Art is back, and this time he is slaying his way through the snow and decking the halls with guts and carnage as the third instalment in Damien Leone’s clown centric slasher franchise brings a festive flare to the stomach churning violence. Art the Clown dons a Santa suit and continues to slash his way through the holidays, with an abundance of horrific set pieces guaranteed to cause walkouts amongst the mainstream cinema-going audience.
Picking up where Terrifier 2 (2022) leaves off, Terrifier 3 sees Victoria (Samantha Scaffidi) and Art (David Howard Thornton) reunite in the sanatorium where we last saw her giving birth to the killer’s head. Breaking out and leaving bodies in their wake, the pair take up residence in a dilapidated house and it is there they lay in wait for five years until they are re-awoken by demolition contractors.
In those five years, viewers are re-acquainted with final girl Sienna (Lauren LaVera) who has spent her time recovering from Art’s previous attack on her and her family and friends in a wellness centre. When she leaves to spend time with her extended family for Christmas, she continues to be haunted by her PTSD and survivor's guilt. After she sees Art in a shopping mall, she attempts to warn those around her, including her brother Elliot who is now in college, but is met with disbelief. As is typical in sequels, everyone should have really believed the final girl, because as it turns out, Sienna was absolutely correct. Art has returned to transform this white Christmas into one of claret.
With director Damien Leone proving to be hugely influenced by the slashers and video nasties of the 70s/80s, it felt like a natural progression to push the Terrifier franchise into a holiday-themed direction, and the third film wears its influences on its jolly red sleeve, with nods to Bob Clarke’s Black Christmas (1974) and Silent Night Deadly Night (1984). The twinkling christmas lights, christmas card snow scenes and cosy christmas songs are in extreme contrast to the horrific hi-jinks Art The Clown gets up to, which adds further to the shocking scenes which play out. Despite the actual scenes of gore and violence feeling less unflinching than the previous two instalments, Leone has cemented that absolutely nothing is off limits when it comes to the massacre, utilising extremely taboo setups as well as fantastic sound design, and of course, the highest pinnacle of practical effects in order to create nausea inducing set pieces that are sure to go down in horror cinema infamy.
The downfall of Terrifier 3 however, lies in the story. With a lack of much lore development from the second in the trilogy, and what feels like a rushed end sequence, the narration is somewhat perplexing and slightly flimsy. Despite this, the film is still utterly enjoyable, sure to satiate hardcore horror gorehounds as well as thrill curious audiences hoping to discover if Leone’s film lives up to its reputation. With its onslaught of unremitting bloodshed and brutality Terrifier 3 will absolutely leave fans of the franchise begging for more.
4 Screams out of 5