At the world premiere of Terrifier 3, franchise writer/director Damien Leone said there will be a Terrifier 4 – and he later said he thinks that will be the last entry in the franchise, because he doesn’t want it to wear out his welcome. (Although he has also said that Terrifier 5 might be required to properly wrap up the story.) We’ve heard that Leone plans to reveal Art the Clown’s origin in the new sequel, with the character’s backstory being told in the first 15 minutes. Now, Leone has admitted that he’s worried about revealing too much about the slasher.
Leone told Collider, “I worry about everything. 90% of my day is worrying. That’s a huge concern. I love the mystique. That’s the most important part, even if people don’t realize it because they’re just so hungry to know what his deal is. I think a lot of people don’t realize the reason he works so well is because of the mystique. If you pull the curtain back too far, and you lose that mystique, it’s over. You’re not supposed to see the wizard behind the curtain. It’s almost always a disappointment. So, I think there’s a way with his origin to have my cake and eat it too, but we’ll find out. I am taking a bit of a risk, but I’m very well aware about losing that mystique at the same time, so we’ll see if it plays out. I think the majority of people are going to be very cool with it.“
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. Terrifier 3 has a substantially higher budget; a “couple million” went into that one – and it paid off, as the film raked in over $76 million at the box office. So we can probably expect Terrifier 4 to have a larger budget behind it as well.
What do you think of Leone’s plans to tell the backstory of Art the Clown in Terrifier 4? Do you think we need answers, or should Art be left a mystery? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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