Terrifier 3 (2024) Review

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

They say the holidays can be a scary experience. That can be because they either go through intense shopping for their loved ones, or saw a scary movie like Terrifier 3.


PLOT


The 2024 film takes place following the events of the second film. Art the Clown has been reincarnated thanks to the same entity of the Little Pale Girl possessing one of the disfigured victims, Victoria Heyes. When escaping the asylum she was held in, they hibernate in an abandoned house. Five years later, they awaken thanks to demolition workers that were meant to tear the place down. Elsewhere, final girl Sienna Shaw has been from a mental health center to stay with her aunt Jess for the holidays. Jess lives with her husband Greg and their daughter Gabby. The latter idolizes her aunt, but is unaware of her past traumatic experience. Although her brother Jonathan is doing well in college, Sienna still has survivors guilt to the point where she hallucinates seeing her dead friend Brooke, who she feels responsible for. Art continues his bloodshed by shooting a bartender and a customer at a bar, before killing a Santa Claus impersonator with liquid nitrogen and taking his costume. In the costume, he kills a family nearby. The following day, he spots Sienna at the mall but focuses on posing as a mall Santa to kill multiple people in line with an explosive. When Sienna visits her brother, she meets his roommate Cole (Mason Mecartea) and girlfriend Mia (Alexa Blair Robertson). The latter has a true crime podcast and pressures the siblings to participate in an interview of their past experience, but the elder sibling rightfully lashes out about it. She then tells her brother she saw the clown and that demons can come into our world when possessing hosts like Vicky. As she prefers returning where she left the sword that killed Art before, the clown kills Jonathan & Mia on campus with a chainsaw. When she sees the news of what happened at the mall, she calls her brother to come home and warns the rest of her family they're not safe. When Greg goes to collect Jonathan on her behalf, she dreams of her father Michael (Jason Patric) giving her the drawing that would become her adult costume in the second movie. When she wakes up however, Art & Vicky have arrived, already killed Greg & Jonathan. She tries to run for Gabby, but the clown knocks her out with a mallet. She wakes up again tied to a chair and Gabby is held hostage. Art & Vicky then kill Jess by hammering a tube down her throat, shoving rats down it and finisher her off by slitting the throat. As Vicky intends to possess Sienna after planting a crown of thorns of her, but Gabby begs for her to open her christmas gift before she does so. Unbeknownst to the villains that it is her sword. The final girl uses it behead Vicky, but her blood burns through the floor and opens a portal to Hell. As she falls in, Gabby does too despite her cousin's efforts. As Sienna vows to get her back, the film ends with Art fleeing through a window and boarding a city bus. 


THOUGHTS


Writer/Director/Editor Damien Leone has been on top of himself when it comes to crafting impressive shock value in the horror genre and exceed himself each time. In a bigger budget, he’s able to top himself again with all the expected gore and then some. Even if you’ve seen past horror movies where people get annihilated by chainsaws, explosives & liquid nitrogen, you’re still in disbelief in how that happens. In my opinion, it was the tube that shocked me the most for almost saying that was unnecessary until realizing that’s the point. All the makeup effects done to bring the atrocity is incredible and it’d be hard to ignore when this is what makes most slasher films stand out. David Howard Thornton still owns it in being as sadistic as you’d expect because Art dressed as Santa is what you expect if Freddy Krueger were to do the same, he’s furthermore relentless since he kills kids here. The bonus is going to be Stefani Scadidi Is off the hinges as Vicki who lets go of her morality due to how she lost acceptance from her disfigurement. She may not be as violent as Art, but she sure doesn’t hold the back when she gets the chance to eradicate what’s around her. With these villains getting all the worse with their actions, it’s a relief we still have protagonists that reminds us viewers to keep staying true to yourself when the going gets tough. That is still the case with Sienna because Lauren LaVera showed her to still hold things down within despite feeling she’s at the brink of losing her grip. One by one, losing her family was breaking her because she know how alone she’d be without him. We see Elliot Fullam actually try to move on better than her shows that people cope with tragedy differently, which makes it sad he bit the dust just when he was getting comfortable being himself again. Margaret Ann Florence & Bruce Johnson were also awesome in portraying Jess & Greg as consenting relatives who stuck out for her, but still felt grounded of the stakes in taking care of someone coping with trauma when they’re already taking care of their own kid. It’s easy to love Gabby so much the way Sienna would because the young Antonella Rose is dead on enthusiastic & curious like any other kid her age and just wants to get her better. While she did cross a little bit of boundaries by reading her cousin’s diary after being told not to, but still had her back when it came giving her a chance to arm herself against danger. As much as I think it’s disrespectful to snoop holiday gifts, it was sure a clever Deus ex machina in this case. Knowing how innocent Gabby still is, Sienna officially has nothing left to lose and will literally go through hell & back again to save her, whether or not the fourth film officially concludes the franchise. This movie gives the right amount of a bonkers good time, but there still were some moments that confused me as I watched along. For starters, even if the little girl in the opening believes in Santa, her mom should've taught her strangers aren't allowed at their homes no matter the time. Had she learned that, she could've saved her family. And if we're gonna get into continuity errors, Gabby doesn't even have glitter on her face as Sienna says she does. Moving on, what would Art & Victoria do if the construction guys didn't show up? Would they remain dormant and the story never happens or would someone else appear to get the story moving forward? I have to ask since it feels like they were waiting for someone to show up. And what are the odds Art went to the same mall as Gabby, only to not kill her sooner? Since he uses a bomb later, I don't see the point of him not making a scene here. Personally, it was on Jonathan to have lunch with his sister on campus. I know college campuses can be huge and it becomes pure luck for Mia to see them both, but if he knew how desperate she'd be to interview her, they should've had lunch off campus. It's also on him to judge Sienna calling out Mia's greed since he knows they're both survivors of a traumatic experience. The big mistake Sienna makes is burying her sword. I know it was her attempt to put the past behind her, but if she's still seeing things, she should know that ain't worth burying. And how long of a break did that Santa have for Art to hijack the mall anyway? Since Gabby went from the mall to Jonathan's college, that had to be about more than an hour. That's more confusing than the kids falling for the clown's scheme when they should be scared shitless a clown is posing as Santa. It then felt weird Sienna picked Pictionary to play with her family, yet she didn't remember the rules. I'd pick a game I know if she wanted to win. She even makes the same mistake calling for Gabby. Art could've not known she was there and would've still survived if she focused on fighting the clown. On top of that, it's totally on Vicky to allow Sienna to open her only gift which ends up being her sword because she doesn't toy with people the way Art does. In hindsight, she should've not untied her to let her open it at all. Lastly, Art should've killed Sienna the moment Gabby falls in. Knowing she's the only one to defeat him thus far, that action should've been a must. Other than that, you will remain petrified of the holiday experience that Terrifier 3. If you're not into ideal holiday flicks, see this now.