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Film: Terrifier 3
Year: 2024
Director: Damien Leone
Writer: Damien Leone
Starring: Lauren LaVera, David Howard Thornton and Antonella Rose
Review:
This is a film that I wasn’t as excited for as others. I’m glad that people are stoked for this series and I join them in the fact that Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) is a great and creepy villain. I first saw this character in All Hallows’ Eve which wasn’t great, but a decent anthology. Now I did catch this on the opening Thursday since my week lined up perfectly.
Synopsis: 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.
Now we get a great hook, I’ll give the movie that. We are in the home of a family. I know that the mother is Jennifer (Krsy Fox). She and her husband woke up because their daughter thought she heard something. Jennifer puts her back to bed and then checks the house. She does find the front door unlocked. She scolds her husband for this before going to sleep again. This proves to be fatal as Art the Clown, dressed as Santa Claus, wreaks havoc.
This then goes back 5 years prior, starting where the last film left off. Art’s decapitated body is found. It makes its way to the hospital where Vicotria Heyes (Samantha Scaffidi) is kept. We see what is going on there as her and Art return to his lair. They lay dormant until the wrecking crew shows up. This seems to wake up this duo.
Now running concurrently to this is Sienna (Lauren LaVera) getting picked up from a mental hospital by her uncle, Greg (Bryce Johnson). She is staying with him, her aunt Jessica (Margaret Anne Florence) and her cousin, Gabbie (Antonella Rose). This little girl adores her. These two seem to be as thick as thieves when they spend time together.
Sienna’s brother is handling things better. He is enrolled in college and his name is Jonathan (Elliot Fullam). His roommate is Cole (Mason Mecartea). He is seeing Mia (Alexa Blair Robertson). She is into true crime and fascinated about meeting Jonathan. She invites him on to her podcast as their best episodes are about Miles County Clown, which is the name that is given to Art in this area.
We see then from here that Sienna is a work in progress. She is taking her medication, but she is seeing things. It doesn’t help that word is getting around about her being out, making life more difficult. Art is also out. We see how he got his Santa outfit when he meets Charlie (Daniel Roebuck) at a bar. He hangs out with him, Eddie (Bradley Stryker) and Smokey (Clint Howard). Eddie is the bartender and thinks there is something off about this clown. He isn’t wrong and this is just another stop along the ride of mayhem, that is directed back toward Sienna.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that I did enjoy this film more than the previous installment. This one is a bit shorter, not by much, but this did work better for me. Part 2 gave story elements and then left unanswered questions. I don’t fully think this answers all from what was asked during the sequel. What I’ll credit here though is that it officially confirms Art is supernatural and that he just seems like a constant evil that can only be defeated temporarily.
Now that I’ve said that, let me start with the positives. Since I’m a story guy, I’ll start there. This story works for me if I’m honest. I love that we get more information as to the ending of Terrifier 2 with Victoria in this hospital and why Art’s head is there. Victoria being the villain that she is now is something else that works for me. It is a great idea that the torture Art put her through in the original and her becoming a villain makes sense to me. She is broken by what happened that she now wants to inflict pain on others. I’m also glad that this officially confirms that Art is supernatural. I had that idea since All Hallows’ Eve, but this is more of expanding on a character that isn’t necessarily the same.
I also thought about what they did with the Sienna story line works. Her being messed up by what she went through makes sense why she’d be in the hospital like she was. It is also good to see that people process in different ways. Jonathan didn’t go through everything that she did, but he did lose his mother and his sister is committed. He is keeping it together. Wanting to be on a podcast isn’t something that he’s interested in, but he’s timid and wants to fit in so I get not just saying no. Jessica wants to help her niece where Greg is leery. I also thought setting up Gabbie like they do was good. She gets caught in lies and is a snoop. How they use that worked for me. I’ll say here, this was surprisingly well written for this subgenre of films.
Next will be a negative though. I do wish that someone else would edit these movies. Much like with the previous one, it runs too long. I think getting this trimmed to one hour and forty-five minutes, it runs tighter. If they could get it closer to 90 minutes, this might be one of the best slasher films ever. My problem is that we go away from things for so long that I lost interest. When Art is on screen, it’s magic. I do need to know more about our characters, but it just don’t have enough to warrant the runtime in my opinion.
Now since I brought up filmmaking, let’s finish out there. The effects are amazing here. They went practical with everything that I could tell. This is where it shines. If you know me, when it comes to slashers, I look for good characters or kills. This is a brutal film. It goes places I didn’t expect and it doesn’t pull its punches. Credit there and I’ll also include the cinematography. They’re able to hide the seams with the framing. Everything looks so real that it is great. No issues there. I’d even say that the soundtrack fit what was needed, giving almost a slasher heyday vibe. Something else here is that the sound design is also on point.
All that is left then is acting. I do like LaVera as our lead. There was just one spot where I thought she overacted, but with films in this subgenre, she isn’t close to what I’ve seen. This includes ones that I love. I’ll acknowledge this as a nitpick. I do like bringing back Fullam in a smaller role. Bringing in more family was good with Rose, Florence and Johnson. They all worked. Thornton is amazing as Art. How well he can mime in this just makes the character that much creepier. Scaffidi plays off that as well. She is an interesting ‘sidekick’ to him. I also thought that Robertson, Mecartea, Fox, Stryker and the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed. I also love the cameos by Howard, Roebuck, Chris Jericho, Jason Patric and Tom Savini. Glad to see them here.
In conclusion, I fell in the camp that I enjoyed this one more than the previous one. I have enjoyed all three of the movies though so there is that I just don’t love them. The showcase here is how great Art the Clown is as a villain and the kills are just brutal. The realism there is great. I thought that we had a solid cast of characters and the performances fit. This is made well from the cinematography, framing to the soundtrack and design. My biggest gripe is that they just run too long. I do recommend supporting this film, even if I don’t love it. I’ll try to rewatch before my end of year list.
My Rating: 8 out of 10