Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Horrorfest 2024: Terrifier 3

Terrifier 3
Written and Directed by Damien Leone
Starring Lauren LaVera, David Howard Thornton and Elliott Fullam
USA, 2024

Art the clown (David Howard Thornton) is back, and this time it’s Christmas! Welcome to TERRIFIER 3, which is 3x as gross as TERRIFIER and TERRIFIER 2 – but mercifully shorter than its predecessor. At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old man, here’s a quick note to people who make slasher movies – bring ‘em in at 90 minutes, okay?

TERRIFIER 3 is a lot of more of the same, only possibly more artfully (get it?) shot than the first two, as Art the clown continues his kill-crazy (and increasingly supernatural) rampage and the heroes introduced in the second flick (Lauren LaVera and Elliott Fullam) continue to try to stop him. This time around, they have PTSD from the last time around. Character development!

I was sort of hoping this would be the climactic finale of the low budget, high-grossing series or, if not, maybe add something new to the tale. Instead, we’re left with a cliffhanger in a movie that’s mostly just treading water (or blood).

As usual, David Howard Thornton’s performance as the clown is the best thing in the movie, and makes for the first legit new slasher villain that’ll stand the test of time since, like… SCREAM, maybe? But even he’s given less to do. After a great opening sequence his antics, while brutal, lack his usual flair. Also, while having characters we could care about as a novel edition to TERRIFIER 2, recycling the same ones in the same situations with the same resolutions in TERRIFIER 3 is boring.

Will I go see TERRIFIER 4? Yes. Do I have to like it? That’s up to Damien Leone!

 

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