- Release year: 2024
- Director: Damien Leone.
- Producer: Phil Falcone.
- Screenplay by: Damien Leone.
- Cinematography by: George Steuber.
- Music by: Paul Wiley.
Synopsis: a psychotic clown dressed like a mime goes around killing people during the Christmas holidays.
Shotgun Commentary: forget logic, just go with the flow… of guts and meat chunks.
Review
Terrifier 3 follows Sienna and Jonathan’s lives in the aftermath of Art’s attack. As a background for this pretty lame story, Art is back for Christmas, like tinsel or gingerbread.
The main difference between this instalment and the others, other than the holidays Art decides to party on, is the terrible storytelling. The content is incredibly unbalanced, making the story feel longer than it actually is, but more on this later.
Kids are the future
The feature has a pretty strong opening, with the massacre of a family on Christmas due to their complete disregard for the youngest’s claims of someone being on the roof. It’s not often that children are killed on screen, an old-fashioned sensitivity that has no place in a world more than used to children’s real-life death due to war crimes and irresponsible gun policies.
As such, it is so rewarding to finally see a slasher catch up to modern times. We are more than used to seeing teenagers, middle-aged people, pets, and even old folks killed for the sake of some gory fun, why should children be the exception?
Almost logic, but not really
Sadly, right after that very Art-like mass murder, the film goes into a slumber following Sienna (Lauren LaVera) and her exit from a mental hospital. She goes to her aunt’s home to live with her aunt, uncle, and fangirl of a cousin. During this time, you learn that her aunt has no personality or character at all, her uncle is a judgemental d*ck, her cousin has no regard for personal space or private property, and her brother is still as cringy and overall uncomfortable to watch as usual. In the meantime, Art kills four people and still drags around Victoria (Samantha Scaffidi), who apparently is possessed.
The only reason why Victoria is immortal and acts so erratically seems to be because she has been possessed by a demon, but demons can only enter a body when someone really evil dies. So, presumably, she got possessed when Art died, but wasn’t he a demon from the beginning? Apparently not, apparently his ability to tolerate extreme pain without a single sound is a perfectly normal thing to do and all the times he got up from being essentially dead are just… good stamina? Anyway, she’s possessed, but then, what the hell is Art? How did he get up again? If he’s not a demon, what is he? You shall get no answers in this instalment.
Cameos and minions
What you do get is an obviously larger budget for the story. Better visual effects, more detailed scenarios, etc. The franchise is getting big and popular, so much so that you even get a Tom Savini cameo in there!
Regrettably, the more they try to give this gratuitous killing a plot or a reason to be, the worse the stories get. Giving Art an accomplice was a fun twist for one film, especially since she was a mini version of him and her presence was pivotal for the plot to work. However, is Victoria really necessary at this point? Not so much. Sure, she is absolutely disgusting to look at, but otherwise she is just a spoiled woman who like to insult people while killing them.
If there was something absolutely AWESOME about the Terrifier movies, is that you didn’t have to endure those long-ass monologues about the killer’s plans, mommy/daddy issues, ridiculous threats or demeaning comments. No, he came, he killed, he left. That was it. No muss, no fuss. The little girl’s appearance in Terrifier 2 (2022) respected those silent rules, even if she did use her voice to trick people, but Victoria trumps the whole practical killing deal with her non-stop yapping, making even the final showdown kind of annoying.
All in all, Terrifier 3 is an okay sequel. It doesn’t complete spoil the saga, but it doesn’t come close to the previous films. The deaths are few and boring, the pace is completely off, the narrative is unevenly loaded, and Art has no funny moments at all, which kinda takes away from his main personality trait.
Advice to take from this movie:
- Even evil spirits need to pee… A lot, apparently.
- Don’t write off your kid’s allegations, check the cupboard, and under the bed, and any other claims, just in case.
- A good balls squeezing is effective for both living and dead villains.
What’s your take? Have you watched Terrifier 3? Don’t hesitate to let me know your thoughts in the comments section below, or leave a message in my contact page! For more reviews and cinema-related articles, check out the rest of my blog! 😀