Writer/director Damien Leone had a budget of around $55,000 to work with on his breakout horror film Terrifier, and a budget of “a little over” $250,000 for Terrifier 2, which was a massive hit when it was released in 2022, earning $15.1 million at the box office. Since the second film did so well, it’s no surprise that a Terrifier 3 is right around the corner. In fact, the film is on track to reach theatres this Halloween season, on October 25th. In anticipation of the film’s release, we’ve decided to put together a list of the information we’ve heard so far. Keep scrolling to find out Everything We Know About Terrifier 3!
SETTING
While the previous two films were set around Halloween, and the new sequel is still getting a Halloween release, this one is changing the setting. The supernatural slasher Art the Clown is going to be ruining Christmas in a film that has the following synopsis: 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.
The Christmas setting is the focus of a teaser trailer that was put together months before Terrifier 3 actually went into production:
CAST AND CHARACTERS
The names of the new additions to the cast haven’t been revealed yet, but it has been confirmed that David Howard Thornton reprises the role of Art the Clown, while Lauren LaVera is back as Terrifier 2 heroine Sienna and Elliot Fullam returns as Sienna’s brother Jonathan. Samantha Scaffidi is returning as Terrifier and Terrifier 2 character Victoria Heyes. Chris Jericho, who had a cameo in Terrifier 2, is also back in Terrifier 3 – but he has let everyone know that his appearance in the film won’t last very long. So we can probably expect to see Art make a bloody mess of him early on. Leone told Deadline, “(Chris Jericho) is super excited. This one is going to pick up where part two left off, in the insane asylum, so, you’re going to see what transpires there, what mayhem unfolds, because seeing how Art and Victoria ended up, is so insane, and seeing how they get out of that situation and what happens next is going to be really wild. So, we have to get Chris back in there and see how he becomes a part of that situation.“
As for new characters… a while back, industry scooper Daniel Richtman has shared a batch of character descriptions (put together for the casting process) that give some details on the potential victims we’ll be meeting in the movie:
[ GABBIE ]
12-15 years old, Female, white – Gabbie is energetic, precocious, sometimes sassy and full of life. A young girl curious about the world beyond her peaceful suburban life. She is Sienna and Jonathan’s cousin, and idolizes Sienna like the big sister she never had…SUPPORTING LEAD
[ JESSICA ]
40s – early 50s, Female, white – aka Aunt Jess, she is Sienna and Jonathan’s aunt; she’s smart, stable and empathetic with the heart of a fighter, but unliker her late-sister Barbara (Terrifier 2), she has a gentle soul. As wife to Greg and mom to Gabbie, Jess is the glue that holds her small family together…SUPPORTING LEAD
[ GREG ]
40s – early 50s, Male, white – aka Uncle Greg; he is your all-American “everyone’s favorite uncle” type of guy; a solid, loving provider for his wife (Jessica) and daughter (Gabbie). The “cool dad”. He’s a well kept man with a strong, athletic physique…SUPPORTING LEAD
[ COLE ]
18-22 years old, Male, open ethnicity – Cole is Jonathan’s college roommate. The cool guy to Jonathan’s nerd. The “bro”. Cole and his girlfriend Mia have a big, loud energy when they are together that can be magnetic or turn sinister and obnoxious. The role requires a shower scene of intimate nature and partial nudity (back/buttocks)…SUPPORTING
[ MIA ]
18-22 years old, Female, open ethnicity – Mia is Cole’s girlfriend; a cute, fun, popular, college girl with a bit of a mean streak. Mia and Cole have a big, loud energy when they are together that can be magnetic or turn sinister and obnoxious. The role requires a shower scene of intimate nature and partial nudity (back/buttocks/side)…SUPPORTING
TONE
Terrifier 3 is actually the fourth feature with Art the Clown in it. Before making Terrifier, Leone introduced the character (then played by Mike Giannelli) in short films that were included in the 2013 horror anthology All Hallows’ Eve. When he was gearing up for the third film, Leone said, “One of my main goals for Terrifier 3 is to recapture the creep factor present in the original Terrifier short film. That had a genuinely spooky atmosphere that I’m still proud of. If all goes as planned, part 3 will be the scariest Terrifier thus far.”
The filmmaker is also aiming to make the third film more like the first Terrifier feature. Speaking with Variety, he said Terrifier 3 will “shift back a bit to the tone of Part One, which I felt was a little more simplistic and old school, gritty slasher. I want this one to go back in that direction, and I want this to be the scariest one of the trilogy. This one will actually have a little bit more of an evil overtone to it, so this is going to be hopefully the scariest and the darkest. I want it to feel as if the audience coming into this one isn’t as comfortable with Art the Clown as they feel they are now. I want to see if I can make them really scared of him again.”
Terrifier 2 went heavy on the supernatural elements. As Leone described it to Insider, “There’s blatant religious mythic imagery, clear as day. There is a heaven and hell thing going on. And the clown is this resurrected demon and Sienna is slowly becoming aware that she’s sort of this Old Testament angel ready to do battle and going through that metamorphosis.” When asked if he has received constructive criticism on Terrifier 2 that he’s keeping in mind for the next sequel, he replied, “I wanted Part Two to have a Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors vibe to it. That was my tone in the back of my head and I knew I was really going to embrace this supernatural and fantasy element. I also knew I was going to alienate a handful of fans going that route. I personally love it. There’s a lot of people who didn’t love the fantasy, or at least they need more explanation as to why that’s all happening. I didn’t want to explain everything in Part Two, so I am going to explain as we go. But the biggest mistake I could do now is double-down on that fantasy aspect. That’s why I want to course-correct a bit; let’s go back to Nightmare on Elm Street Part One, as opposed to going further into Dream Warriors. That could be very helpful criticism and help me make a better movie moving forward. But we’ll see.” Leone is also aiming to make sure the new film has a running time under two hours (Terrifier 2 was 138 minutes).
Leone is also working to make sure there’s an element of fun to all of this. He told The Hollywood Reporter, “I always want there to be levity. Art the Clown needs to be his charming, quirky self. I want the audience to know this is just a fictional world. We are here to have fun, and I don’t want them leaving the theater feeling miserable. But at the same time, there is a way to make this one seem as if you’ve never even met Art the Clown before. That’s how I want the audience to feel. I want them to feel like this is a very terrifying, unpredictable character, and while you think you might know him, you don’t know what’s coming.“
GORE
The Terrifier films are known for their moments of extreme gore, and Terrifier 3 isn’t going to be any different. Since this one has a budget of “a couple million”, Leone has brought in a Hollywood FX team to help him create the nauseating effects. (For the previous films, all of the bloodshed was provided by Leone and producer Phil Falcone.) He has said he’s aiming to make this one the goriest, most sadistic, most depraved film of the bunch. “If you thought Art the Clown’s reign of terror in part 2 was extreme, you haven’t seen anything yet.“
PRODUCTION
Terrifier 3 started filming in early February 2024, and will probably be wrapping up any day now, if it hasn’t already. Leone shared a couple shots of Art the Clown while they were in the midst of filming:
And that’s everything we know about Terrifier 3 at this point. Are you looking forward to this supernatural slasher sequel? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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