Terrifier 3 opens in theaters October 11. This review is based on a screening at Fantastic Fest 2024. A Christmas-themed slasher in October? Why not? With Terrifier 3, director Damien Leone pays homage to ’80s and ’90s horror icons and the rapidly multiplying, increasingly “ridiculous” sequels that kept their franchises alive.
(Like how Hellraiser, Leprechaun, and even Friday the 13th eventually launched their supernatural killing machines into space.) Leone takes every opportunity to weaponize festive staples and bastardize sainted Christmas imagery, adding biblical and batty layers to Terrifier’s signature, practical-effects bloodshed. By dressing like Santa Claus, silent psycho killer Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) adds a new flavor to his immaculate brand of slasher mutilation – and with Leone overcomplicating his mythology with each new Terrifier, it’s much needed.
Terrifier 3 mirrors Terrifier 2 in both positive and negative ways. It stages jaw-droppingly brutal death scenes (hell yeah) but indulges a story that’s spiraling out of control (hell meh). Lauren LaVera lives to fight another day as beloved Final Girl Sienna Shaw, the "Chosen One" destined to defeat Art.
She's haunted by the unspeakable events of the previous film and obsessed with her quest to kill her grease-painted nemesis, which Leone addresses with a "just roll with it" jumpiness. Sienna repays her generous Uncle Greg (Bryce Johnson), Aunt Jessica (Margaret Anne Florence), and ador.