Fantastic Fest 2024: Art the Clown comes home for the hellidays in Damien Leone’s Christmas bloodbath Terrifier 3

Courtesy Fantastic Fest 2024

This is part of our coverage from Fantastic Fest 2024 in Austin, TX where genre films are debuting before they get wider release. Check out all of our coverage here. 

Clowns. Some people love them. Some people hate them. Some people love to hate them. Other people, like Terrifier filmmaker Damien Leone, want to build the biggest, slimiest, wet with bright red blood shrine to one particular clown that borders on obsessive. 

As luck should have it, things have worked out swimmingly for Leone’s series and for his homicidal, tiny-hat-wearing leading man, Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton).

Leone’s latest entry in the franchise, Terrifier 3, is his magnum opus—though in some ways it’s also a testament to the fact that when you love something this much, it’s easy to lose sight of the finish line. 

If you aren’t familiar with the Terrifier series by now, the third film still serves as an easy entry point. Serial slasher Art is back once again to continue his bloody ways alongside his companion Vicky (Samantha Scaffidi), wreaking havoc as they cross paths once again with Terrifier 2 survivors Sienna Shaw (Lauren LaVera) and her brother Johnathan (Elliott Fullam).

The five years since first encountering Art haven’t been kind to Sienna. When we see her here, she’s bouncing between psychiatric hospitals in a bid to heal herself. After her latest stint, she tries spending Christmas with her Aunt Jess (Margaret Anne Florence), Uncle Greg (Bryce Johnson), and cousin Gabbie (Antonella Rose). It seems like an idyllic setting, with festive decorations, talk of baking cookies, and all things jolly. A little too idyllic, maybe, as Sienna senses an encroaching darkness.

While the original Terrifier was a fun little romp splattered with impressive visual effects, it lacked a narrative. Leone set out to fix that with Terrifier 2, which featured a larger mythology and compelling characters. Leone also upped the gore in surprising ways that translated to attention-grabbing box office receipts for a low-budget movie.

But, as history has shown, when a franchise goes from relative niche recognition to having big-deal limelight and expectations cast on it, it can be tough to match the increased expectations.

Terrifier 3 ups the ante of everything that came before. Leone doesn’t just push the envelope in terms of gore and taste, but gleefully obliterates said envelope and hastily reconstructs it out of viscera and wrapping paper. Some kills in this film will be put on highlight reels for years to come. All are rendered in impressive and sometimes gag-inducing practical effects. The problem is that it’s too much of a good thing—Leone doesn’t seem to know when enough is enough.

Thornton’s performance as Art the Clown is already the stuff of genre legend, but here he launches into a full-body assault of acting that’s as breathtaking as it is startling. His face contorts, twists, and conveys so much emotion. No matter how dirty or grungy he becomes, Art waltzes through scenes with the grace of Gene Kelly and the slapstick timing of Buster Keaton. There’s nothing quite like it. LaVera’s Sienna is left to carry the movie’s emotional stakes. However, as Terrifier 3 rolls along, it delights too much in her suffering, without giving her a chance to breathe.

With as much bloodletting as Leone and Art pack under the Christmas tree, it tries to do the same with the story. In the process, Leone creates an unwieldy behemoth that runs for too long, and ends with an underwhelming cliffhanger that feels like more of a cheat than a genuine thrill.

There’s nothing wrong with a film being a “Part One” of a larger emerging story, though it’s a little frustrating if your audience doesn’t already know that going in. 

The possibility of more Terrifier is always exciting, and even a lesser entry (this writer’s ranking is Terrifier 2>Terrifier 3>Terrifier) is still fun in spurts (sorry not sorry).

Leone’s already shown he can grow from constructive feedback, so perhaps for the next entry he’ll listen to the grinning clown on his shoulder and let someone else take the editing reigns. Sometimes less, even in a series as over-the-top as this one, is more.