“We’re in the same business,” pleads the world’s unluckiest Santa impersonator to an armed-and-ready Art the Clown. “We make people happy.”
Comparing job descriptions won’t save Santa or his cherry-red nose and beard of white from what awaits in “Terrifier 3” — but he makes a decent point. Returning for a second sequel in this indie-slasher-turned-runaway-train, star David Howard Thornton reprises his role as Art: a supernatural shepherd of theatrical joy.
Splatter isn’t for everyone and, even Christmas themed, “Terrifier 3” is intense. But if gore, guts, and go-for-broke horror-comedy are on your pre-Halloween wish list, then Damien Leone’s best film will slap a smile on your face so big it might as well be held there with meat hooks.
We catch up with Art five years after the events of “Terrifier 2.” Snowy and scary in that cozy “Black Christmas” way, the cold open takes us inside a glowing suburban home where an unsuspecting family is fast asleep. When a Cindy Lou Who type toddles downstairs to find a black-and-white Grinch poking around the tree, she tries to warn her mom, dad, and brother about the intrusion to no avail. The family may not live to see morning, but together the four holly-jolly meat sacks will signpost the rules of this grim and gleeful next chapter.
Yes, Art is killing kids. And yes, he’s still torturing women. That’s sure to outrage folks who hated “Terrifier 2” — although they have no business seeing “Terrifier 3.” And even those who liked the past films’ excess may find themselves wishing the truly agonizing first scene was faster. Still, Leone’s misunderstood endurance test knows itself well enough to not make extreme carnage its only selling point.
Pulsing with style, Art’s latest outing is an enchanting testament to the “Terrifier” team’s knack for fantasy world-building. It’s also proof that ultra-violence can sell paranormal concepts that might otherwise seem too goofy for the big screen. When the last person alive in Art’s initial rampage screams their way into the title card, “Terrifier 3” embraces the soul of the series as if for the first time — presenting a vignette so upsetting it’s borderline biblical.
Audiences who haven’t seen a “Saw” film are often surprised to learn those so-called “torture porn” movies are mostly dense police procedurals. In that same vein, “Terrifier” films are mythic explorations of splatter-punk style and the slasher as a concept. These horror fantasies use over-the-top effects to comment on genre and experiment with tropes, whether you know it or not. And while that’s not always been executed well, working with a bigger budget and crew for “Terrifier 3,” Leone makes the strongest case for his creation yet.
The Santa-of-it-all (which fair warning, dovetails into the Jesus-of-it-all) helps prop up The Killer Clown Who Can’t Be Killed as a legendary horror icon worthy of the box office success he’s enjoyed thus far. Revealing itself like a forbidden graphic novel, this truly epic descent into holiday hell begins with a prelude that uses brutal effects and fairytale imagery to create its own kind of demented nativity. Soaked in blood and seated at that poor family’s kitchen counter, Art ends his repulsive warm-up act eating milk and cookies, washing the dishes, and grinning ear to ear as “Come All Ye’ Faithful” blares in the background.
It’s a breathtaking scene (not only in the sense that it makes you want to choke) and an obvious accomplishment to people who know the subgenre well. If you get catharsis from shock value horror matched with sharp comedy, then this visually and tonally striking film is for you. And if you’re a nerd who loves a hidden gem superhero saga — who is willing to risk the possibility of incurring severe, irreversible psychological damage at the movies — then this film may also be for you.
Dazzling and formidable as ever with a backstory rooted in her dead dad’s comic books, Sienna Shaw (Lauren LaVera) is back to battle Art a second time. The final girl’s nightmarish run-in with the Miles County Clown from the last movie has her living in a psychiatric care center at the start of “Terrifier 3.” The Christmas season offers a great excuse for Sienna to visit her now college-aged brother Jonathan (Elliot Fullam) and their extended family, who are understandably wary of the siblings’ past.
It’s easier to embrace lore about an ark angel and a magical sword with sparkling holiday ornaments in the frame — and Leone puts his whole chest into setting up that exposition for success. A confident and comfortable script explores the recognizable sequel archetype of a traumatized hero like a fresh iceberg, presenting the Sienna as steely and stoic on the outside, while allowing her hallucinations and journal entries to languish in the sordid past she’ll need to recap.
Through that, Leone better develops the already-dead characters he could have said more about in “Terrifier 2” and evokes the kind of unexpected cameos seen in “Scream,” “Halloween,” and other history-making slashers. The filmmaker understands the spirit of horror and the “Terrifier” world feels ever-more vibrant and alive because of that appreciation. He also knows how to write a feminist fantasy hero. Sure, Sienna wears kind of a bodacious battle outfit in “Terrifier 2,” but even dressed in a Christmas sweater, she is as reluctantly empowered as any Valkyrie.
