Terrifier 3 (2024)
Directed by Damien Leone
I figured, I have reviewed the other two Terrifier (Terrifier, Terrifier 2) movies, so why not the third? I saw this in the theater after 10 hours straight of watching horror. I had the choice of seeing this, or going to the other screen and watching Shawn of the Dead, a movie I have seen many times. I stuck around and watched this bloodbath.
Terrifier 3 picks up after the second one. Sienna returns and has been in and out of a psychiatric center numerous times. Her brother Jonathan, has seemingly “moved on” and is in college. Sienna goes to her aunt and uncle’s place for Christmas. Soon she starts having visions and flashbacks of Art the Clown. Is she nuts or is there a possible return of the sinister jester?
the lovely Lauren LaVera as Sienna
Obviously we know Art is back, and man is he back in style. I will be doing a fair amount of spoilers so if you haven’t seen it and don’t want it ruined by some fat neck beard online, move on. Anyway, the film starts with Art coming into a house dressed as Santa. A little girl spies on him, he takes an axe out of his bag and hacks up her 7 year old brother (off screen) then moves on to mom and dad, whom he dismembers as well in Art fashion. It is brutally gory, which you come to expect with these movies. Art walks around and hears a noise in the kitchen, he opens the cabinet and finds the little girl, whom can’t be older than 4, he smiles and waves at her and the scene goes black. Now it is years earlier, and we see Chris Jericho get fucked up at a psych ward by Vicky, a patient missing most of her face. She loves Art and helps him come back after his cappa was detated from his body by Sienna. Now Art is back and the two hold up in an abandoned house. Vicky slits her wrists and Art sits in a rocking chair in the attic near a window a la Black Christmas. Two demo guys go to wreck the house and find them, and die. Now Art is going around and killing everyone he finds. Including: a mall Santa, Clint Howard, Jonathan’s roommate and his super hot/annoying podcasting girlfriend, and a group of children with a bomb in the mall (yikes).
Now Art has finally found Sienna and they can face off once again. He basically kills everyone in her life, her uncle, her brother, and her aunt with a glass tube and rats. The only one left is her and her young cousin Gabby, whom idolizes Sienna. Now Sienna has to fight to keep Gabby alive and end Art’s tyrade. Armed with the magic sword, she battles and ends art and Vicky, but Gabby is swallowed by a gate to hell? Not quite sure but thats it.
sadly there isn't many images of the kills online, sorry guys
Ok, after the quick rundown, the main draw of these films…the kills. Man, they’re as brutal as you remember from the others. I mentioned the family at the beginning already. I’m only mentioning kills we see, because there’s a fair share of off screen and implied kills. Jericho gets it good his jaw is ripped off and he’s scalped by Victoria and Art. THEY JUST MADE THE LIST!!! One demo guy gets stabbed in the neck with glass, the other gets his scalp slip down the middle and all his skin peeled off his head. Man that one was nuts lol. Clint Howard gets shot in the head. Bartender gets shot. Santa gets his foot, leg, hand a half of his face frozen by liquid nitrogen, then smashed to bits. Art also cuts his beard off and steals it. A bunch of kids and parents get killed by a bomb Art made in a present. Mia, the super hot podcast girl gets hacked up in the shower with a chainsaw which reminds me of Pieces. Her boyfriend Cole gets his hand cut up, then a chainsaw up the ass into the stomach, you can see his balls dangling on the floor. That one is crazy intense and I totally called it haha. After that Art does a snow angel in the blood. Uncle Greg gets beheaded, strung up on the wall, disemboweled and mutilated. We don’t see Jonathan die, but we see his skinned skull with glasses on it. The aunt, as mentioned gets a glass tube crammed down her throat, rats thrown in and a torch to make then crawl down her throat, then her throat slit. Sienna kills Victoria by stabbing her with the sword and cutting her head off. Art gets wrecked but escapes. Gabby gets pulled into hell.
The acting. David Howard Thornton as Art the clown was really good. His ability to act and emote while remaining silent and in makeup is great. He makes you laugh, he freaks you out and just kills the role. Lauren LaVera is amazing in this movie. She was good in part 2 but in this one her role asks much more from her and she rocks it. She is gorgeous, but also a badass and you believe that she can step up and bring Art and Victoria to an end. I really expect her to take off soon, I can’t see a world where she doesn’t have a bigger career, she was that solid in this movie. The rest of the cast is decent, no one that truly stands out. Chris Jericho still sucks as an actor, I can say that. Chris, I love you dude, you’re one of my all time favorite wrestlers and a great author but man, acting isn’t your strong suit. I do have to mention that Tom Savini has a cameo in this, being interviewed on the news.
The story this time around was given more attention, and that was what was lacking especially in the first movie. The second may have a stronger plot and not so much let’s get Art and Sienna to face off like this one, but the characters are given much more depth. We learn more about Art, Victoria and especially Sienna. I feel like this movie was making more of an attempt to be a true horror film and not a showcase of gore effects.
I almost hate to say that I enjoyed this movie. I was a big critic of the previous two, especially the first one and I still stand by that. This movie built characters, had a plot, and wasn’t two and a half hours long. If you enjoy the other two, maybe you wont be so high on this but I enjoyed it. My biggest issue is, when every kill is over done and gory as shit, it becomes a whisper on a scream. I give Terrifier 3 a B-.
