Terrifier 3

Slasher Trash with Panache?

Review: JA Kerswell

Making SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT (1984) look like a Walton’s Christmas Special, Art the Clown returns to bring his breed of murderous mime to ruin Yuletide for anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path. A direct sequel to 2022’s TERRIFIER 2, Sienna and her extended family once again bear the brunt of Art’s bloody rampage. It is a smorgasbord of nasty delights, but arguably, a paper-thin plot and episodic approach lacks enough real substance to justify its two-hour+ running time.
 
Five years after beheading Art the Clown (once again played by David Howard Thorton) with her magic sword, Sienna (Lauren Lavera) is released from a mental health facility in time for Christmas to stay with her aunt Jess (Margaret Anne Florence), her husband Greg (Bryce Johnson) and her young daughter Gabbie (Antonella Rose). Sienna is understandably traumatised by the events half a decade ago—and is haunted by bloody visions of her best friend Brooke (Kailey Hyman), who is quite literally a ghost Christmas (or rather Halloween) past.
 
The fate of Art the Clown is shown when the decapitated ghoul wears the head of a murdered cop and breaks his old victim and now horribly deformed sidekick, Victoria (Samantha Scaffidi), out of the asylum. In a scene that best displays Damien Leone’s knack for nightmarish visuals, Victoria gives birth to a new, fully formed head of Art to complete his resurrection. The pair decamp to an abandoned house where Victoria slits her wrists in a bathtub, and Art relaxes in a rocking chair in the attic whilst looking out a window—which references not only BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974) but also THE AMITYVILLE HORROR (1979). The pair are resurrected in the present day from their hibernation by workers sent to audit the abandoned house for demolition. 
 
Meanwhile, Sienna—increasingly suffering from hallucinations and fears that Art the Clown might return—attempts to reconnect with her brother, Johnathan (Elliot Fullman). He is now attending college, where he has gained infamy as a survivor of those events five years ago on Halloween—and a pair of fellow students and true crime podcasters, Mia (Alexa Blair) and Jennifer (Krsy Fox), are desperate to interview him for their show.
 
Sienna’s worries appear to be manifesting as a new wave of ultra-violent murders begin again in Miles County. As she feared, Art—now dressed as Santa Claus—beats an increasingly bloody path to her door on Christmas Eve … 

Tellingly, the TERRIFIER series shares the same problem as other films that have grown out of short films with a singular, unique element—a medium where Art the Clown’s psychotic weirdness arguably works better. He is undoubtedly iconic—a monstrous inversion of joviality running on nightmare fuel like a Jimmy Saville impersonator emerging from hell. However, these films lack any meaningful narrative—which only becomes more apparent as they are stretched even beyond normal feature length. Often, TERRIFIER 3 feels like a series of skits linked together by a blood-soaked gossamer thread. No more so than its out-of-place—although admittedly effective—opening family annihilation sequence that seemingly has no connection to the rest of the film apart from prematurely initiating its festive wrappings.
 
TERRIFIER 3 lacks even the sense of cohesion that Part 2 had—which is saying something. Outside its gore showstoppers, there are no real surprises and nothing that substantially expands on the franchise’s flimsy lore. However, does this matter? I guess it depends on how you view it. The movie operates as a freak show in its unique universe, with its own dreamlike logic. It never feels like the characters are living in a fully formed reality, which we arguably need for the film’s fantasy horror elements to really spark off against. Apart from the cop shown at the beginning, Leone rejects the usual paths of similar material. No cops turn up to investigate the bloody trail that Art and Victoria leave behind. Adding to this sense of unreality, there are no consequences to the murders. No bodies are ever discovered. Art and Victoria are seemingly unhindered by ​physics and appear across town without ever being shown how they get there. 
 
Of course, the film’s talking and selling points are the ultra gory murders that are peppered throughout. Leone either has no interest in—or is perhaps unable to orchestrate—the kind of scenes of suspense you would find in many other slasher movies. TERRIFIER 3 actually shares little with the 1980s movies it is paying homage to outside its gore (Leone acknowledges the subgenre’s Golden Age with cameo performances by Tom Savini and Clint Howard). This is no more so apparent than in the film’s lengthy closing quarter that quickly corrals the main characters into torture porn territory instead of taking the time to indulge in a little cat and mouse. It’s a wasted opportunity—and inexplicable given the film’s ample running time.
 
Art the Clown is an impatient killer. He has no interest in lingering in the darkness or stalking his victims. There is little foreplay. He eviscerates them in the most horribly creative ways possible. The practical gore effects are impressive and designed to appal or delight, depending on your predilection. The level of violence is so extreme that it hovers at a place between audience revulsion and hilarity—especially with the envelope-pushing killing of children (although even Leone can’t bring himself to show the actual act) and the film’s chainssaw-to-naked-ass sequence amongst many other outrages. However, its ability to shock somewhat lessens as the film progresses and settles into a rinse-and-repeat routine, which is not necessarily helped by Art never changing up his mime’s cod surprise and boggle-eyed humour. Perhaps Scaffidi’s occasionally conflicted Victoria is actually the film’s more disturbing, well-rounded and effective villain.
 
That the director has so purposefully rejected the slasher movie's accepted narrative structure beyond connecting death scenes is either a good or bad thing, depending on your point of view. The visuals and situations are twisted and extreme enough to stand on their own merits. However, the fact remains that the lack of any compelling narrative makes it difficult to justify its bloated running time. Still, given that the film has made over $89 million worldwide on a $2 million budget—making it the highest-grossing unrated horror film of all time—it has hit a major nerve with audiences. Leone is clearly doing something right. Yet, time will tell whether he can pull off the revelations as to what Art the Clown actually is—or if all the talk of magic swords and comic characters is merely cosmic mumbo jumbo. 

BODY COUNT 26: 
Female 10 / Male 16

1. Male is chopped up with an axe (off screen)
2. Male is decapitated with an axe
3. Female is dismembered with an axe
4. Male is strangled and decapitated
5. Female found with her face eaten off
6. Male has his face ripped off
7. Male stabbed in the neck with mirror shard
8. Male has scalp pulled over his face
9. Male is shot through the head
10. Male is shot in the neck
11. Male has body parts frozen and smashed apart with a hammer
12. Male is dismembered with an axe
13. Male is hacked apart with an axe
14. Female is hacked apart with an axe
15. Female killed (method unseen)
16. Female blown apart by a bomb
17. Male blown apart by a bomb
18. Female blown apart by a bomb
    
19. Female blown apart by a bomb
    
20. Male blown apart by a bomb
21. Female attacked and slashed with a chainsaw
22. Male dismembered with a chainsaw
23. Male bodied found decapitated and disemboweled 
24. Male's severed and skinned head shown
25. Female has tube forced down throat and fed live rats
26. Female stabbed in the mouth and chest and decapitated 

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