Terrifier 2 became infamous during its 2022 theatrical run for causing moviegoers to vomit or pass out in the theater, and Damien Leone is leaning into that with a third installment of the horror series hitting the 2024 movie calendar. Art the Clown is back in the new sequel Terrifier 3, a Christmas-centered story that will continue to follow the survivors of the first two movies as well as the killer clown. Critics have seen the upcoming horror movie, and there’s no indication Leone has toned down the gore.
The bloody opening sequence alone is causing walkouts, and after watching Art the Clown play with blood in the trailer, it’s not hard to imagine why. David Howard Thornton is back in the role of the murderer, with Lauren LaVera, Elliot Fullam and Samantha Scaffidi also reprising their roles from the first movies. Let’s see what critics are saying, starting with CinemaBlend’s review of Terrifier 3. Nick Venable rates the slasher flick 3.5 stars out of 5, calling the film a jubilantly gruesome gorefest. He says:
Shifting the holiday-specific shenanigans from Halloween to Christmas, Terrifier 3 definitely comes across as a step up from the first two films by way of production design, location changes, and number of ways to completely fuck up victim’s bodies. We also get honest-to-goodness B-movie cameos even outside of Chris Jericho’s return, causing a few ‘pinch me’ moments to make sure it isn’t all just a tinsel-covered fever dream.
Jamie Graham of GamesRadar sees CinemaBlend’s “jubilantly gruesome” 3.5 rating and raises it a “gleefully nasty” 4 out of 5 stars. Terrifier 3 may have a bigger budget and more plot, but these are the same grindhouse vibes, including a shower kill scene for the ages. Graham writes:
Writer/director/creator Damien Leone makes the most of the midwinter setting (along with all the Christmas decorations and carols), while the fantastical elements add welcome flavor. They cleanse the palate between a slew of limb-lopping, face-peeling, innards-spilling gags that will likely have another wave of patrons vomiting, passing out and calling an ambulance.
Kim Newman of Empire muses that the third installment goes further over the top than its predecessors and pushes more buttons than you’d think possible. Rating the movie 3 out of 5 stars, Newman says:
Leone is good at sketching in set-up scenes, so the doomed souls aren’t just obnoxious disposables, which adds a layer of cruelty to his gruesome approach. The horror of the _Terrifier_s combines the explicit, practical-effects gore of 1980s video nasties with the tied-to-a-chair-and-abused licks of 2000s torture porn. It’s the cinema of throwing Christians to the lions, but — hey — that was a popular draw too.
Jacob Hall of SlashFilm calls Terrifier 3 “one of the nastiest horror movies ever made,” noting that this is for people who want a movie to push themselves to some kind of limit and deliver an experience destined to be genre legend. Though the film really defies a traditional rating system, the critic goes with a 7 out of 10 and says:
It’s literally impossible to recommend Terrifier 3, a horror movie so nasty and nightmarish that it’s bound to be an endurance test for even genre buffs with the most hardened nerves and strong stomachs. But it’s also easy to admire Terrifier 3 and what writer/director Damien Leone has accomplished. Many horror movies aim to be transgressive, to shock and disgust, but here’s one that actually manages to pull it off. It pushes your buttons with such deadly force that your inner machinery breaks –– you cannot believe what you’re seeing. One can never accuse this movie, or this franchise, of taking the easy path or softening its edges to make for a safer, more palatable experience. Here’s a horror movie that declares itself to be dangerous, and actually delivers on the promise.
Matthew Jackson of the AV Club gives the threequel a B+, calling the Christmas iteration the best Terrifier movie yet. The critic continues:
If Terrifier was a gorefest frustratingly short on emotion, then Terrifier 2 was an overstuffed epic that leaned a little too hard into its human characters, drifting a bit as it tries to find the right balance. With Terrifier 3, balance has struck. These films still aren’t for everyone, and Art is still gleefully painting the walls with intestines and severed limbs, but the latest film in Leone’s slasher opus is the best of the bunch so far, thanks to strong performances and some truly harrowing moments.
If the critics’ opinions and all the warnings to bring your barf bags aren’t enough to convince you just how gross this movie is, consider that even Art the Clown almost lost his lunch during filming. If you think you’ve got the stomach for Terrifier 3, you can catch it in theaters starting Friday, October 11.