Film Review: TERRIFIER 3 (2024): Art the Clown Returns in an Offbeat Gorefest Strictly for Fans of This Franchise
Terrifier 3 Review
Terrifier 3 (2024) Film Review, a movie written and directed by Damien Leone and starring Lauren LaVera, David Howard Thornton, Antonella Rose, Elliott Fullam, Samantha Scaffidi, Margaret Anne Florence, Bryce Johnson, Alexa Blair Robertson, Mason Mecartea, Krsy Fox, Luciana VanDette, Clint Howard, Bradley Stryker, Daniel Roebuck, Chris Jericho, Tom Savini, Jason Patric and Alex Ross.
Terrifier 3 brings Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) back to the screen in the third entry in director Damien Leone’s goofy, but still frightening, horror series. The piece de resistance of this film is the scene where a key female character opens a Christmas gift and it turns out to be a sword which she uses to fight back against the film’s vicious killer, Art the Clown. How does she fight Art when he comes back with a chainsaw? It’s sword against chainsaw. That’s the mentality of this movie which is certainly inspired but too graphically gory for most tastes. You’d have to be a die-hard gore fanatic to enjoy the movie although there are some comical scenes which work better than was expected. It’s just that the film never seems to care enough about the heroic characters it portrays. Art’s running the show here and fans would probably have it no other way.
Art has a twisted, female companion by his side, Victoria (Samantha Scaffidi), in many scenes of this new film. Both of the characters are equally vicious and bond with rats for some particular reason only Leone probably knows. The human characters mostly consist of brunette females who are hard to tell apart at first. Sienna is a survivor of Art’s rampage who is suffering from what appears to be PTSD and she’s played decently by Lauren LaVera. The young Antonella Rose plays child Gabbie who is put in jeopardy towards the film’s conclusion. Rose probably turns in the best work of the featured cast as Gabbie seems innocent enough to deserve to evade Art’s maniacal antics which in turn will lead the audience to root for her to survive.
A funny scene has Art the Clown in Santa Claus gear interacting with children. Nobody seems frightened by his scary appearance until the parents take notice and try to send him on his way. Good luck with that. Another humorous set of moments have Art putting on his nutty shenanigans at a bar with other patrons. But, in reality, these scenes just fill time in-between the gruesome killings, one of which is set by a shower and has slicing and dicing of the most graphic caliber. Limbs seem to come off a little too easily in this film.
Terrifier 3 is not without some artistic merits. Art is a creative character in a twisted sort of way. This is not a boring movie but it’s not fun to watch either. It exists somewhere between watching entertainment for fun and watching something for shock value to see just how far the filmmakers will go. Setting the film around Christmastime and releasing it now was a good idea just so people don’t say it’s obscenely disrespectful to the holiday even though it is. Had it been released closer to the holidays then people would have certainly complained much more.
Terrifier 3 has its fun as it slices and dices its victims which feels horrific at first until, for example, the skin rips off a victim in a funny fashion that lightens up the picture a bit. I didn’t like the gratuitous gore which felt like overkill, but this movie will have its fan base eating it all up apparently. One wonders why Art has become such a big horror movie villain and if there’s a sole reason I can pinpoint, it’s David Howard Thornton’s quirky efforts which are maximized to full effect to create the ultimate creepy psycho killer.
In the end, for a two hour-plus movie, there’s not much else to say about Terrifier 3 except that it will keep audiences intrigued as long as they can tolerate the gore. The bond between Art and Victoria is explored here in scenes that boggle the mind but have some relevance to the overall nature of the plot. I’m not exactly sure why these two co-exist as demented psychos so well but they do and the director just wants audiences to go with that.
Terrifier 3 will definitely keep audiences on their toes as they laugh and squirm in their seats throughout each and every gross-out sequence. That’s not an endorsement, though. I cannot recommend this film for people who haven’t yet seen the franchise or are going into this series for the first time. But, for people who have already been initiated into these films, go have fun. Bring your vomit bags. Whatever floats your boat.
Rating: 5.5/10
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