SPOILERS for Terrifier 1-3 (2016-2024) and All Hallows’ Eve (2013).
Terrifier franchise director, writer and producer, Damien Leone first created Art the Clown for his 2006 short film The 9th Circle. A second short film titled Terrifier (2011) expanded into the 2013 anthology film (and Leone’s feature film directorial debut) All Hallows’ Eve (starring Mike Giannelli as Art and Katie Maguire, who went on to play talk show host Monica Brown in T1).
Terrifier (T1) was released in 2016, and, despite its low budget of $35,000 and mixed reviews, the film quickly rose to cult film status. Its 2022 sequel Terrifier 2 (T2) became an unexpected box office success, grossing well above its estimated $250,000 budget. The highly anticipated Terrifier 3 (T3) will be released in Australian cinemas from tomorrow, October 10, 2024.
For the past five years, heroine Sienna (Lauren LaVera) has been recovering in a rehabilitation centre, while her younger brother Jonathan (Elliott Fullam) is now living in a college dorm with his roommate Cole (Mason Mecartea). With Christmas fast approaching, Sienna moves in with her aunt Jessica (Margeret Anne Florence), uncle Greg (Bryce Johnson) and their inquisitive young daughter Gabbie (Antonella Rose) to try and rebuild her shattered life.
When we last saw Art, a now institutionalised Vicky (Samantha Scaffidi) had given birth to his living head. With his body back, Art wreaks havoc while parading around in a Santa suit.
Like its previous entries, T3 excels in its practical gore effects as well as another brilliant and charming performance by David Howard Thornton as the sadistic supernatural clown. The film also further expands on the lore and mythology of Art, Vicky and Sienna’s mysterious destiny (although presenting more questions than actual answers).
However, it falls into the same trap as many horror sequels by focusing on a popular villain. The kills are great, but some have little to no impact on the story and/or the main characters, so no emotion is felt. Which is not what you want when you’re watching someone get butchered or mutilated (only those seeking some form of sick gratification will get anything out of that).
In my personal opinion, T1 is the perfect slasher film. We know little about Art, and we don’t need to because it’s not his story – it’s about Tara (Jenna Kanell) and Dawn (Catherine Corcoran) with Art merely a catalyst for the story to happen.
We know little about our female leads but we immediately empathise with them – they’re drunk, stranded and vulnerable, and while not all viewers are young females, most people can relate to how walking the deserted streets at night can make someone feel uneasy and looking over one’s shoulder. We the audience instantly recognise that sense of danger, even if there’s none present.
The reason I think that film works so well is because all of Art’s kills hold some weight. Each of them are, for a lack of a better word, good people having given/aided help or kindness – Mike (Matt McAllister) lets Tara use the bathroom and then tries to save Vicky; the Cat Lady (Pooya Mohseni) shows hospitality and compassion; Will (Michael Leavy) arrives to help Mike; and the pizza staff (Gino Cafarelli/Erick Zamora) provide food to our leads while also checking on them. We feel for these characters because we have gotten to know them in some shape or form.
When our female leads get killed off, we are emotionally rattled by those deaths – whether by putting ourselves in their shoes or having spent the first part of the film with them. In one of the film’s most memorable scenes, this makes Dawn’s death especially more shocking, as is Tara’s.
Apart from the supernatural ending, I always felt T1 was scary because Art felt real. Tara and Dawn run into Art by happenstance. They weren’t targeted – and that’s terrifying.
Although bloated, I believe this is why the second film also works well. T2 is Sienna’s story with again, a seemingly chance meeting with Art kicking off the story. Most deaths are centred around Sienna, her friends and family, so there’s also weight when they get killed off because we know in some way that that will have an effect on her, even if we don’t physically see evidence of that in the film, for example the deaths of Allie (Casey Hartnett) and Barbara (Sarah Voigt).
T3 feels like Art’s story except, apart from his thirst for blood, we don’t know enough about him to sustain a full-length movie. They mix in Sienna’s struggles, but overall, it feels disjointed and lacking that extra oomph the previous two films had. T2 also has a plethora of memorable moments, including ‘just the tip’, Allie’s mum’s head used as a candy bowl etc.
Let’s compare two scenes:
In T2, Sienna goes into the costume shop to replace her now burnt wings, and Art taunts her in store. The scene is tense because Sienna is visually uncomfortable. She makes her purchase and leaves, Art follows her and locks the exit door. He then returns to the sales counter. We know Art intends to kill the salesclerk, but we don’t know how or when. He humours him by pretending he wants to buy a novelty plastic horn, before pulling out various weapons from his sack. We the audience thinks he’s looking for a specific weapon, but he instead pulls out a couple of bucks to make the purchase. The audience relaxes – and that’s when Art strikes, and the kill is pretty satisfying. Art even uses the guy’s head in a visual gag to make a kid laugh. The kill was built up, it pays off and there’s humour – the things Terrifier is known for.
