Art the Clown is a "love letter" to all the horror villains Terrifier 3 director idolized as a three year old

Art the Clown has entered the ranks of slasher movie icons after his brutal, bloody crime sprees in the Terrifier franchise. 

That puts him alongside the same kinds of killers that director Damien Leone idolized from the tender age of just three years old. "There wasn't a light bulb moment where he just came to me full on, as is," Leone reflects of Art's inspiration in the new issue of SFX magazine, which features Terrifier 3 on the cover and hits newsstands on October 2. "It was a little more gradual. But it's really just a steady diet of horror films since I was three years old. Literally. My mother named me after The Omen. True story. She was obsessed with horror movies. She loved that name. So I knew since I was very young, like two years old, that I was named after this horror movie, I was named after the Antichrist.              

"I would watch horror movies with my mother – she was very liberal in that regard, she would let me watch pretty intense movies," he continues. "I really fell in love with slashers, boogeymen. I became so familiar and so obsessed with that genre in particular, where those were my heroes. 

"So just consuming that my entire life almost inadvertently spit out Art the Clown, like I had to give something back. He's essentially a love letter to all of those characters."

Not a subscriber to SFX? Then head on over here to get the latest issues sent directly to your home/device!

Terrifier 3 releases this October 11. Read more in the latest issue of SFX magazine, which features the horror movie on the cover and will be available from Wednesday, October 2. 

For even more from SFX, sign up to our newsletter, which delivers all the latest exclusives straight to your inbox.

You can check out our list of the best horror movies to fill out your watchlist, or keep up to date with upcoming horror movies heading your way in 2024.