Terrifier 3 Film Review: Bloody, Gory, and Cruel

Terrifier 3 is as bloody and gory as fans of the franchise could hope it to be. But if you want anything beyond that, you may find it too cruel to enjoy.

In Terrifier 3, we rejoin with Sienna Shaw (Lauren LaVera), five years after her defeat of Art in the last movie. She and her brother Jonathan (Elliott Fullam) are still struggling with the trauma of those attacks, with Sienna unconvinced that the war is truly over. Surely enough, Art is back from the dead with his mutilated victim-turned-partner Victoria Heyes (Samantha Scaffidi) to once again paint the town red, pink, and whatever other colors can exist inside a human body. Oh, and it’s Christmas. Because we needed a new bloody Christmas movie that makes Die Hard look like a Rankin/Bass special, I guess.

To make things as simple as possible, if you’re a fan of the Terrifier movies, you’re probably going to be a fan of Terrifier 3. If they’re not your thing, I seriously doubt this one will win you over. I can’t deny that this movie gives you exactly what it’s promising: insane, grotesque, shocking kills unlike anything I’ve ever seen. If you don’t at least flinch once while watching, you’re probably as deranged as Art himself. As these movies get more money behind them, that money goes right back on the screen with some of the juiciest, pulpiest, detailed in-camera gore ever shot. Nothing is held back here. You will believe a man’s face can indeed be pulled over his head … it only gets worse from there, folks.

At the center is obviously Art the Clown, who’s become a new Halloween icon for both his deeds and Thornton’s work in the role. Art is as far removed from the stiffness of Michael Myers as possible. He’s playful, childish, eccentric, and inquisitive while remaining intimidating, and it’s Thorton’s heavily physical performance that fully transforms him into the unforgettable psycho. But just as much credit needs to go to Lauren LaVera. She has twice now stepped up to the plate with a raw, layered performance that holds your attention just as much as the kills. Every ounce of investment I have in the story of Terrifier 3 is entirely on her shoulders … even as the film around her feels like it’s actively trying to lose me.

Here’s something you need to know about me if you didn’t already: I love horror as a genre. I love creative, intense bloodshed in horror that makes me uncomfortable. I’m the same guy who said that Evil Dead Rise was too tame for the series it’s in. It’s extremely rare that I find myself wishing a film could dial itself back in that regard … yet that’s exactly what happened with Terrifier 3. Not because the gore on its own was too much for me, but because it, the story, and the directing are so relentlessly, gratuitously cruel with nothing to make that cruelty worth sitting through.

Most people go into slasher flicks to have fun. The bloodshed is fun for them, and I can usually say the same for myself. But at no point in Terrifier 3 – or the other movies – did I think to myself, “This is fun. I’m having an enjoyable time watching this,” due to the tangible grisliness of its violence. But the movie also has a very prominent sense of humor even in its bleakest moments, so it’s clearly trying to be fun. While that contrast is clearly the appeal for many, it comes across to me like the movie isn’t even aware of how genuinely nasty it’s being to its own characters. 

Terrifier 3 explores Sienna’s trauma and anguish very effectively for a while, but as soon as she’s thrust back into the bloodshed, what does that matter? What are we gaining by watching that when it’s clearly just a gateway to savagely tear her back down for the sake of more splatter? It’s not like Terrifier 3 has a proper ending anyway, since it ends on a cliffhanger after having advanced the overall plot of the series by an inch. I was fed up by how blatantly Terrifier 2 leaves threads dangling for another movie, and I’m even more fed up now that we’re three movies in and are still stuck with such vaguely defined, nonsensical world-building that could have easily been beefed up had we not wasted time on so many gory sequences that mean nothing to the plot.

I know the obvious response to all this: it’s a slasher movie. Of course it’s gratuitous, and of course it’s not story-driven. If that bothers you so much, why are you watching it in the first place? And … yeah, I can’t defend against those points. When it comes to movies, I’ve always been a story-driven person above all else, no matter what the genre is. For all the blood and intestines flying everywhere, I was most drawn to the turmoil in Sienna’s own mind. Leone is surprisingly really good at plunging you into a realm of discomfort and dread, even from a purely psychological angle. But when the transition is then made to the torture porn this series has always gleefully been, the balancing act just doesn’t work for me.

Despite all of that, however, I’m actually glad I saw Terrifier 3. I meant it when I said it gave me a lot to think about, because it made me realize that, for all my love of dark and disturbing stories, I still have my own limits. I’ve now realized that it’s possible for me to find something too intensely cruel and gory when that’s all it has going for it. I’ve realized that I’m always going to look at story and tone first and foremost, and that I can’t turn that part of myself off even when I want to. “Objectively,” I can’t call this a bad movie, but it’s the final confirmation that this franchise is not for me. That’s not something I would have expected given my usual tastes … but in a strange way, I’m comforted to say that.

Terrifier 3 is now available to watch globally in theaters.