Terrifier 3 (2024) Review

The Terrifier franchise has, over the years, solidified itself as a monument to blood-soaked spectacle – an unabashed love letter to the grimiest aspects of the slasher genre. And Terrifier 3, directed once again by Damien Leone, is certainly no exception.

With its holiday-themed twist and a budget significantly beefier than its predecessors, this latest outing manages to be both utterly outrageous and strangely impressive. It’s a festival of violence that spills over with grotesque inventiveness and a fair dollop of dark, comedic glee.

Picking up five years after the gory climax of Terrifier 2, we find Sienna Shaw (played with palpable emotional weight by Lauren LaVera) attempting to navigate the psychological aftermath of her encounter with the menacing Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton). She’s haunted, understandably, by memories of the friends she lost and the horrors she survived. Sienna, now living with her Aunt Jessica (Margaret Anne Florence), Uncle Greg (Bryce Johnson), and young cousin Gabbie (Antonella Rose), has more to contend with than just her own pain, because, as ever, Art is back, and he’s got more “naughty list” victims in his sights.

Set against a backdrop of twinkling Christmas lights and yuletide cheer, the opening sequence reminds us that there is no safe haven in Art’s world, not even on the most joyous of holidays. Art the Clown breaks into a family’s home, turning a warm festive setting into a scene straight out of a nightmare. Leone plays with our emotions, his sadistic clown serves up a chilling concoction of humor and dread, with Art casually making himself at home, sipping milk while his victims lie in pools of blood.

What’s most striking in Terrifier 3 is Leone’s expansion of his universe, broadening it in ways that seem equally ludicrous and oddly compelling. The film gives us a taste of mythology, hinting at Art’s demonic origins, and adding a bizarre mix of religious iconography that evokes a warped nativity narrative. This mythic approach feels as intentionally camp as it is supernatural, almost daring audiences to try and piece together Art’s inexplicable survival and otherworldly antics. While much of this lore is laughably absurd, leaning into both angels and demons with a Catholic twist – it’s certainly in keeping with the series’ brand of over-the-top chaos.

David Howard Thornton is clearly having the time of his life, returning as Art the Clown. He masterfully combines mime-like physicality with an unnerving cheerfulness, reminiscent of silent-era villains who carried menace without a single word spoken. Thornton’s Art, with his trademark grin and mimed sadism, walks the line between slapstick absurdity and outright horror, a killer who somehow evokes laughter while creating real discomfort. His presence anchors the franchise, a near-supernatural embodiment of brutality that elevates every scene he’s in.

Some Art fans may argue that too much of his limelight is stolen in this third instalment, with Victoria Heyes (Samantha Scaffidi) taking a prominent role in the bloodshed, on occasion leaving the clown looking more like a grinning, nodding side-kick.

But Terrifier 3 doesn’t simply rehash what’s come before. Leone takes on criticisms that the series has been disproportionately cruel towards its female characters, and here Art’s victims are, to put it delicately, a more “equal-opportunity” affair. The film opens with a small child meeting a grisly fate, and as the film progresses, men and women alike are subjected to Art’s gleeful brand of sadism. There’s even a gonad-wrecking shower scene that offers one of the film’s most grotesque, and strangely humorous, moments, suggesting that the filmmakers are responding to past accusations of misogyny with a perverse kind of winking apology. Art the Clown, it seems, is no respecter of gender when it comes to his particular festive carnage.

On the emotional front, the film takes its time delving deeper into Sienna’s trauma, and Lauren LaVera’s portrayal is one of the film’s greatest strengths. She embodies a woman still trying to piece together her sanity after her previous encounter with Art, and LaVera sells it. Her struggle to balance her external strength with her internal scars adds depth to the mayhem – a final girl who is every bit as broken as she is determined to fight back. Sienna’s story is complemented by that of Victoria, Art’s earlier victim and now willing accomplice, whose twisted relationship with Art provides another layer to the film’s depraved narrative.

And yet, there’s no getting around the fact that Terrifier 3 is, at its core, an exercise in cinematic excess. It’s not particularly interested in nuanced storytelling or sophisticated horror, but instead thrives on the visceral thrills of shock value. Art’s imaginative and elaborate kills remain the true spectacle here, with practical effects that rival anything found in classic gorefests from the ’80s. The fire extinguisher turned liquid nitrogen dispenser and the mutilation-by-chainsaw in a shower scene are just a few of the standout sequences that are equal parts repulsive and brilliantly conceived in their execution. Leone seems to be crafting each death scene as a self-contained work of splatter art, celebrating the craft of practical effects while reveling in their unflinching brutality.

Does Terrifier 3 offer anything new to the slasher genre? Not particularly. Its narrative is sparse, functioning more as connective tissue between set-piece, nightmarish kills than as a compelling story. But the franchise has never promised to be anything more than what it is – a joyful celebration of gore, a dark carnival ride of shocks and laughter. It’s horror at its most unfiltered, unconcerned with morality or redemption, and instead focused on the outrageous spectacle of it all.

It’s a slasher, but not in the old sense of the word. This is a slasher for the ‘post-millennial, grown up watching beheading videos on the internet’ generation. An audience that demands to be shocked, even if a shopping mall full of children needs to be blown up in the process.

Ultimately, Terrifier 3 is a Christmas horror film that is precisely for its target audience. It knows exactly what it is and leans into it fully, there’s no compromise here, no attempt to appease mainstream sensibilities. It’s grotesque, gratuitous, and at times utterly ridiculous. But it’s also undeniably entertaining in its dedication to sheer excess. With its surprising humour, shocking kills, and charismatic killer, Terrifier 3 continues to carve out its niche as a modern cult classic, ensuring that Art the Clown remains one of the most memorable horror icons of recent years.

If you’re the kind of horror fan who delights in the absurdity of it all, who watches with a grin as gallons of fake blood spill across the screen, then Terrifier 3 delivers exactly what you came for. It’s a film that remorselessly revels in its gory spectacle, no matter what time of year it is.

Movie Rating:

Terrifier 3 trailer