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Terrifier 3

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Terrifier 3 is a 2024 American horror film written and directed by Damien Leone. The film stars Lauren LaVera, Elliot Fullam, and David Howard Thornton. It is a sequel to Terrifier 2 (2022) and is the third installment in the Terrifier franchise.

Plot[]

After being decapitated by Sienna Shaw, Art's headless body makes its way to the asylum where survivor Victoria Heyes, now possessed by the Little Pale Girl, has just given birth to his head. They kill a nurse and a guard before fleeing to an abandoned house. Victoria smashes her face into a bathroom mirror and uses a glass shard to kill herself in a bathtub, and Art sits in a rocking chair in the attic; the two become dormant.

In the present, Sienna is released from a hospital to stay with her aunt Jess, who lives with her husband Greg, and their daughter Gabbie, who idolizes Sienna but has no knowledge of the events. Sienna is suffering from survivor guilt and frequently has hallucinations of her deceased best friend Brooke, whose death she feels responsible for. She struggles to reconnect with her younger brother Jonathan, who is now in college trying to move on with his life. Art and Victoria are woken from their slumber when two workers stumble upon their bodies in the house. The duo gruesomely kills the workers, and Victoria begins working on a costume, while Art ventures off on another killing spree. Art meets a Santa Claus impersonator at a bar and murders him and other patrons. Art the Clown invades the home of a family during the Christmas season and brutally murders them. Art then impersonates a Santa at a local shopping mall and uses explosives disguised as gifts to slaughter several shoppers, including children. Sienna sees Art at the mall before the explosion, but her family does not believe her.

Sienna visits Jonathan at his university, where she meets Jonathan's roommate Cole and his girlfriend Mia, who hosts a true crime podcast. Mia pressures Sienna and Jonathan to participate in an interview about the Miles County Massacre, but Sienna refuses. Sienna confesses to Jonathan that she thinks Art is still alive, showing him letters he wrote to her while she was in the psychiatric hospital stating demons can be reborn through a host, like Victoria. She also tells Jonathan she plans to return to the Terrifier haunted attraction to retrieve her father's sword. Art arrives at the university and kills Cole and Mia with a chainsaw while they are having sex in the showers. Sienna learns about the mall killings on the news and panics. Greg leaves to collect Jonathan while Sienna falls asleep; she dreams about the angels crafting her angel warrior costume. She wakes to find Art and Victoria, now dressed in a clown costume, have invaded her home, and Art incapacitates her with a mallet.

As Sienna regains consciousness, she sees Greg's body pinned to the wall, and Jess tied up across from her. Victoria shows them a skinned head consumed by rats, telling her it's Gabbie's, and then Art kills Jess by hammering a tube down her throat, forcing the rats in her throat with a blowtorch. Art suddenly enters with Gabbie as a hostage, and Victoria reveals to Sienna that the head is Jonathan's. Victoria places a crown of thorns on Sienna's head and tries to possess her, but she resists and manages to open a gift, stabbing Victoria with its contents, her father's sword. Sienna decapitates Victoria, who disintegrates. Art attacks Sienna with his chainsaw, but she gains the upper hand. Victoria's blood burns through the floor and creates a portal to Hell. Gabbie falls and holds onto the edge, and Sienna leaves Art behind to save her. Sienna fails to save her, and Gabbie falls into the abyss with the sword. Art flees through a window and boards a bus while Sienna vows to find and rescue Gabbie.

Cast[]

Production[]

Pre-production[]

Casting[]

In December 2023, it was confirmed that David Howard Thornton, Lauren LaVera, Elliott Fullam, Samantha Scaffidi, and Chris Jericho were all set to reprise their roles. In April 2024, it was confirmed that Daniel Roebuck was set to appear as Santa Claus in Terrifier 3. In May 2024, it was announced that Tom Savini was set to appear in Terrifier 3. In June 2024, it was announced that Jason Patric was set to appear in Terrifier 3. In July 2024, it was announced that Antonella Rose, Krsy Fox, Clint Howard, and Jon Abrahams were set to appear in Terrifier 3.

Filming[]

In May 2023, it was announced that Terrifier 3 was expected to begin filming in November or December 2023. Principal photography began in February 2024 and wrapped in April 2024, with additional scenes completed in New York until early/mid June. Leone chose to shoot the film using Panavision anamorphic lenses with the intention of making the film look like a, "vintage John Carpenter movie".

Marketing[]

A teaser trailer for Terrifier 3 was announced in October of 2023 and was to be revealed during the theatrical re-release of Terrifier 2 in theaters. It was later revealed on November 1, 2023, and featured Art the Clown in a Santa costume murdering a young child, who wanders downstairs after hearing the sound of Art placing presents under the Christmas tree. The poster for the film was also revealed by Bloody Disgusting, however had previously leaked on Twitter.

