Terrifier 3
SIGNATURE
Clowns are an inherently scary idea to a lot of people. There's precedence for this stretching back many years and plenty of high-profile storytellers have used this to their advantage, most famously Stephen King for IT. Dameon Leone takes this concept and ramps it up to eleven, without really breaking a sweat, and creates one of the most sadistic serial killers in film currently, that just so happens to also be a clown.
Terrifier 3 is not for everybody with stories of showtime's featuring audience members fainting, puking, or worse at the sight of so many ghastly images propelled forward by flawless prosthetic work from Christien Tinsley. His company, Tinsley Studio, takes even the most twisted aspects of Leon’s script and brings it to life with pleasure and glee. There is no shortage of blood, limbs, and carnage available on screen here for its horror thirsty audience and that can all be thanks to these insanely talented individuals behind the camera.
Unfortunately, while the technical aspects of this film can be quite strong and have overall helped this series reach such mainstream appeal, the script and story department leave much to be desired. This is an ongoing issue with this series as each entry seems to get longer, but the lore itself stays extremely thin. Lauren LaVera is absolutely incredible here, as she was in the 2nd as well, but the actual material that she works so hard to bring to life is mostly surface level, borderline juvenile. The introduction of themes such as PTSD, survivors guilt, and the damage done by True Crime obsession could breathe some emotional weight and life into the fledgling plot, but it's really just carried by the performances of LaVera and Elliot Fullman, who plays her younger brother Johnathan.
Now, those aren't the only performances worth shouting out as the antagonists of the film Art the Clown, played astoundingly by David Howard Thornton, and Victoria Hayes, Samantha Scaffidi, are nothing short of excellent. Art the Clown has entered the pop culture zeitgeist in an amazing way that only the best of horror icons have done. Thorton’s performance has joined the likes of Robert England, Tobin Bell, and Kane Hodder to quite possibly stand the test of time. Whereas Scaffidi may not be changing the nature of horror performances, like Thorton, but she had to evolve her performance in fascinating ways over just these two hours with some real depth being shown by her through the grotesque makeup covering her face.
Now, it's important to discuss the extreme violence present in this franchise that does not hold back in the 3rd installment. The 2nd film received some, much deserved, backlash due to falling into the trappings of its genre and focusing heavily on some very disturbing violence against women; the film features brutal stabbings, live skinnings, and just overall very disturbing material that will not work for many people. The gleeful nature of this violence will absolutely be a turnoff for many audience members. While Terrifier 3 does take steps towards rectifying this and spreading Art’s carnage to all different genders, and surprisingly ages, it is worth noting that this issue is still prevalent during much of this film's runtime.
Terrifier 3 does make some solid leaps towards being a more digestible franchise, but it really does have a long way to go in its 4th, and supposedly final, installment to being something that could stand the test of time. While Art the Clown is certainly a pop-culture icon at this point in time it is worth noting that these films did not begin to break out until Leone took steps towards adding some meaningful themes and lore to the overall story present. Terrifier 3 is worth checking out if the audience present is interested in some mightily impressive gore, or finding out just who the hell this “Art the Clown” even is. They may be pleasantly surprised by there being some semblance of deeper filmmaking, and writing, and that may just prove to be just what this franchise needs before its next installment. Dameon Leone needs to understand that if he doesn't keep expanding on the characters, lore and backstory he is going to lose his audience. It seems that he may finally be learning just that.