“We’re in the same business,” pleads the world’s unluckiest Santa impersonator to an armed-and-ready Art the Clown. “We make people happy. ” Comparing job descriptions won’t save Santa or his cherry-red nose and beard of white from what awaits in “ Terrifier 3 ” — but he makes a decent point.
Returning for a second sequel in this indie-slasher-turned-runaway-train, star David Howard Thornton reprises his role as Art: a supernatural shepherd of theatrical joy. Splatter isn’t for everyone and, even Christmas themed, “Terrifier 3” is intense. But if gore, guts, and go-for-broke horror-comedy are on your pre-Halloween wish list, then Damien Leone ’s best film will slap a smile on your face so big it might as well be held there with meat hooks.
We catch up with Art five years after the events of “Terrifier 2.” Snowy and scary in that cozy “Black Christmas” way, the cold open takes us inside a glowing suburban home where an unsuspecting family is fast asleep. When a Cindy Lou Who type toddles downstairs to find a black-and-white Grinch poking around the tree, she tries to warn her mom, dad, and brother about the intrusion to no avail.
The family may not live to see morning, but together the four holly-jolly meat sacks will signpost the rules of this grim and gleeful next chapter. Yes, Art is killing kids. And yes, he’s still torturing women.
That’s sure to outrage folks who hated “Terrifier 2” — although they have no business seeing “.