The release date for Terrifier 3, October 25, 2024, was revealed during the theatrical re-release of Terrifier 2 on November 1, 2023, but was later bumped forward to October 11, 2024 instead after filming wrapped.

A teaser trailer with duration of a full minute was released in late July 2024. The theatrical poster of Art wielding a blood-stained axe and the official trailer were launched in late August 2024.

A popcorn bucket featuring Art's head with a Santa hat was first featured in September 10, 2024, before becoming available to pre-order through AMC Theaters as well as Cinemark and Regal Theaters on September 18, 2024.

Print and advertising costs were under $1 million, as the film was largely marketed to Cineverse's Bloody Disgusting fanbase and 80 million streaming subscribers across 30 channels. Additional costs to acquire rights were covered by a loan of at most $3.67 million, with the lender receiving 15% of royalties, capped at $6.4 million.

Distribution[]

Cineverse announced in June 2023 that they had acquired the rights to distribute the film in North America with a theatrical release. They also announced that it was to release on streaming on their Screambox streaming service.

Release[]

The film was originally scheduled to be released theatrically on October 25, 2024. In May 2024, the film's release was brought forward from its original release date to October 11, 2024. In August, it was announced that the film would have its world premiere on opening night at the 2024 Fantastic Fest on September 19. In September, the film was announced to be playing in select Theatres on October 10, 2024, as a double feature with Terrifier 2, followed by a music video presentation of the film's official song "A Work of Art" by Ice Nine Kills, featuring System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian. The song was officially released as a single in tandem with the film's theatrical release on October 11. The film was never submitted for a Motion Picture Association rating, out of concern that it would earn an NC-17 rating.

Reception[]

Box Office[]

Terrifier 3 has grossed $53.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $35.7 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $89.7 million.

In the United States and Canada, Terrifier 3 was projected to gross $12-18 million from 2,514 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $8.2 million on its first day (including an estimated $2.6 million from Thursday night previews). It debuted to $18.9 million, topping the box office. As an indie film, Terrifier 3 notably placed ahead of DC Comics holdover Joker: Folie à Deux. According to The Hollywood Reporter, theater chains treated the unrated film as an R-rated film, turning down attendees 17 or younger if unaccompanied by a parent or guardian; two distribution sources speculated that more people saw the film than reported, theorizing that a "noticeable bump" in the earnings for The Wild Robot that weekend was the result of teenagers buying tickets to The Wild Robot and then sneaking into screenings of Terrifier 3. The trend continued into the film's first Monday, during which it earned $2.6 million, bringing its four-day total to $21.5 million. In its second weekend, the film made $9.3 million (a drop of 51%), finishing in third. The film then made $4.8 million its third weekend, finishing in sixth.

In France, the film opened number one box office on its first day with 45,000 admissions, more than other horror films like Saw X (35,000) and Smile (33,000). In Poland, Terrifier 3 sold nearly 140,000 tickets during its opening weekend. In Mexico, the film grossed $1.5 million on its opening weekend, despite being a rare D-rated film by the RTC.

Critical response[]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 79% of 112 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "Taking an axe to yuletide cheer and everything else in its path, Terrifier 3 is a bloody fantastic stocking stuffer for the holiday season." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 61 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Writing for Slant Magazine, Rocco T. Thompson described the storyline as being "half-formed" but praised the leading performances and the practical effects. Thompson highlighted Scaffidi's performance in particular: "it's the surprisingly spooky Victoria Heyes who emerges as the film's villain MVP, what with the overwhelming Art often playing second banana in their scenes together. Through it all, Scaffidi exudes a chilling sense of evil from beneath pounds of prosthetics." Thompson also noted that LaVera brought "emotional intensity to the narrative" in her portrayal. In a review for The Austin Chronicle, Richard Whittaker highlighted the film's continued worldbuilding, the transgressiveness of the Art character, and Victoria's expanded importance as a villain in the series. Similarly, Matthew Jackson of The A. V. Club praised the script and the performances of Thornton and LaVera. Jackson stated that LaVera "cements herself as one of horror's brightest new stars with her second time out as Sienna Shaw." In a positive review for IndieWire, Alison Foreman highlighted the script as "confident and comfortable." She praised the development of both Sienna and Victoria, describing the latter as Leone's "secret weapon." Foreman states that the film gives the two characters "plenty of story to carry."

International responses[]

France's Classification Committee banned viewers under the age of 18 from seeing the film, the first time such a ban had been issued since the release of Saw III in 2006. There were also reports of audiences vomiting and leaving theatres after watching the film's opening scene in the United Kingdom. Another report consisted of two people passing out during a screening of the film in Australia.

Future[]

In 2023, Damien Leone spoke about plans for a potential fourth Terrifier film, which was eventually confirmed to be in development in September 2024.

Trivia[]

  • The original ending of Terrifier 2 set up Victoria's demise in the opening of this film, but Leone deemed it to be too similar to the concept of Malignant.
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