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I liked the original Terrifier. Sure, it was torture porn, but it was well done. It was nice to see a movie that had practical effects. Art the Clown was a little cheesy, but interesting. I was put off by the poster for a while but ended up liking it.
Then Terrifier 2 came out. It had a bigger budget, but the effects stayed practical. It introduced me to Laura LeVera, which was fine, and it was more of the same. The downside was that it was too long.
Now we are up to Terrifier 3. Art the Clown is back and it’s now more of the same more of the same. To be honest, I wasn’t all that interested in this, but I wanted to give it a chance. I like Damien Leone, the director.
Terrifier 3 stars Laura LeVera, David Howard Thornton, Antonella Rose, Elliot Fullam, Samantha Scaffidi, Margaret Anne Florence and Bryce Johnson. Leone is the writer and director.
The Story
I had to check because I have only seen the second movie once, but I was sure that Sienna (LeVera) killed Art at the end of it. It turns out that an little evil clown girl took Art’s head and ran off. Art is one of those characters that will never die, but I will come back to that later.
We start off with Art’s body killing a cop and wearing the head. Meanwhile, in an asylum, the previous victim Victoria is now possessed by the evil little clown girl. She has just given birth to a new head for Art.
She ends up slitting her wrists, putting herself and Art into a dormant state. Five years later Sienna is released from another asylum. Art gets “reactivated”. It’s all set around Christmas and Art dresses up as Santa and kills people. I will get on to the ending in a moment. There will be spoilers.
*Spoilers*
I don’t know if I’m getting older or less tolerant but Terrifier 3 was too over the top, even for me. There’s one point when the FURB’ed Victoria is frigging herself with a shard of glass. This is while Art scalps a cop. All of this is in graphic detail.
The end of the movie was laughable. Art and Victoria have Sienna tied to a chair and Art mangles her hand with a hammer. Two seconds later, she picks up a sword and fights them both, with her hands working perfectly.
Sienna’s niece ends up hanging on for dear life over a gateway to hell. What’s the best thing to save someone hanging over the edge of somewhere? A sword, obviously! Sienna holds the blade end with her messed up hands. #rolleyes
OK, I know this isn’t exactly set in reality, but even something like Halloween or A Nightmare on Elm Street put in the effort around details. I was laughing by the end of Terrifier 3.
*More Spoilers*
The other main issue with Terrifier 3 is that they explain Art the Clown. In the second one, Sienna “kills” him with a magic sword. In this one, we find that Art is a demon and Victoria is helping him find a body he can possess (I think), and she needs the magical sword again.
I liked the first movie as none of this was explained. Art was immortal, maybe, a demon, maybe, not knowing was half the fun. Here, the whole thing is “midichlorianed” and it really took the mystery out of Art.
The Gore
As I said, this is yet more torture porn and it just didn’t impress me this time. I think I might finally be maturing, but it was just blood for the sake of blood. The story is ultimately paper-thin, so there is not much to hold your attention.
One guy gets a chainsaw to his nether regions. You see his penis getting the treatment. I mention this because there is a naked girl in the scene, but you see nothing of her. Like all of the scenes in this movie it is too long. The torture porn, the dialogue, all of it is just dragged out. I would say you could cut a good 40 minutes out of this.
As I said, I like Leone, but he needs help with his scripts, and someone to do another draft.
Overall
(Sigh) I feel for Leone. He created a great character and it’s now looking like it’s going to be flogged to death. The annoying thing is, Art can’t die… well, not until the money runs out.
I thought the first two Terrifier movies were well-made and good fun, although a little over the top. Seeing a third come out would usually be fine. Let it be a good trilogy, but no, there’s going to be a fourth, then a fifth, and then we’re going to get Jason Kills Art on Elm Street: With guest star Michael Myers.
At least something like A Nightmare on Elm Street leaned into the camp in later movies. From about the third one onwards, it became about the creative kills and Freddy’s one-liners. They got sillier and sillier, which was fine, it just made them fun. There’s no “fun” in Terrifier 3. Everything is still taken pretty seriously. If there is humor I didn’t see it, and I have a pretty dark sense of humor.
I hope Leone goes on to make something else, he’s a damn good director, but I don’t want to see another Terrifier. When the fourth comes out, I just won’t bother. We know that won’t stop the ‘stans’ of Art going to see it in vast numbers, demanding more. We can’t enjoy new IPs anymore, it’s just sequel after prequel after reboot after spin-off.
If you liked the first two, you should enjoy this one. Personally, I like to see something new and original, as in a new IP, not just another story about the same characters.
I give Terrifier 3 a generous 2 stars. I want to say it finishes the trilogy off nicely, only it won’t.
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