(Cineverse)
Cineverse, 2024, horror/fantasy, 125 minutes
Grade: 3 out of 4
Terrifier 3 puts the Christ back in Christmas.
Not the baby Jesus who stars in so many Nativity setpieces, or whom Ricky Bobby chooses to pray to as his preferred avatar of the divine. We’re talking Mel Gibson style, beaten to a bloody pulp in a crown of thorns Jesus. Terrifier 2 opened up its standard slasher story into a grander mythology pitting demonic Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) against Valkyrie-ish Sienna Shaw (Lauren LaVera); Terrifier 3 clarifies with its imagery. On Sienna’s side is an extremely creepy sentient Virgin Mary statue and and an Uruk-Hai-like superatural blacksmith; on Art’s side is Hell itself. Jesus Christ may not be specifically name-checked, but his imagery is all over this slasher threequel, which is ironically the most faith-based seasonal film you’re likely to see in a theater this year outside of explicit propaganda like Pure Flix fare.
Art seemingly faced certain death in the previous film under the supposed rules of the cosmic battle, as he was decapitated with a holy weapon above a hellmouth. A grotesque mid-credits scene revived him in a strange way – let’s just say Sienna probably should have killed the Little Pale Girl as well. Alas, the lovably demonic sprite isn’t back for another round; her evil spirit has opted instead to enter Terrifier 1 victim Vicky(Samantha Scaffidi). Vicky goes through a few changes, first into a more zombified, Bernie Wrightson-inspired form, and later into Art cosplay; she remains a rare horror movie creation who’s unsettling merely to look at, and that’s before she starts masturbating with glass shards.
Writer-director-makeup artist Damien Leone’s frightening creations remain a primary draw, as his monster characters are truly frightening to the eye, and his signature effect – digitally superimposing an actor’s eyes onto a mutilated corpse puppet – remains an effective illusion to short-circuit the viewer’s rational side. We know, intellectually, that people aren’t really getting bludgeoned to death, but that simple practical-computer blend mixed with Leone’s detailed prosthetics makes the reptile side of our brain wonder, if only for an instant, how the hell the trick was done.
The story’s less ambitious this time. Simply put, Art and Sienna gear up for round two after five years apart. She’s been undergoing treatment for trauma; he’s been sitting motionless in a rocking chair, biding his time. That time turns out to be Christmas, with Sienna finally emerging from treatment to celebrate with her surviving family. Art appropriates a Santa suit in order to better blend in during the holidays, as he and Vicki attempt to get Sienna’s attention with ever more conspicuous killings they know she’ll recognize instantly. It’s not really a spoiler to say the movie ends on a cliffhanger – there is a climax with sufficient cathartic energy to serve as such, but neither Sienna nor Art scores even a temporary definitive victory, which will presumably fall to the next installment.
Leone’s working with a much bigger budget this time, but it doesn’t necessarily show. The cinematography is more saturated and grainy, which is a surprise since he’s expressed a preference for digital previously. And the run time is shorter, as a mandate and a response to (absolutely wrong-headed) complaints that two and a half hours was too long for part two. As a result, there’s some awkward editing (also by Leone), with at least two significant plot points happening offscreen. In the meantime, some of the kill scenes of your basic slasher-fodder redshirts go on way too long. Art’s known for taking his time, which is fine, but we don’t need to take forever getting to know doomed randos before Art even shows up, especially if it means that as a result, a more major character’s death is never shown. In a movie where the raison d”etre is the kill scenes, and the added plot is the secret sauce, that’s not a thing that should happen.
Another editing issue affects how the viewer may consider the stakes – two major climactic sequences can easily be misread as dreams because we see Sienna sleeping right before them, and this setup has been used to establish dreams in the saga previously. Fans will probably watch the film more than once anyway, but there’s still that nagging possibility in the back of my mind that Leone could pull a take-backsie in part 4, Dallas style.
The main effect of the increased budget seems to be better locations, more extras, and a couple of celebrity cameos – Clint Howard and Daniel Roebuck aren’t the world’s hardest gets, perhaps, but Jason Patric as Sienna’s previously unseen dad is a decent score. Those paying attention to the entire franchise may learn a little more about Art, as well – a scene in the first film that hinted at his having mommy issues makes sense in conjunction with one here where he seems genuinely excited to see Santa, and briefly lets his inner child go wild. (According to Thornton, he based his body language there on Will Ferrell in Elf). It’s best not to worry about how his body functions – he urinates twice during the events of the movie, yet he’s managed to sit motionless in a chair for five years?
Art nonetheless remains his horrible, lovable self, and the most personality-driven slasher-killer since Freddy Krueger, even while remaining as silent as Michael Myers. Killer clowns are a dime a dozen, but a killer mime, well…Damien Leone has perhaps worked a miracle in making that most hated of public performance arts into a character trait we can’t get enough of. Terrifier 2 remains the masterpiece in the series, but 3, while not as successful in upping the story ante, is more than just another sequel.
If you’re new to these movies, perhaps it needs to be emphasized that Terrifier movies are no holds barred…well, almost. Thornton insisted that no kids be given slow, brutal mutilations on camera. Kids can still die, and they can still die slowly…you just won’t see it. Sienna, based on Leone’s sisters, never gets objectified, but she does get tortured, inspired by Catholic imagery and the true crime photos the director’s real sisters used to show him. The Saw movies used to unfairly get called torture porn, but the Terrifier films might embrace it – they revel in the damage that can be done to human bodies, and spurt fluids like no other, with equal-opportunity harm to all genders. Leone may bow to producer pressure when it comes to runtime, but will clearly never bend on the gore score. Mutilation is his art, and his Art.
Hey, somebody’s gotta make Christmas movies for the sick-ass Grinches among us.