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Damien Leone’s Terrifier 3 was never going to be for everyone. The previous two Terrifier movies certainly weren’t. For that matter, neither was Leone’s feature directorial debut, All Hallows’ Eve, an anthology film wherein Art the Clown also made his big screen debut. Yet, what the Terrifier franchise has that many other independent horror ventures don’t is a devoted fanbase to both the movies and the instantly recognizable character of Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton). Leone’s Terrifier series thrives off its DIY nature, with the filmmaker wearing multiple hats throughout the production as director, writer, producer, editor, and a makeup artist for the gory special effects.
While the extreme, hyper-realistic gore has been a big part of the appeal, Terrifier has started to make a huge name for itself in modern horror, with huge thanks to the lore that writer-director Damien Leone has crafted. Terrifier 2 blew open the doors on the franchise’s mythology, introducing the supernatural and a true protagonist in Sienna Shaw (Lauren LaVera), a teenage girl who finds herself as the one destined to defeat the pure evil that is Art the Clown. Terrifier is no longer just a slasher franchise; it’s a full-blown saga.
The impressive opening box office of Terrifier 3 has already made it the highest-grossing entry of the series. Additionally, the threequel, which was produced on a mere $2 million budget, shockingly bested the $200 million comic book adaptation that is Joker: Folie à Deux (only in its second week of release) for the number one weekend spot. Thus, it’s safe to say that many moviegoers are eager to see the Terrifier saga continue. But how much more does Damien Leone have in store?
Damien Leone Only Has 2 More Terrifier Films in Mind
Whether you like the Terrifier franchise or not, one question has been lingering in everyone’s mind: just how long can they keep this up? Terrifier 4 has already been officially confirmed by Damien Leone, yet the third film makes significant strides in building out the lore that Terrifier 2 introduced in earnest. Is this a franchise that can continue to justify its own existence and perhaps even get us to a “Terrifier X” where Art the Clown and Sienna Shaw face off in space? In an exclusive interview with DiscussingFilm, Leone had the following to say…
Damien Leone: “On one level, I would absolutely love to see him in space or go to Las Vegas or the Wild West. But I can’t imagine it going past two more movies. For me, personally, as a storyteller, I think that my well is going to eventually run dry, plainly because I pack so much into each movie. These movies have more — I don’t like throwing the word “epic” out there — but they’re designed differently. Many people accuse these movies of having long run times with filler and stuff. I don’t think it’s a justifiable criticism. The things that you love about these movies are the things that are really adding to the runtime. It’s all these scenes with Art the Clown that are very different from the typical slashers.”
How the Terrifier Franchise Stands Out from Modern Slashers
During our exclusive interview, as Damien Leone stated his intention to make two more Terrifier films before wrapping it up, it became clear how much thought goes into the making of just one of these slasher extravaganzas. It’s easy to categorize them as slashers with an extra helping of gore, but what’s stuck out about Terrifier 2 and 3 is simply how jam-packed they are. Leone explained his creative process this way…
Damien Leone: “Like your typical slasher villains, if you condense all their screen time, they’re probably in the movies for about 8 minutes total. You know, the clown is essentially a star of these movies. His kill scenes could go on for five minutes. His foreplay scenes with the victim, when he’s messing with them before he decides to attack, could go on for about four minutes, and those are the set pieces that everybody loves and talks about. You want as many of those as you can put into the movie before you get desensitized. So, it seems like all the filler in between — what we call filler, all the scenes with your human characters that you’re trying to empathize with — is adding to the runtime. It’s really not. It’s really all the stuff with Art the Clown that makes this an unorthodox thing.”
Damien Leone Reveals Possible Terrifer 4 and Terrifier 5 Runtimes
Damien Leone seems acutely aware of criticisms of the runtime of Terrifier 2. Although that sequel became a cultural phenomenon in its own right, it came in at a whopping 2 hours and 18 minutes. Part of that included a lengthy mid-credits scene featuring the reintroduction of the first film’s final girl, Victoria Hayes (Samantha Scaffadi), the resurrection of Art the Clown, and wrestler Chris Jericho.
In a massive sequel that juggled grotesque kill sequences — the bedroom scene where Art rubs salt on a character’s wounds is the stuff of legend — with introducing significant new story elements as well as our new franchise protagonist, Sienna Shaw, Terrifier 2 might have been a bridge too far for audiences. In response, Damien Leone is adjusting the runtimes further than the already slightly shorter Terrifier 3 (which clocks in at 2 hours and 5 minutes) for the next Terrifier sequels…
Damien Leone: “I could want to make one more movie, but I have so many set pieces, kill scenes, and scenarios that I want to put Art the Clown in where I could wind up with another two-hour-and-30-minute movie. I don’t want that because I know the audience doesn’t want that, either. At least the majority of fans would rather have a 90-minute movie. If that’s the case, then I would probably split them up into, say, two more movies. But I truly don’t see it going on further than that.”
Sienna Shaw and Art the Clown’s Rivalry Will Come to an End
Filmmaker Damien Leone wants to make two things explicitly clear: he knows the ending of the Terrifier series, and he’s also open to the plan changing. In Terrifier 2 and Terrifier 3, Sienna Shaw goes from someone primed to be the traditional final girl to someone with an explicitly supernatural destiny, complete with a magical sword, to defeat Art the Clown. Terrifier 3 pulls back the curtain in a big way on the supernatural aspect of Art, deepening the rivalry between the two. Leone revealed the following about how Sienna and Art the Clown’s intense rivalry will end while still remaining cautious as to being too definitive…
Damien Leone: “I know where the endzone is. I know what the end goal is for these characters and where Sienna and Art the Clown’s finale happens. It’s just a matter of finding out how many movies will it take me to get there. I don’t like setting myself in stone, saying it will be two movies or one, because you honestly never know. I mean, I could have a nightmare tonight where it changes everything, and I’m like, ‘Nope, there it is. That’s the right direction. We’re going to go that way.’ So, until it’s locked and on the screen, you never know.”
Terrifier 3 is now playing in theaters!
Premiere Date: October 11, 2024.
Directed by Damien Leone.
Written by Damien Leone.
Produced by Damien Leone, Phil Falcone, Steven Della Salla, Jason Leavy, Michael Leavy, & George Steuber.
Executive Producers: Lisa Falcone, Matthew Helderman, Brandon Hill, Yolanda Macias, Chris McGurk, Brad Miska, Erick Opeka, Priscilla Ross Smith, & Luke Taylor.
Main Cast: Lauren Lavera, David Howard Thornton, Elliott Fullam, Margaret Anne Florence, Bryce Johnson, Antonella Rose, Samantha Scaffidi, Chris Jericho, Daniel Roebuck, Tom Savini, Jason Patric, Krsy Fox, Alexa Blair Robertson, Mason Mecartea, Stephen Cofield Jr., Clint Howard, Annie Lederman, Bradley Stryker, Jon Abrahams, Phil Falcone, & Kailey Hyman.
Cinematographer: George Steuber.
Composer: Paul Wiley.
Production Companies: Dark Age Cinema, Bloody Disgusting, Fuzz on the Lens Productions, & The Coven.
Distributor: Cineverse.
Runtime: 125 minutes.