Cert – 18, Run-time – 2 hours 5 minutes, Director – Damien Leone
It’s Christmas and Art The Clown (David Howard Thornton) has been revived, seeking revenge on Sienna Shaw (Lauren LaVera) and her family.
Terrifier 3 confirms more than anything else that this franchise simply isn’t for me. While my dislike for it may not be as strong as that which I have for the second instalment in this growing cult slasher franchise many of the same issues crop up for me.
Art The Clown has been acclaimed as a new horror icon, up there with the likes of Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers. However, his latest outing still seems undecided as to how he should be viewed. Having been resurrected just in time for Christmas he traipses around a town chopping up anyone he comes across – no matter their age. His actions when scenes solely focus on him seem to be seeking a comedic response from the audience. The clown persona is played upon as we know that the snow will soon be coated dark crimson, yet when he confronts and gets closer to protagonist Sienna Shaw (Lauren LaVera) we’re meant to be feeling for her and hoping she and her family can protect themselves once again from the character we’re supposed to have had a good time with on his merciless killing spree.
The kills here are certainly much more brutal than the previous Terrifier outings. Yet, the blood flows so much that they become somewhat unbelievable. Of course, this is a franchise with its fantastical elements, but surely after having had multiple limbs cut off and slashed by a chainsaw you should be dead instead of still crawling away? Diving into the Tom And Jerry sound effects catalogue, the kills often sound plucked from a cartoon (perhaps emphasised by the fact I saw this in a screening where the sound was turned up to 12), both removing some of the severity, likely intentionally, but also just taking away from the otherwise strong-18 rated kills and violence. Art’s mocking laughter and glee becomes sadistic, and at times uncomfortable, and not in ways of fear or tension, during two particular kills which personally feel as if they go too far.
When following Sienna, still living with the trauma of the events five years prior when she believed she had defeated Art, and her brother Jonathan (Elliott Fullam) – hassled by his college roommate’s (Mason MeCartea) girlfriend (Alexa Blair Robertson) for an interview about his experiences on her true crime podcast – there’s a slower pace to the drawn-out proceedings. As a whole the film alternates before fully shifting from being frustrating to boring. LaVera’s character, despite her return, almost feels present simply to build-up to a big finale face-off for Art to try and exact his revenge. Her time in therapy is occasionally brought up, made a big factor of in the early stages as she settles back in at home, for arguments and heated moments with other characters, but as a whole it feels as if she has relatively little to do apart from worry about the possible, and eventual, return of the serial killer clown who acts as the bigger draw for this franchise and seemingly a good portion of its audience.
Set in the build-up to Christmas the setting is less tongue-in-cheek and more dedicated as an actual Christmas film, with the darkness of the killer’s actions contrasting with his joy for the season and Santa, and the general spirit and goodwill of the holiday. Of course, the season is played with as Art himself dresses as Santa in multiple sequences, unloading whichever weapon he feels like playing with from the sack he’s carrying around. No matter the weapon the guarantee is that the kills will be overdone and often prolonged, adding to the confusing mixture of how we’re meant to feel about the actions of the killer who’s plastered all over the posters and advertising. It adds to the film’s extensive bombardment of slasher sequences crawling towards the third act which is rushed through as a final bloody set-piece before the next instalment.
A string of sequences featuring overexaggerated kills, diminishing their effect, Terrifier 3 still doesn’t know whether its sadistic killer is meant to be humorous or fear-inducing. Fans of the franchise will likely be engaged and entertained, but for those outside this is a frustrating and eventually boring 2-hour trudge.
Just A Little Bit Random 