HALLOWEEN SEASON MOVIE: TERRIFIER 3

Halloween Month continues as Balladeer’s Blog takes an anticipatory look at Terrifier 3, which hits theaters tomorrow, October 11th. Despite making his first appearance in 2008, Art – the blood-and-gore-soaked supernatural killer of the Terrifier franchise – still gets hailed as a “new” figure because general audiences were unaware of him until 2016.

Regular readers know I’ve long been pushing this ultra-violent series which is a return to the kind of uncompromising horror films from the distant past. Though critics of this latest movie are outraged at Art’s “no limits” approach to victims, let me remind people who feel that way that this grotesque figure has been killing children in his movies since All Hallows’ Eve in 2013.   

WARNING: I chose the tamest Terrifier 3 picture I could find to start off this blog post, but this is one of those times when I’m giving a warning that readers who want to avoid excessive gore and intensely disturbing concepts should not click “Continue reading.” 

Before moving on to what preview audiences of Terrifier 3 have said, here’s a brief recap of the previous appearances of Damien Leone’s depraved slasher Art the Clown. 

I usually find killer clowns boring, but in my opinion Art is far more disturbing than Pennywise or other horror clowns. This “terrifying” character has gone from short films to an anthology movie to a trio of feature films, the third of which gets released tomorrow. 

Leone first presented Art the Clown in his film short The 9th Circle in 2008. That film depicted the deranged, silent and sinister figure, played by Mike Giannelli, striking on Halloween night on behalf of a Satanic Cult.

Art’s second appearance came in 2011 in another Damien Leone horror short titled Terrifier. Art, still portrayed by Mike Giannelli, struck with uncompromising violence and conveyed his vile, sadistic nature entirely through facial expressions and body acting since the slasher never speaks. Picture Freddy Krueger remaining as silent as Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees, and that’s Art.

Both of those short films were included in the horror anthology movie All Hallows’ Eve in 2013 as segments of an unmarked VHS tape watched by a babysitter and two of her charges on Halloween night. Additional footage of Art the Clown was added as the deranged figure wound up preying upon the babysitter and company after they watched the supernatural tape.

In 2016, Art got his first feature film treatment in Damien Leone’s movie titled Terrifier, just like one of his earlier shorts. A new actor stepped into the role of Leone’s slasher figure – David Howard Thornton. Adding to Art the Clown’s lore, viewers at last learned his stomping grounds were in fictional Miles County.

For hardcore horror fans seeing Art for the first time, they fell in love with Damien Leone’s non-commercial approach to the blood, gore and uncompromising violence of the figure’s attacks on his victims. Here was a slasher who made the overexposed Freddy, Jason, Chucky and others look as silly as cereal mascots Count Chocula and Frankenberry.

And be aware, Art the Clown’s mutilation of his targets is not for the squeamish. For example, Art amputates body parts on one of his female victims and carves words like “cunt” in her flesh in bold, bloody letters.

SPOILERS AHEAD: 

As hinted at by the slasher’s affiliation with a Satanic cult and supernatural ties to a cursed VHS tape which can summon him, he is more than human. In the coroner’s office at the end of 2016’s Terrifier, Art rose from the dead to continue his reign of terror another time.

Then in 2022 came Terrifier 2. Art (David Howard Thornton again) had become a nightmarish part of Miles County’s history as a “true crime” bogeyman still on the loose. The killer clown stalked even more victims, including a weird young man who had decided to base his Halloween costume on the notorious slasher. Talk about poor taste!

On the downside, in my view Terrifier 2 ran too long and strayed too far from the gritty simplicity of Art’s depraved rampages in his previous outings. A supernatural nemesis for the gore-soaked clown was added in the form of a woman named Sienna (Lauren LaVera), whose father created the eldritch artwork linked to Art being unleashed on an unsuspecting world. (Presumably including the piece of “Art” work in All Hallows’ Eve.)

That sequel showcased some very effective kills and didn’t quite ruin Art’s status as an “adults only” slasher.

Let’s hope Damien Leone’s further use of Art the Clown doesn’t permanently damage the disturbing mystique of his envelope-pushing creation.

TERRIFIER 3 – In addition to expressing disgust with the way Leone upped the practical effects gore ante yet again, AND the child victims, trailers and preview audiences revealed that this third entry picks up years after the previous film – at Christmas time, no less.

I was disappointed with that because I was hoping things would continue right from that seeming cliffhanger ending which featured Art’s depraved and blood-soaked “rebirth” from one of his victims. But on the plus side, Sienna is back. 

I’m hoping for good things from Terrifier 3, and the kills are supposedly next level even for this franchise, but violence isn’t everything. Hopefully Damien Leone retained the truly disturbing elements which make Art the Clown set up housekeeping in the heads of viewers. 

AND SPEAKING OF EXTREME HORROR FILMS SET ON HOLIDAYS OTHER THAN HALLOWEEN, YOU CAN READ MY REVIEW OF THE 2011 MOVIE FATHER’S DAY HERE.

FOR MY REVIEW OF HEADLESS (2015) CLICK HERE.

AND FOR MY TOP HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS HORROR MOVIES CLICK HERE.