Movie Review : Terrifier 3 (2024)

Some movies can’t logically live (and even less thrive) outside of super dedicated countercultures. Anything too dark or violent or even too sexual is, by definition, condemned to live on the genre cinema festival circuit and streaming platforms. The gore-soaked Terrifier movies should not be the hottest thing in theatres, but here we are. Terrifier 3 has not only obliterated the level of popularity of its predecessor, but it obliterated costlier competition and became somewhat of a cultural phenomenon.

It’s more fucked up than a lot of fucked up stuff I’ve seen and normies love it. What the hell is going on?

I have not seen Terrifier 1 and 2, but you don’t need to in order to appreciate Terrifier 3 for what it is. It’s basically the story of a demonic clown named Art (David Howard Thornton) who comes back from a decapitation (not kidding!) in order to haunt his old nemesis Sienna Shaw (Lauren LaVera) and by that, I mean kill, desecrate and mutilate the bodies of everyone she’s ever known. Seriously, that dude (and his ghoul Victoria) care about nothing except absolute fucking carnage.

Is Terrifier 3 a good movie?

Kind of? I mean, it functions more like a haunted house than an actual movie, but Terrifier 3 is technically impeccable and creates more genuine thrills than your standard jump scare factory. It’s the small things, like how it uses sound. In the opening scene, Art walks into a home on Christmas eve dresses as Santa and just the sound of his footsteps juxtaposed to the context of the movie was enough to get me creeped out. Not going to spoil what, but there’s a cool rocking chair trick soon after too.

Screenwriter and director of Terrifier 3 Damien Leone knows he’s in the spectacle business and it’s exactly what he provides. I’m surprised that such an utterly brutal film is enjoyed by the masses, but it is so brutal that it kind of becomes conceptual again at some point? There’s so much gore and violence early on that it stops having an effect at some point (nothing got me after the broken glass masturbation scene until the final confrontation), but the intent behind the torture, mutilation and murder kind of does?

Let me explain: on top of being a genocidal maniac, Art is also really cruel. Especially towards Sienna as his goal with her is not murder and death, but rather to force her to abandon her convictions. He wants her to turn evil. His efforts culminate in a lengthy and painful final confrontations where the ideas Art has to torture Sienna are creepier than the torture themselves. For example, he keeps slapping her behind the head. It’s not unnecessary and the slaps are so hard and loud, it becomes unnerving.

The Appeal of Raw, Unfiltered Violence

I mean, there’s not much to Terrifier 3, but a series of senseless graphic murders, so there’s isn’t all that much to talk about there. It’s not deep, but it’s thrilling in its own roundabout way. I understand why the crowds have stampeded to see this movie unlike they’ve stampeded to any gore horror movie before. It’s the movie your parents thought Texas Chainsaw Massacre of Friday the 13th was. It’s a cultural boogeyman. It’s the adult equivalent than coursing through a haunted house as an eight years old kid.

People are going in not expecting a movie, but some kind of viral endurance test they’re heard about online and Terrifier 3 is very honest about that and the nature of what it’s supposed to deliver. Even if the characters are super well-written for what they are, there’s no attempt at complex emotional storytelling whatsoever and only two people are granted a semblance of interiority, Sienna and her niece Gabbi (Antonella Rose). The rest is fair game for the murder and destruction we’ve all paid to see.

*

I’m just glad that not only a movie like Terrifier 3 exists, but that it’s way more popular than it has any right to be. It’s not a quick cash-in, it’s kind of a one trick pony, but it’s really smart and thorough in the way it delivers its fastball. Is it ugly? Absolutely. Is it depraved? Your bet your ass it is. Is it revolting? The level of abuse at the end warrants the use of this qualifier. But Terrifier 3 is boogeyman. It’s an object of fearsome power and it’s not all just in the way it’s presented. It packs a mean punch and serves its purpose.

7.4/10

* Follow me on Instagram to keep up with new posts *