It wasn’t Neon betting big with “Longlegs” or Demi Moore contorting herself for “The Substance.” No, the most surprising story to come out of indie horror in 2024 was far and away “Terrifier 3,” the unrated, $2 million brainchild of filmmaker Damien Leone and distribution partners Cineverse and Iconic Events.
Leone’s scary movie broke every rule with its $500,000 marketing campaign and controversial content that challenged what many analysts thought they knew about genre fans. On December 24 and 25, the Christmas-themed slasher starring Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) and final girl Sienna Shaw (Lauren LaVera) will return to theaters for a two-day victory lap — as told first to IndieWire.
The ultra-violent holiday horror has earned $88 million at the global box office since October, using a unique marketing technique designed to capitalize on Cineverse subsidiaries like the website Bloody Disgusting. The upcoming re-release of “Terrifier 3” includes a new introduction by Leone and a special look behind the scenes. (Next up, there are two more sequels with “Terrifier 4” expected in 2026.)
“It was the theaters that came to us and said, ‘This would be really fun to re-release and to do an encore around Christmas time,” Iconic Events co-founder and chairman Michael Lambert told IndieWire. “Those guys are very good arbiters of taste when it comes to picking projects. They know their communities. They know how quickly tickets sell out. They truly know what works.”
“Terrifier 3” upended the low-budget horror model somewhat spectacularly this fall, but in reality, that was the second breakthrough along Leone’s eight-year journey building buzz. His original film from 2016 found an audience for just $35,000 — but word of mouth turned “Terrifier 2” into a theatrical success when Cineverse (formerly known as Cinedigm) first teamed up with Iconic under Leone.
“Iconic’s in-theater marketing and its connection to exhibitors and audiences is what has driven these films to become grassroots successes,” the filmmaker wrote to IndieWire in a statement.
Back in 2022, “Terrifier 2” had a very limited theatrical run planned before it performed much better than anticipated. Iconic expanded its release to make $15.7 million worldwide and set the following sequel up for even more success. While pushing the limits in 2024, “Terrifier 3” cashed in with cross-market promotion made to maximize Cineverse’s media assets — as reported by IndieWire’s Brian Welk. Meanwhile, Lambert describes Iconic as holding deep focus in a single area of expertise that mostly remains a constant across movie-going culture.
“We work really closely with the theaters, and that’s a more and more important part of the ecosystem,” said Lambert. “Yes, the studios are important. They will always be the only ones that can afford to make these big, huge movies. But the theaters themselves are a very valuable marketing tool. That’s what Iconic does. We use our theater network to get behind the projects that we believe in.”
He continued, “We’re not like A24 or Neon, where they have rights to other things, where they’ll buy a project and then they’ll sell it. We don’t do that. We’re just distributors, in the best way, and we do that on a very efficient basis.”
A 40-year veteran of the media and technology businesses, Lambert pointed out the unprecedented opportunity presented to live events following the pandemic. Iconic was founded in 2020 by Lambert, Steve Menkin, Mark Rupp, and Tim Warner to turn small screenings into extended runs amid a content-challenged landscape. Among various other post-lockdown offerings, Iconic showed the musical special “Bo Burnham Inside” in 400 theaters in U.S. and Canada. Even as an atypical new release without the built-in irony, Lambert said, “Terrifier 3” is part of that evolving, community-focused legacy.
“We’re solely focused on getting people into theaters and rebuilding that communal experience everyone talks about — whatever the specifics may be,” said Lambert. “People want to be together. Even with ‘Terrifier,’ we sell tickets in bundles of five or ten. Audiences want to go to the movies in groups.”
Distributing between 40 and 50 titles each year, Iconic partners with major chains AMC, Regal, and Cinemark as well as several regional exhibitors and independent single screens across the country. “Terrifier 3” executive producer Philip Falcone told IndieWire in an email that “targeting audiences at the local level” contributed hugely to his film’s success. The campaign also had a bigger impact in the middle of the country, shining brightest in small to mid-size markets, per Lambert.
“You have to use the local theaters, their local communities, and local outreach to successfully advertise,” he said. “It’s using tools and theaters that others might ignore. That’s the secret sauce.”
From Cineverse and Iconic Events, “Terrifier 3” returns to limited theaters on December 24 and 25.
