In music, there’s a heavy metal band named Gwar. They’ve never been the biggest band in the world, but they have a deeply devoted fanbase because of one thing—their live shows. Gwar concerts are wild, with the whole band in extreme prosthetics to make them look like aliens from a far-off world. They do literal battles on stage with monsters. And the most (in)famous thing they do is shoot fake blood and semen into the crowd. Audience members literally wear plain white t-shirts to the shows so that they can see just how much splatter gets on them. Gwar isn’t the best metal band around. Hell, some might say they’re not even that good. But their live shows are next to none. In movie terms, this is exactly how you would describe Damien Leone’s “Terrifier” franchise, and most notably “Terrifier 3.” You don’t come to this franchise expecting Ari Aster levels of filmmaking. But if you stick it out, you’ll definitely get splatter all over yourself.
READ MORE: 2024 Fall Film Preview: 50 Movies To Watch
“Terrifier 3” tells the story of Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton), aka the Miles County Clown. Think of him as a mixture of the silent Michael Myers combined with the theatrical, somewhat silly Freddy Krueger. He doesn’t just like to murder people. He does it with a smile on his face… and plenty of props. For the third film, he makes his way back to Miles County after some silly resurrection nonsense, and once again, he has it out for a young woman named Sienna (Lauren LaVera) and her family. She’s the only one who has previously battled with Art and walked away to tell the tale. Sadly, no one really believes her, and some believe Sienna might be the actual murderer.
That’s really all the plot you need to know. Hell, that’s really all the plot that is presented here. Lots of stuff happens, but nothing revolutionary or even mildly intriguing. Art the Clown goes from scene to scene murdering folks; Sienna has to prove to people she’s not going crazy, and oh yeah, it’s Christmas. But all of this plot stuff plays second fiddle to the real reason you watch a “Terrifier” film—the obscene and extreme gore. This film series embraces the “unrated” label like no other.
In this two-hour film (filmmakers take note—please keep your slasher no more than 90 minutes), we alternate between scenes of extreme violence and bloody, bloody gore and somewhat sweet scenes of Sienna and her little niece. That is, until the end, when both plot lines converge, and we get a knockdown, drag-out fight between the forces of good and evil.
Look, let’s be real. There’s really no reason to critique “Terrifier 3” for anything besides being a competently filmed feature with quality performances. If you come into this film looking for the cutting edge of filmmaking or even just scary moments, you’re missing the point. This experience is all about pushing the limits of murderous violence and gore. Leone doesn’t care if it’s a woman, a child, or even Santa himself—everyone who gets in Art’s way is getting murdered in a new, fun, gruesome way. You just never know what implement Art will pull out of his trash bag of toys.
And as for the gore, this film is second to none. Horror fiends who love seeing bloody entrails and chopped-off limbs are going to have a field day with this. There are things shown in “Terrifier 3” that would make horror legends like Wes Craven, John Carpenter, or even George A. Romero blush. To spoil any of it in the review would be a great disservice to the film. Needless to say, this is definitely the film equivalent of a Gwar show.
That said, there are some issues with “Terrifier 3.” The film is long—you feel it all two hours. Some of the murder scenes drag just a little. And many of the Art the Clown scenes feel extraneous because he’s murdering people we just met and have no real connection to the main plot. And yes, as mentioned, this is not a scary horror film. There are no real attempts to spook the audience. No jump-scares. No eerie music. No real surprises of any kind. Leone knows people really care about the gore, first and foremost, and never buries the lede. And if we can talk about some of the plot for a second—it’s just not good. Leone attempts to explain some of the “Terrifier” lore in this, and it just comes across as cheesy. The last film introduced the idea of Sienna being some sort of angel warrior with a magic sword. This film tones that down a little but still tries to flesh it out more. Those scenes are easily the first that could get cut.
As said above, “Terrifier 3” is the Gwar of films. The story isn’t very good. The antics are pushing the limits of silliness. But if you can look past that, then holy shit, you better brace yourself for some of the bloodiest, most gruesome things you’ll ever see in a film. This is not for the faint of heart. [C+]
“Terrifier 3” arrives in theaters on October 11 via Cineverse.