Terrifier 3 (2024)

 

Genre: Horror/ Crime

Time: 2h

Director: Damien Leone

Quick Summary: Art the Clown is set to unleash chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County as they peacefully drift off to sleep on Christmas Eve.

I'm pretty sure I had nightmares after watching this

Straight away I'm going to say that if you don't like gore, even the slightest bit, do not watch this. It's torture porn but put up to the most extreme factor I've ever seen. Even for me, it was getting a little much. The guy who directed this really needs to be investigated because some of these kills were insane, and honestly a little fucked up. I had to leave these a day or two before I actually reviewed it too because, aside from the kills I was trying to work out the actual story. It doesn't give us much for the lore of Art the Clown, and it is a bit messy at times.  I do remember somewhere near the end, it suddenly jumps into a whole new area without explaining how certain people got there, or what happened to others that should have been there. Really, this instalment gave us some of the most extreme nauseating kills and gore that I've seen while leaving the story side of things a little meh. 

Again we have a strange blend of mythical high fantasy with grindhouse horror that has been seen in the previous film, but with real-life elements like PSTD and Christmas of all things. The 15-ish minute cold opening of the film is Terrifier perfected. Funny, brutal, and fetishized to an absurd degree. Axe swings and cracking chest cavity sound effects are pushed to the very maximum. I will admit, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to sit through it without crying since they actually showed young kids being murdered multiple times which I usually cannot handle. 

David Howard Thornton (Art the clown) fills the frame with expressive gestures, goofy bits, and unsettling switches in tone. All effortless. Truly an astounding performance. His brilliant use of slapstick and silly facial expressions is what makes him so iconic. Him meeting Santa was hilarious, almost childlike with excitement but the longer the scene goes on, it slowly turns into a horrifying experience. 

Sienna has plenty more to work with as a protagonist and the escalating tension between her spiraling trauma and Art's eventual emergence into her reality is quite captivating. Her acting has definitely improved from her first appearance, the rest of the cast I can't say have though. Elliott Fullam, who plays her brother, I gave no fucks about during this, which is half because of his acting; half his character. Honestly, he was quite insensitive towards his sister when she was being bombarded by a "true crime fangirl" asking her really in depth about her traumatic experience; to then be mad that she was freaking out. As for his acting, it still could use a lot of work. For a low-budget horror film, sure, I don't mind. But this instalment obviously had a lot more budget to it. 

Definite recommended watch, but only for folks that know what they are getting themselves into.

8/10