Terrifier 3 review: "Fans will rejoice at its gleeful nastiness"

Terrifier 2 grossed more than $15m on a $250,000 budget, and the franchise’s serial-killer antagonist, Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton), is now joining horror icons Leatherface and Pinhead in Call of Duty. So, with mainstream pull established and Terrifier 3 boasting a whopping (relatively speaking) seven-figure budget, we can expect the series’ taboo-breaking gore to be diluted, right?

Wrong. Picking up where Terrifier 2 left off, this chapter sees 'Final Girl' Sienna (Lauren LaVera) emerge from a psychiatric centre to return to the town of Miles County. She’s reunited with niece Gabbie (Antonella Rose), while her younger brother Jonathan (Elliott Fullam) is in college. Only Sienna isn’t the only one back in town – the resurrected (again) Art returns just in time for Christmas, and his sack of gifts includes a Stanley knife, an axe, a mallet, a gun, a chainsaw, and worse.

Adding more plot and mythology to the franchise allows for torture survivor Victoria Heyes (Samantha Scaffidi), last seen giving birth to Art’s decapitated head in Terrifier 2’s mid-credits sting, to enjoy a far bigger, Bride of Frankenstein-type role. 

Writer/director/creator Damien Leone makes the most of the midwinter setting (along with all the Christmas decorations and carols), while the fantastical elements add welcome flavor. They cleanse the palate between a slew of limb-lopping, face-peeling, innards-spilling gags that will likely have another wave of patrons vomiting, passing out and calling an ambulance.

The gleeful nastiness will be too much for many. Fans, meanwhile, will rejoice as Art wraps intestines around a Christmas tree like tinsel.

Terrifier 3 is released in US theaters and UK cinemas on October 11. 

For more, check out our guide to upcoming horror movies.