TERRIFER 3: Ultraviolent Splatterpunk Shocks Audiences

By Harrison J. Bahe

Art the Clown is set to unleash chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County as they peacefully drift off to sleep on Christmas Eve.

Film is subjective. What one person may find to be absolute trash will undoubtedly be held in high regard by another. Such is the case of the Terrifier film series which has earned a reputation for upping the ante of on screen violence in such sadistic and twisted ways. I was introduced to the Terrifier films with the limited theatrical release of the second film. I had heard so many things from its film festival premiere: audiences were shocked, audiences fainted in the theater, audiences got sick, audiences walked out. All that usual hullabaloo that typically comes from the film’s marketing team to build up the hype. I just had to see what everyone was raving about so I watched it in theaters and— I was blown away by what I witnessed on screen. Coming from a hardcore horror fanatic, I was delightfully shocked at all the depravity unfolding on screen. I knew right then and there that the face of horror would be forever changed and what was considered extreme before was nothing compared to what Terrifier 2 showcased. Then, Terrifier 3 unleashed itself on the world.

Terrifier 3 is  yet another grand entry in the Terrifier films. It ups the ante in terms of controversial subject matter, the goriest deaths you’ve ever witnessed, and even introduces and delves deeper into the lore of who and what Art the Clown is. You see, the thing about long running horror franchises is people always ask me why I watch the sixth, seventh, eighth or ninth entry of a film series. They’ll say that it’s just the same thing over and over again; which is true in some cases. But, until those movies start being bad, then I’ll keep watching them. That’s the single mentality I have when it comes to watching those ongoing Fast and the Furious movies. Terrifier 3 isn’t a terribly made film. It actually has a plot that leads us from point A to point B to point C all the way to its glorious blood-soaked finale. There just so happens to be multiple clever ways to disturbingly end another human being’s life whether it be with a chainsaw, a box cutter, a canister of CO2, a rat, or your bare mitts.

I admire the Terrifier film series not only as a lover of all things horrors but as a filmmaker. Terrifier 2 costs a measly $250,000 to make and had the director creating the special make up effects and shooting the film himself! It went on to gross $15 million worldwide, a glorious victory for an independent feature film. Terrifier 3 cost $2 million to make and so far has grossed $23 million worldwide. Not only is this an absolute win for independent cinema, it’s also a victory for horror films everywhere. It even upended a long standing trend of cinemas rejecting any film that was Unrated. This film didn’t go through the typical channels of the MPAA and thus was never given a rating. However, it opened in over 2,500 theaters nationwide and dethroned the misfired Joker: Folie à Deux a week after its release and became one of the highest grossing Unrated films behind the concert documentary Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé. Terrifier 3 is not for everyone. You won’t find me bringing my mom to this movie. Not even my dad. The primary controversy of the film is that two scenes feature children being killed (one being off screen with an ax and the other featuring a bomb going off in a mall). Audiences act as if this is the first time children in films weren’t safe, however, kids have been getting killed by on screen monsters since the 1930s! Just look at the iconic pond scene in Frankenstein. It is repulsive, shocking, unbelievably gory, epic in its scale, twisted, sadistic, hilarious, and is now my favorite Christmas movie of all time, which is why I give Terrifier 3—

4 Chainsaws out of 5

Terrifier 3 is Unrated and is currently playing in theaters nationwide.