Where Art Thou? Why Not Uponeth Terrifier 3 (FANTASTIC)?

Title: Terrifier 3

First Non-Festival Release: October 9, 2024 (Theatrical Release)

Director: Damien Leone

Writer: Damien Leone

Runtime: 125 Minutes

Starring: LaurnLaVera, David Howard Thorton, Antonella Rose

Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here

This film’s review was written after its screening at the Fantastic Film Festival in 2024.

Rising to cult status in the past few years, the Terrifier movies now occupy a special place in the horror cultural lexicon. Known for its vicious kills and iconic killer, the Terrifier franchise has the great problem of one-upping itself with each iteration. And Terrifier 3 succeeds as the best of the bunch so far.

Picking up five years after her showdown with the Art the Clown (David Howard Thorton), Sienna Shaw (Lauren LaVera) is struggling to piece her life back together. Spending her subsequent years in a mental health facility, Sienna returns to her uncle (Alex Ross) and aunt’s (Margaret Anne Florence) house for a fresh start. She’s delighted to reunite with her younger cousin Gabbie (Antonella Rose) while her brother Jonathan (Elliott Fullam) finishes his semester away at college. When Sienna starts seeing Art around town dressed in a Santa suit, she questions her sanity, while those around her question their safety. Has Art been waiting all this time for the right moment to strike?

Gleefully demented, Terrifier 3 ups the franchise’s ante by delivering a brutal gorefest that will satiate genre fan’s lust for carnage.

Paying no mind to the ridiculousness of the story, Terrifier 3 takes audiences further into the saga of Art the Clown’s campaign of terror. Deeper dives into both his character and Sienna allow the audience to understand that their constant battle represents the relentlessly clashing forces of good and evil. Art’s draw to Sienna comes from his desire to squash that spirit. Drawing Sienna back into madness, Art’s killing spree acts as a sort of bat signal to ensure she knows he has returned. This ebb and flow of violence and instability slowly pulls the pair together closer like magnets, leaving a swarth of mangled bodies in the wake. 

This leads to the signature gore that draws in the audiences. Terrifier 3 takes the violence to delightfully gratuitous heights. Balancing quick kills with more torturously extended sequences, the slasher never lets its audience get comfortable with setting their own expectations. The humor remains, too. A curious shopping mall encounter and devilish bar fight are excellent examples of Terrifier 3 aligning the chaos with laughter. Of course, there is no shortage of excellent practical effects employed to make Damien Leone’s warped vision come to life. Nothing exhibits this more than this entry’s skin crawling centerpiece — a chainsaw bisection in an empty communal shower.

David Howard Thorton and Samantha Scaffidi are delights as the demented antagonists raising hell across Miles County. Thorton does incredible work to bring Art’s sensibilities to life in credible ways while maintaining his viciousness and sick sense of humor. Operating more like a mime than a true clown, Thorton excels in the physicality of Art with bold movements and exaggerated expressions without ever relying on his voice to convey menace. There’s a reason why Art has risen to the same league as Freddy and Jason, and it comes down to Art’s personality.

Scaffidi returns in a larger capacity, after being sidelined in part two, giving Art a delightfully sadistic accomplice who never wears her welcome. Victoria’s descent after the first Terrifier adds a wonderful contrast against Sienna’s post trauma journey while giving the series as a whole a more connective feel. While Thorton excels in the physicality, Scaffidi’s bread and butter comes from her vocals, snarling threats with glee at those suffering before her.

Lauren LaVera has the difficult job of keeping the film from veering too far into the absurd, but her impassioned performance as Sienna works all the same amidst the craziness. Balancing strength and vulnerability, LaVera gives Sienna the archetypal final girl performance that audiences demand of slashers while maintaining her signature bite. When Sienna fights back, she’s not gunning for mere survival — she’s out for blood. LaVera’s intimate knowledge of what makes Sienna so powerful is why she has become such a fan favorite for horror fans.

For a supernatural slasher hellbent on pushing genre boundaries, Terrifier 3 proves it is possible for a franchise to improve with each entry. By now, most people know if a Terrifier movie is for them or not. Unapologetically gory, almost punishingly so, this slasher is firmly for the sickos, freaks, and jaded, occupying a necessary niche for those who seek out greater and greater thrills that are helmed by trusted creatives. So, if this is up your alley, don’t disappoint Art and make sure you show up to theaters this month to support him!

Overall Score? 7/10