Terrifier 3: the murderous clown returns for a mean-spirited Santa slasher

Whether played by Mike Giannelli in Damien Leone’s short film The 9th Circle (2008) or embodied (unforgettably) by David Howard Thornton in Leone’s dedicated features Terrifier (2016) and Terrifier 2 (2022), serial murderer Art the Clown has always been a Halloween guy. So, Terrifier 3 represents a departure for the thrill-killing sadist, who now pulls on the (blood-)red suit and associated iconography of a Santa slasher. The carol O Come, All Ye Faithful, heard during a family’s slaughter at the film’s beginning, is here repurposed as a summoning for the very specific cinemagoing devotees of Leone’s mean-spirited excess.   

Despite the calendar change, and a much larger budget than Art’s previous sprees could attract, there are also certain continuities that tether the clown to his franchise – in much the way that Art ties his victims to chairs (making them, like us, captive witnesses to his depraved doings). Vicky Heyes (Samantha Scaffidi) returns from the first film as Art’s grotesquely defaced partner in crime, while ranged against them once again are the sword-wielding demon slayer Sienna (Lauren LaVera) and her brother Jonathan (Elliott Fullam) from the second film. These siblings must contend not only with their considerable trauma from their previous encounter with Art, but also with a world not unlike ours where Art has become an icon for Halloween costumes and a subject for podcasts.   

Still present and correct is Art’s messily cruel approach to torturous slayings, and his insistence on turning every murder into a piece of pantomimic performance. Art always strives to entertain and be creative in his cullings. The scene from the first Terrifier which both cemented the franchise’s reputation for extremity (while also earning it accusations of misogyny) saw Art sawing an inverted, spread-eagled woman in two from the crotch down. Here that scene is graphically reprised, only with a naked man being chainsawed in half. Whether this counts as victory or loss in the gender wars will come down to the individual viewer, but Leone continues to confront us with the ever-uncomfortable question of not just what we are willing to watch, but why. And there is more to come. A cliffhanger ending suggests that this third franchise entry is no trilogy closer. Art, you see, good or bad, never dies. 

► Terrifier 3 is in UK cinemas now.