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There aren’t many boundaries Damien Leone seemingly has left to cross with the Terrifier franchise. Three installments in, Art the Clown has inflicted unfathomable, stomach-churning pain upon his victims, from sawing people in half to inflicting torture with bleach and desecrating people with a chainsaw. Yet, even the horror maestro that Mike Flanagan credited with inventing a new subgenre thanks to his no-hold-barred take on gore has his limits when it comes to depicting violence. In an interview with Variety earlier this month celebrating his latest hit, Terrifier 3, Leone explained where he draws the line with what Art does on-screen.
Extreme gore is a key reason why people flock to Terrifier, especially with Art as the gleeful architect of such gnarly deaths. For something so bleak and vomit-inducing at times, the goal isn’t to go too far to the point that the movies become unfun, however. Even though the third film makes a case for being the most unnerving of the bunch, it lets Art take part in some holiday carnage that lightens the mood a little. Actor David Howard Thornton also helps to give the killer clown a playful attitude that makes him something worth laughing at and fearing as he dances around taboos. That strategy has worked like a charm too, with the film grossing $41.6 million thus far and slaying Joker: Folie à Deux to lead the box office in its debut weekend while also becoming both Certified Fresh and Verified Hot on Rotten Tomatoes.
“I’m always looking for lines to get up to, to push the boundary. Maybe just step right over it,” Leone told Variety when it came to gore. However, he says the limit for what he puts on-screen lies when children get involved. Although Art doesn’t spare kids in his murder spree, the director says it has to be handled with extreme care because of how distasteful and, ultimately, cheap it can be:
“But you can absolutely fall into a level of extreme distaste that I’m trying not to do. There’s a scene in the beginning where Art murders a child offscreen, and you just hear it. I could have shown that and the glorious way that we executed the scene. I would never do that, because to me, that’s just completely off-putting, and you’re going to alienate a large majority of your audience. It’s like you’re trying to shock the audience so much it just becomes desperate. I think it’s my job as an artist to try and walk that line in a more interesting way, in a more responsible way.”
‘Terrifier 3’ Isn’t the End of Art the Clown’s Reign of Terror
The latest film in Leone’s massive horror franchise picks up years after Art was killed and reborn at the end of Terrifier 2. Sienna (Lauren LaVera) and her brother Jonathan (Elliott Fullam) try to put the horrors of the clown’s killing spree aside and move on with their lives, only to be haunted by his pale white visage once more as they try to get into the holiday spirit. With Victoria Heyes (Samantha Scaffidi) now at his side and with a Santa suit to embrace the season, he sets out to make Christmas a brand-new nightmare for the siblings as revenge. His return ends in an epic clash with the franchise’s final girl, Sienna, setting up a fourth film that may be the final installment of the franchise. There’s little known about when we’ll see Terrifier 4, but it will likely follow Sienna’s efforts to save her cousin Gabbie (Antonella Rose) after she falls through a pit into Hell. Whenever it does return, however, there’s no doubt that Leone will look to escalate the violence once more for an explosive finale for a modern horror icon.
Terrifier 3 is currently in theaters now. Check out the link below to see how to get tickets.
Terrifier 3
Terrifier 3 follows survivors Sienna and her brother as they attempt to recover from their traumatic encounter with the sinister Art the Clown. As the holiday season arrives, their efforts to find peace are shattered when Art returns, intent on turning their Christmas into a new nightmare.
- Release Date
- October 11, 2024
- Director
- Damien Leone
- Cast
- Lauren LaVera , David Howard Thornton , Antonella Rose , Elliott Fullam , Samantha Scaffidi , Margaret Anne Florence , Bryce Johnson , Alexa Blair Robertson , Mason Mecartea , Krsy Fox , Luciana VanDette , Clint Howard , Bradley Stryker , Daniel Roebuck , Chris Jericho , Tom Savini , Jason Patric , Alex Ross , Kailey Hyman , Kellen Raffaelo , Lisa Marie Falcone , Stephen Cofield Jr. , Corrine Kelly , Joe Falcone , Peter Mitchell , Marie Maser , Jon Abrahams
- Runtime
- 125 Minutes
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