Terrifier 3 (18)
Director: Damien Leone
Screenplay: Damien Leone
Starring: Lauren LaVera, David Howard Thornton, Antonella Rose
Running time: 125 minutes
Cinema release
Review: David Stephens
If the Terrifier franchise proves nothing else, it’s that there’s always the chance for unexpected success/excess in the horror business. And also that there is still a market for pure and simple exploitation. What is somewhat surprising is the extent to which mainstream critics and casual audiences have (mostly) embraced what is a series of silly and gory films. Ones that genuinely want to shock during the process of providing popcorn entertainment. I never thought I would see the flagship UK broadsheet newspaper “The Guardian” give a film like this (containing a scene of the demonic clown graphically dismembering a naked couple in a shower with a chainsaw) four out of five stars! Let alone have something like it threaten to actually knock multi-million A-list films off the top of the US Box Office (Joker: Folie à Deux. Ouch!). But there you go. “May you live in interesting times”, as the old saying goes. Suffice to say that Damien Leone’s ghoulish creation is back with a bang. After the impact Terrifier 2 made, despite major studios sniffing around for a mainstream reboot, Leone has (to his very great credit) kept with the old-school budget and effects. And it looks to have paid off handsomely. Again. Now showing in UK and US theatres (and in French cinemas with an exceedingly rare “Over 18s Only” rating…creating more useful publicity), it’s time for another Art attack.
Starting with a glorious homage to Christmas slashers such as Silent Night, Deadly Night and Christmas Evil, Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) butchers an entire family whilst dressed as Santa Claus, with decorations and carols in the background. After the opening credit, it flashes back 5 years to provide the circumstances for Art’s diabolical resurrection (and also the reasoning behind that batshit final scene in Terrifier 2). Moving back to the present day, Art has (once again) become the stuff of urban legend after his disappearance, whilst his proto-nemesis Sienna Shaw (Lauren Lavera), has been bouncing in and out of mental health institutions… which is completely understandable given what she went through in the previous film. Now she’s (sort of) more stable, she arranges to spend Christmas with her mother’s sister (Margaret Anne Florence as Jess Shaw) and her family, as well as her estranged younger brother Johnathan (Elliot Fullam). Unfortunately, Art (who has been in a form of hibernation all this time) decides to celebrate “the most wonderful time of the year”, rather than pull the old trick-or-treat schtick again. So he “obtains” a suit, hooks up with his possessed and mutilated past victim (Samantha Scaffidi as Victoria Heyes), and gets ready to “Grinch” things up in the bloodiest way possible.
You should know what you’re getting with a Terrifier film by now, and you won’t be disappointed by this. Putting aside all the usual guff about people walking out and chundering in the aisles, this is another fun love letter to the hardcore horror fans. Leone has given several interviews recently, where he admits that Art is mostly an amalgamation of past icons, such as Leatherface and Michael Myers. And this is especially noticeable here as his garbage bag full of tricks contains a chainsaw (that’s used several times) and a “gun” for blasting liquid nitrogen at victims, surely a wink towards the best kill in Jason X. Yes, it’s gratuitously gory but it does the kills with such an unabashed style and over-the-top exuberance that you can’t be offended by it… unless that’s what you’re watching it for (*rolls eyes at protestors in the USA*). So, yes, there is a chainsaw enema and craniums are slowly skinned, but this is basically “Itchy and Scratchy” violence for adults and most people will get that.
Thornton helps a lot with this, as his definition of Art the Clown is now pretty much solidified into horror culture. And he’s wonderful here, nailing the characteristics throughout the whole of the film. Like an unholy mix of Jim Carrey, Marcel Marceau (Google him, younglings), and Wile E. Coyote, the actor grimaces and sells the slaughter without ever making a sound. From pulling a disgusted face when sniffing a severed foot to giving an “aw shucks” shrug when he overhears a comment about his notoriety, it’s all there. As is the sense of malice on his face when he brandishes a hatchet or hammer or mocks the screams of his victims. It’s a canny mixture of the absurd and the sadistic, something which calls back to the qualities that Robert Englund mastered as Freddy Krueger, although it’s done here without any dialogue. All credit to Lavera as well for what she brings to her oppositional role. In certain scenes and during the final act, she brings a huge amount of dynamism and emotion to the role, which is taken into intriguing directions by the conclusion.
There’s a fantastic confrontation between Victoria and Sienna which doesn’t rely on blood or violence, and yet is extremely compelling, bringing a new layer of potential into the narrative. In addition to this, there’s actually some satisfactory verbal abuse hurled at true-crime “experts” and podcasters, which you can’t help but feel is extremely relevant at the moment. However, it has to be said that some of the “old” issues that occurred with the previous Terrifier films also raise their head here. It’s not as noticeable as in Part 2, but despite the best efforts of Lavera and Co, the pace noticeably drags when we spend a significant amount of time away from Art and his gruesome shenanigans. We really could do without the long make-up session or Johnathan having a hissy fit in his college room. It just feels a bit trite and cheesy when we go from Sienna’s emotional wrangles with her niece, and then segue straight into a sequence where someone gets a chainsaw up the ‘jacksie’ or a carrot impaled in their face. Tonally, it’s still like a spaghetti junction at times.
Somewhat oddly, we also get a couple of major characters being despatched offscreen, with their fates revealed in a somewhat underwhelming flourish. Having said that, some interesting lore developments are quite effective. The promotion of the OG victim Victoria to Art’s sadistic sidekick, works surprisingly well, especially with the one-eyed leer and demonic chatter. It’s broadly explained that she is now a host to a demon, most probably the same one represented by the “Little Pale Girl” in the previous movie. With this, and also a vision regarding the origin of Sienna’s armour, it looks like there’s going to be a greater focus on the otherworldly elements in further entries… and yes, Leone has confirmed that Terrifier 4 is going into production. Which is lucky because there’s an “unfinished” quality about this entry. We’re used to having vague teases about Art and his origins, but (without any spoilers) there’s no sense of a any kind of a definitive ending here. Far from it. Leone has even called it his Empire Strikes Back. Whilst it’s cool to look forward to the next chapter, it’s getting a bit tiresome with umpteen projects having this sort of attitude and waiting two or three years for answers, especially when so many of the newer ones get canned early these days.
But aside from that nit-picking, if you liked the previous films, then you’re gonna be grinning at this one for sure. As with parts 1 and 2, there is one murder sequence that always stops the show and tests the vomit ducts. In this case, it’s (as you’ve probably gathered) the shower/chainsaw sequence, which is particularly drawn out and blood-spattered. Steaming viscera and mangled organs are all shot in loving close-ups and with no apologies. This is accompanied by plenty of other bad taste sequences such as bombs in the shopping mall, hammers on the hand, and rats in the throat. It’s the sort of stuff that will have non-horror numpties questioningly look at you and say, “Why do you watch stuff like this?!”. Ignore them. This is cathartic and cartoony genre work at its best. And we all know we’re rooting for Sienna and need to see Art get his comeuppance at some point. It’s modern exploitation done right, made with love and respect for the community. I’d like to point out that at my screening, no one passed out and no one barfed on the person in front of them, but most people did leave with a smile on their face and chatted enthusiastically about it. That probably says more about it than bad publicity or stained cinema seats in the long run. Art-Full entertainment.
