Deck The Halls... in Blood and Guts: Terrifier 3 (2024) Review

Directed by: Damien Leone

Notable Cast: David Howard Thornton, Lauren LaVera, Antonella Rose, Elliot Fullam, Samantha Scaffidi, Margaret Anne, Bryce Johnson, Alexa Blair Robertson

The slasher sub-genre of horror is something I've been a huge fan of since morbid curiosity took over as a young boy, sneaking off to my cousin's house to watch the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street films; I've always enjoyed a good on-screen massacre. What that says about me, who knows, but I do know what I like it and I feel over the decades, this avenue of horror has had many ups and downs. Here in this point in time, Damien Leone and friends are really bringing out the goods with his demented and twisted take on the genre in the form of the Terrifier films. 

I have been digging these since the beginning. I did miss out on All Hallows' Eve, but many Art fans have been visiting those retroactively, and for good reason. Art the Clown, everyone's favorite demonic circus act, has launched himself into the stratosphere alongside the likes of any of the aforementioned horror series' icons. David Howard Thornton, who dons Art's tiny hat, clearly pours his heart and soul (I know, I know) into every frame he is in, and his charismatic killer clown is at a series best here in Terrifier 3, where he takes our good friends from the second film, and give them a nice little Christmas break. Here's to the holidays.

Drop On By the Clown Café: Terrifier 2 (2022) Review

Director: Damien Leone

Notable Cast: Lauren LaVera, David Howard Thorton, Elliot Fullam, Sarah Voigt, Kailey Hyman, Casey Hartnett, Catherine Corcoran, Amelie McLain, Charlie McElveen

 

Although I was inherently struck with the original Terrifier with its stylish and utterly nihilistic take on the slasher genre, it’s a film I had not revisited since reviewing it for Blood Brothers in 2018. Not that it didn’t do an admirable job in modernizing the genre while simultaneously delivering a throwback 80s over-the-top slasher, but the genre just isn’t my personal favorite. However, the now infamously cult favorite villain Art the Clown did deserve a sequel in true slasher fashion, and the fact that it took 5 years for Terrifier 2 seemed like it was unjustifiably long. 

 

It’s a damn slasher, how hard is it to write and direct a sequel? The first film was devilishly simple, so the sequel could do very little and still be successful. 

 

Now that Art is back, returning with writer/director Damien Leone who gets his name above the title, it became very apparent why it was taking so long for Leone and company to deliver the sequel. Terrifier 2 is so much more than its predecessor. Not only does this brutal beast run a whopping 138 minutes (an unheard-of length for a slasher film) but it’s taking the franchise in some bold new directions. It’s still hitting the elements of success from its predecessor, but it’s smartly pushing the franchise forward into some gloriously delirious and vicious new places - and nailing it. 

 

The Blood Splatter: 2018 Horror Vol. 1 [The Midnight Man, Terrifier, Pyewacket]

THE MIDNIGHT MAN (2018)

Director: Travis Zariwny

Notable Cast: Grayson Gabriel, Emily Haine, Gabrielle Haugh, Summer H. Howell, Keenan Lehmann, Louise Linton, Meredith Rose, Robert Englund, Lin Shaye

The reason why I’ve called you into my office today is that, well, to put it nicely, we need to talk about The Midnight Man. Recently, there has been some speculation that The Midnight Man could have been a good movie. Really, there is potential here. It has a fun monster/game concept at its core, it features a couple of roles for horror elite actors, and the production value is sharp. The problem with it is not how it looks from the outside. It’s the inside. The Midnight Man has one of the thinnest and most illogical scripts I’ve had the pleasure to experience in a long time, the performances of the two/three leads are perplexing at best (jaw droppingly awful at worst,) and the film has a confusing tone. In all honesty, I spent the entire run time of the film desperately trying to figure out if it was meant to be funny. If it was, I didn’t laugh. If it wasn’t, boy, I sure feel awkward that this is how it came out.