As a horror enthusiast who’s seen my fair share of slasher flicks and their gruesome iterations, I must confess that Terrifier 3 has left me both terrified and thrilled. The Christmas-themed horror subgenre isn’t typically my go-to, but Terrifier 3 manages to stand out with its creative and gory portrayal of the holiday season.
Horror enthusiasts often value and applaud homemade productions over big-budget Hollywood films, especially when it comes to terrifying slasher villains like Art the Clown. As the eerie, mute antagonist in Damien Leone’s Terrifier series, Art is a prime example of DIY horror at its finest. Therefore, it’s not surprising that David Howard Thornton was swiftly invited back to get even bloodier for the gory spectacle that is Terrifier 3, following the success of Terrifier 2.
Terrifier 3
Date of Release: October 11th, 2024
It’s been two years since the release of Terrifier 2, which disrupted the indie horror genre by running for 138 minutes on a meager budget, featuring some of the grisliest practical effects ever captured on film. Since then, fan enthusiasm has grown exponentially, making Art the Clown merchandise almost as ubiquitous as items associated with Freddy, Jason, and Chucky. For the upcoming sequel, the production team has benefited from a significantly increased budget, providing them with more tools than ever to shock even more cinema-goers. It all adds up!
Moving the eccentric holiday antics from Halloween to Christmas, Terrifier 3 seems to be an improvement over the first two films in terms of production quality, scenic backdrops, and inventiveness in torturing victims’ bodies. Furthermore, it features genuine B-movie guest appearances, including Chris Jericho’s return, which creates a few “is this real life?” moments, ensuring that you’re not just dreaming under the mistletoe.
In the third installment of “Terrifier,” although it manages to maintain an impressive display of carnage and decaying bodies, its narrative begins to falter. The plot seems to expand upon a mediocre foundation without providing a clear or engaging sequence of events for viewers to follow. Characters like Samantha Scaffidi’s Vicky (the monstrous survivor), Lauren LaVera’s Sienna, and Elliot Fullam’s Jonathan from the first two films make appearances, but none can quite match Thornton’s captivating mania in performance. Consequently, the film struggles to maintain consistency with its predecessors.
David Howard Thornton executes his best and freakiest performance yet as fan-fave Art the Clown.
It’s tough to specifically identify what makes Art the Clown both unnerving and captivating to watch, but Thornton appears to be well-versed on this topic. One reason could be his ability to convincingly portray a wide range of emotions with exaggerated responses, skillfully edited for maximum impact through clever cuts between him and other characters. Another factor is his impressive knack for quickly transitioning from innocent admiration to menacing curiosity to outright hostility in a murderous manner.
In simpler terms, after the chilling post-credits scene of “Terrifier 2”, it’s clear that the clown character reappears some time later, now accompanied by Samantha Scaffidi’s character Vicky who seems to be even more disturbing than the clown himself. To put it mildly, she demonstrates her allegiance to his chaos in quite unusual ways. If I were to describe one of these methods, “broken glass sex toy” would probably evoke the most unsettling image you can imagine, and that’s exactly what Damien Leone portrays on the ground floor he taps across.
Indeed, Vicky plays an impressive role as our co-slime creator in this series, but it’s Art the Clown we’re truly interested in. And let me tell you, Art isn’t here just for a friendly chat – far from it! The chilling opening scene, where he ruthlessly annihilates an entire family on Christmas Eve, is a testament to that. Yet, despite his brutal methods, this movie doesn’t change viewers’ feelings towards this sinister clown one bit. After all, it’s not called “Nice Clown More” for a reason, and Art certainly embodies the ‘sinister’ part of the title.
Two notable aspects of David Howard Thornton’s performance feature characters dressed as Santa Claus, one in a mall setting and another within a bar. In distinct ways, these scenes emphasize Art’s playful side and his heartfelt interactions with other characters. Just to clarify, before things get gruesome like heads being severed or eyes being devoured, that’s what I mean.
Terrifier 3 delivers a blood-red Christmas with another round of magnificently brutal kills.
The underappreciated Christmas horror genre might not be as well-known, but if it were, “_Terrifier 3_” would still stand out in the upper echelons due to its extensive use of holiday symbols in both production design and special effects across the entire film. The “Santa Art” character is given an extra layer of eerie danger, but this is merely the tip of the iceberg, with much more to uncover.
The holiday season, particularly winter, plays a significant role in some of the most striking scenes in Terrifier 3, from characters’ body parts serving as Christmas ornaments to Art the Clown’s destructive abilities. It’s almost tempting to imagine Leone creating future sequels with themes centered around various holidays, important days, travel destinations, iconic landmarks, cultural celebrations, and more. Visualizing Art the Clown on a murderous rampage at an entire MLB Opening Day stadium would be thrilling.
In a more general sense, “Terrifier 3” doesn’t solely rely on a particular theme for its gory, blood-splattered scenes. The character Art the Clown uses a chainsaw in a way that is undeniably devoid of any Christmas spirit, and when rats are introduced… it’s probably best not to elaborate in this spoiler-free discussion. However, let me just say, “Wow, that rat-related horror scene is intense!
Scattershot storytelling and long runtimes remain the Terrifier franchise’s biggest issues.
In the gruesome and grandiose scenes where Art the Clown tests characters’ resilience by exposing their internal courage, Terrifier 3 underscores that Damien Leone’s narrative prowess might be his sole limitation. Instead of portraying Art as a mindless killer on a rampage, the director instead expands an intriguing quasi-mythology surrounding the character, which remains connected to Sienna and Jonathan for reasons that remain unclear.
In simpler terms, while I don’t detest Sienna, Jonathan, LaVera, or Fullam, nor their performances in this third feature, I must admit that I never felt deeply invested in their fates. The climax where Sienna ascends to the Final Girl status is well-deserved, but my interest never extended beyond hoping they wouldn’t be killed offscreen by a minor threat. This film shares similarities with many horror movies from the ’80s and later, but it seems to have stretched its runtime unnecessarily, unlike most of those films which typically lasted around 90 minutes.
In a straightforward and engaging manner, I’d say:
If “Terrifier 4” becomes a series of unrelated segments where Art the Clown uses characters from Looney Tunes as victims in a frenzy, I would eagerly be among the first to attend with a bulky Acme-labeled garbage bag in tow. Until that happens, I’ll make sure to avoid encounters with both Art and Vicky under the Christmas mistletoe.
Whenever I’m looking for a thrilling, dark, and chilling movie to complement my holiday viewing of films like Black Christmas, Gremlins, or Krampus, I can always count on Terrifier 3 to provide a delightfully spooky experience.
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2024-09-27 04:08