Terrifier 3

Terrifier 3 poster

Christmas lights veiled in snow, the house decorated for the imminent arrival of Santa with four stockings hung above the fireplace, and at three in the morning Juliet wakes her parents having heard strange noises in the house; is he here yet? No, not for another few days, she’s told, yet downstairs by the tree there is a man in a red suit with white trim who from his bag pulls a fine long-handled axe, a gift for all the good boys and girls and their parents.

It’s been five years since Sienna Shaw saved herself and her younger brother Jonathan from Art the Clown on his second rampage; he’s now at college, his roommate Cole’s girlfriend Mia a fanatical pushy true crime groupie who wants to interview a survivor, while Sienna’s therapy is ongoing, taking medication every day to ameliorate the waking nightmares, yet as she prepares to spend the holidays with her aunt and family she is plagued by the dread that the horror is about to start again.

Terrifier 3; Sienna Shaw (Lauren LaVera) realises that the horror she thought she had escaped still follows her.

The character created by director Damien Leone originally introduced in a series of short films later included in the anthology All Hallow’s Eve, Art the Clown now makes his third headliner appearance in Terrifier 3, again played by David Howard Thornton with Samantha Scaffidi returning as Victoria Heyes, the possessed and deformed victim from the first film, while from the second The Well’s Lauren LaVera and Elliot Fullam resume their roles as Sienna and Jonathan Shaw.

The original a straight-forward low-budget slasher with minimal cast and controlled locations, the sequel expanded the production and the narrative, bringing in fantastical elements and setting up Sienna as a champion armed with a blessed sword who would defeat the demonic force of Art, foretold in the visions of her late father Michael (The Lost Boys’ Jason Patric, one of many genre friendly cameos), a role she herself now comes to doubt, antipsychotic drugs and therapy having softened her memories of the trauma yet like Macbeth haunted by ghostly apparitions of guilt at the dinner table.

Terrifier 3; Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) makes sure Mia and Cole (Alexa Blair and Mason Mecartea) scrub all the hard-to-reach parts.

Woken from his deathly sleep, Art the Clown is of course an entertainer and an artiste, not tied to one method of killing, always experimenting and pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved in order to delight his imaginary audience and receive the applause and admiration which is his due, to hear the cheers and gasps as he brings liquid nitrogen and chainsaws to the party, dressed as Santa in a stolen suit and with a single wordless glance expressing who will live and who will die – or, more likely, who he will kill first and then kill afterwards.

Terrifier 3 the first of the series to receive wide cinematic distribution, Leone has not curbed the extreme violence which was the hallmark of the previous films to make the third more commercial, though those expecting an unremitting gorefest will be disappointed in how contained Art’s excesses are, punctuating a film which runs to over two hours, a tale of family and sacrifice set at Christmas but with elements of other mythologies, Sienna playing the part of Cassandra, warning of the coming doom but unheeded by those around her.

Terrifier 3 is currently on general release

Terrifier 3; Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) takes a moment to enjoy what he has created.

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