In T3, Art goes into a random bar, pushing two girls aside in haste as he’s excited to meet Santa. We’re unsure if he thinks he’s real or if it’s a trick. There is no tension. Santa offers to buy Art a drink, who then proceeds to spit it back in his face as its to his distaste, and then urinates while sitting on Santa’s knee. The barman and other patron comment on Art’s disrespect, so he stands up and shoots them. Art then torments Santa.
You see, the scene in T3 is meaningless. One could argue, well, Art kills the guy at the laundromat and the guy working at the morgue etc., so what is different? Art was in those places for a reason (cleaning his clothes/resurrected). The kills were ‘wrong place at the wrong time’. Imagine the laundromat guy speaking to Art, asking what’s in his bag, why he’s covered in blood etc. in an extended scene. We see the snapped broom and then his body. That’s all we need.
One of the more baffling and pointless scenes in T3 is when two guys find Art and Vicky in a dilapidated house, with Art sitting eerily like the mother in Psycho and Vicky having slit her wrists in the bathtub. Have they been sitting there for five years? Also, where is here? Why is here? etc. The guys are cannon-fodder, mere meat puppets, for Art to slaughter, and it becomes dull.
Similarly with the mall and bar scenes. While, yes, the bar scene shows how Art gets his Santa suit, the same could be accomplished by a quick news bulletin about a clown seen letting off an explosion in the mall or butchering a couple of bar patrons. Both aren’t needed and it feels overly gratuitous and tedious to show these in detail. In fact, some scenes in both T2 and T3 feel included simply for its recognisable (mainly horror) cameos, such as Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), Clint Howard (Ice Cream Man), Jason Patric (The Lost Boys), Jon Abrahams (House Of Wax), professional wrestler Chris Jericho, and make-up and special effects legend, Tom Savini.
Additional scenes seem produced for putting in the trailer. For example, the opening of T3 where Art in a Santa suit invading a family home (and similar is the introduction of the Clown Cafe in T2 which goes on for way too long without payoff). The problem is these seemingly long and pointless scenes don’t feel like they’re adding to or building towards anything, and then the final climax feels rushed in comparison. While this is not an issue if you only want to see a bloodbath (and this does boast the most kills of the franchise), those seeking a satisfying story on top of this may be left bitterly disappointed.
As with T2 (which could be a brilliant film with a tighter edit), I keep thinking about what would make T3 better. This is what I would do:
I would open with Sienna leaving the rehabilitation centre while intercutting scenes between her and her therapist discussing the film’s previous events as well as her fractured state of mind. Things seem to be going well for Sienna and her extended family, but soon things start falling apart when she starts seeing the ghosts of her dead friends and having violent nightmares of Art (hereby re-purposing the scenes of him getting his body back, invading a family home, dressed as Santa at a mall, in the bar etc. but showing Sienna as witness so it connects her to these scenes and we question her sanity).
At his college, Jonathan is popular and goes to a party with a bunch of friends. He later finds Cole and his girlfriend Mia (Alexa Blair) brutally murdered and then gets into a fight with Art and Vicky. He barely survives but then reunites with Sienna and the two make a plan to trap and kill Art, using some kind of research they’ve discovered. The film’s climax plays out almost exactly as in T3 with some tweaks.
While not wholly original, it ties Art and Sienna’s scenes together nicely, so the film doesn’t seem so disjointed. I also think T3 is missing that one distinct kill (like T1 Dawn and T2 Allie). I’ve read people say either Jessica or Cole and Mia. I disagree. Santa/Charlie’s liquid nitrogen death (Daniel Roebuck) is the most vivid to me. They try to humanise him by having him usher away a couple of bimbos and mentioning his wife, kids and grandchildren but again, I felt nothing.
Have I just become desensitised to the violence?
Seeing Art dressed as Santa is a fun gimmick and an excuse to have Christmas-related kills but none of it has any effect on the overarching plot which again is a problem. It’s like Art inhabited the body of Billy Bob Thornton circa 2003 in Bad Santa, but not as good, more extreme and without all the humour. In fact, our cinema only managed a couple of laughs.
One of the biggest controversies in T3 is the depiction of children being murdered – both in the beginning with Timmy (Kellen Raffaelo) being hacked to pieces and the explosion at the mall. None of the other Terrifier films have been this brash. Art, however, does murder children in All Hallows’ Eve so it’s hardly something new. What is new is the addition of animal brutality. It’s brief-ish but graphic, so those squeamish to rats and seeing animals suffer may find it difficult.
Overall, I admire the franchise for its brashness and practical effects, but the film is ultimately just okay. With its estimated $2 million budget, it’s the best looking film of the trilogy though. Also don’t believe the hyperbole of people throwing up and walking out of the cinema… if you’ve seen the previous films, you’ll do absolutely fine.
As T1 (and T2 to some extend) has shown, you can have your cake and eat it too. I only wish T3 could have captured that same magic.
TINSEL and TAP SHOES 