Terrifier 3: Movie Review

Cast: Lauren LaVera, David Howard Thornton, Antonella Rose, Elliott Fullam, Samantha Scaffidi
Director: Damien Leone

Already blasted as ultra-gory and controversial, Damien Leone's uncompromising vision of the chaos wrought by the soon-to-be iconic Art the Clown continues.

But - and whisper it - in among the entrails used as tinsel on the Christmas tree, and limbs being severed in among the splatter - Terrifier 3 is nothing without the clown and also its final girl Sienna (LaVera). Because in among the blood spree is a slow-moving drawn-out story that borders on frightfully dull at times - and panders more to an audience au fait with previous films.

Taking up after the end of Terrifier 2, Art The Clown (a brilliantly physical Thornton) returns to Miles County to wreak havoc once again - but this time among the Christmas period.

While some of the plot concerns itself with deepening the mythology of the demon world in Art the Clown's life and the ongoing psychological effects on Sienna after surviving thus far, most of the glee that Terrifier 3 is held in deserves to be laid upon the myriad of practical bloody effects and close ups that Leone applies.

From hands being smashed to chainsaws, from genital mutilation to stigmata via a side order of child destruction and threatening, Leone's serious about visual edges - but at the expense of a narrative which is scattershot at best. Whilst LaVera impresses in the role, Terrifier 3 belongs 110% to Thornton, who revels in the needs of the physical.

Be it clowning around or muted menacing, Thornton's OTT facials add much to the story's atmosphere and are probably what have upset so many censors and concerned individuals. While some evil is written off by quips or comments in other films, Leone's refusal to lighten the tone of his villain other than via moments of levity is to be commended - and it's here the sadism and menace comes to the fore. 

Perhaps it would have been better for Art to apply a chainsaw to the whole film - a trim in parts could have made it more effective and less drawn out. (Though admittedly, this is the kind of genre film that's best served by a crowd and their collective reaction.)

Because ultimately, among all the furore and anger over Terrifier 3's uncompromising vision of gore, there's a better film waiting to emerge - rather than a series of gloriously gory kills strung tediously together by very little else. 

Terrifier 3 will premiere at the Terror-Fi Film Fest on October 30, before getting a wider release from November 7.