“I got into a fight,” Sienna says casually, when asked about the scars she got while being on full-on flayed by Art in the last film. “Yeah, I won.” (See? Superhero shit! And she’s never once been forced to entertain a boyfriend.)
They say behind every immortal demon clown there’s a strong, traumatized woman. Art has two. Before he crosses paths with Sienna again, we’ll follow his slapstick antics to a reunion with survivor-turned-accomplice Vicky (Samantha Scaffidi), who is Leone’s secret weapon as unearthed in a key flashback. The original “Terrifier” victim, Vicky was in a mental hospital at one time too. Now, she’s the Sally to Art’s Jack Skellington — and working on something far more sinister than an imposter Santa suit.
Able to spook even Art on a whim, Vicky aimlessly shuffles around, cutely honks a bike horn, and sometimes…masturbates with glass? Yeesh. As her supernatural character builds and the volatile part she plays in Art’s propulsive reign of terror becomes more clear, dreamlike visions begin to terrorize Sienna. Throughout the festivities with her aunt Jessica (Margaret Anne Florence), uncle Greg (Bryce Johnson), and cousin Gabbie (Antonella Rose), our heroine is plagued with crippling guilt and overwhelmed by an imminent sense that the clown isn’t finished with her yet.
“Terrifier” has been called sexist schlock that gives horror a bad name, and making the controversial decision to go after underage victims won’t help its reputation. That said, the suggestion that Leone’s work somehow betrays female horror fans says more about the acceptability of extreme nudity and violence in film right now than anything about this particular writer or director. In addition to championing Sienna every step of the way, “Terrifier 3” takes several brilliant corrective measures in that conversation — at one point providing (non-sexual) evidence that Art has a penis as vulnerable as anyone else’s.
Sienna and Vicky get plenty of story to carry and the woman-centric ensemble efforts ensures Thornton’s “Who, me?!” clown act — this time, featuring liquid nitrogen and killing sprees at the local mall — never gets old. Art and Vicky (“Art + Vicky,” if you will) are attached at the hip for most of their screen time, but jumping between the three outrageous characters makes for an unpredictable rhythm that feels like getting squeezed through a tunnel.
Sienna’s paranoia matches with the couple’s nauseating chemistry and almost every dull moment from the past two films fades into memory. The colorful and demonic heart of “Terrifier 3” beams brightest when the severity of what’s coming for Sienna is intercut directly into her paralyzing fear of it. Eyes brimming with tears, actress LaVera sells those beats as a bonafide scream queen who just as well could have been cast as an Avenger. (That’s not a suggestion that Ms. LaVera pursue work with Marvel; she is so much better than that I’d sooner salt my own back. But if anyone could theoretically make me care about those movies again, it’s probably her.)
Scenes from Jonathan’s college offer a funny and welcome reprieve from that nerve-shredding trinity of terror — until they really don’t, and “Terrifier 3” gives its most bafflingly awful characters what’s coming to them. An overzealous, sexed-up true crime podcaster named Mia (Alexa Blair Robertson) and her idiot boyfriend Cole (Mason Mecartea), who is also Jonathan’s roommate, may be this movie’s Achilles heel. And that’s not just because one of them experiences the most graphic slip-and-fall in horror history.
Mia and Cole appear in a jaw-dropping attack sequence that’s clever because it plays as a cheeky reversal of a franchise kill we’ve already seen, but it’s also confusing when considered as Leone’s latest statement on problematic fandoms. The filmmaker would be wise to make satirizing the thorny landscape surrounding his work a higher priority in the already-confirmed “Terrifier 4.” But he chews through as much meta-fruit cake as he can here and that backlash will require more untangling than even the worst string lights.
For now, “Terrifier 3” is decking the halls with a triumphant celebration that’s horrifying for all the right reasons and snaps into focus what it is that Leone does singularly well. That may or may not win people over, but it shouldn’t lose any repeat customers. Beautifully rendered, oozing with belief in itself, and boasting an unbelievable final act, Art the Clown’s holiday extravaganza (which, yes, comes complete with an original Christmas carol) might be more naughty — but “Terrifier” never tried harder to play nice.
Grade: B+
“Terrifier 3” premiered at Fantastic Fest 2024 on September 19. It is expected to debut on Shudder in 2025.
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