, they are gruesome. They simply lack a certain originality. Still, for those unjaded by copious consumption of vivid bloody carnage Terrifier 3 may be their first step into extremes.
This is one for fans of the franchise. Although Art has creatively lost a step, he’s no less malevolent. Nor are there fewer buckets of blood. The gallons spilled almost make the screen wet. Lauren LaVera turns in a stellar performance alongside David Howard Thornton’s mad mute clown. A better story could have elevated the feature a tick, but I doubt fans will care much. That’s not why they’ve come, and writer-director Damien Leone knows this so well he wasted zero time improving the narrative.
Terrifier 3 is a tsunami of gore. Those who can surf the slaughter will delight. Anyone unintrigued can find scares elsewhere.
