Terrifier 3 (18)

Sienna Shaw emerges from Sunny Valley Treatment Centre to rebuild her life after her near-fatal encounter with Art the Clown last Halloween. Aunt Jessica provides emotional sanctuary during the Christmas holidays. Alas, Art is revived by infecting the only other survivor of his carnage, Victoria Heyes, and the diabolical clown goes on the rampage dressed as a nightmarish Santa with a very long naughty list and a sack containing all manner of sharp implements.

LondonNet Film Review

Terrifier 3 (18) Film Review from LondonNet

All publicity is good publicity for Terrifier 3, especially when that hype shares anecdotal evidence of audience members fainting, vomiting or fleeing cinemas because of the extreme on-screen violence, and France’s film classification committee enforces a rare ban on under-18s from public screenings. Strong stomachs and steely nerves are required for the third instalment of writer-director Damien Leone’s gore-slathered horror, which has gained a cult following since the release of the low-budget original in 2016. Like its predecessors, the third picture revels in sadistic brutality meted out by Art the Clown, realised with nauseating prosthetics and special effects fashioned by award-winning makeup artist Jason Baker and the team at Callosum Studios…

David Howard Thornton reprises his role as the amusingly camp harbinger of gratuitous carnage, performing impromptu surgery on half the cast with an axe, chainsaw and sledgehammer. The barbarity is unrelenting to the point that I became numbed to the misery inflicted on characters in close-up. Third time is a charm for Leone’s script, which is leaner than the bloated second instalment and mines ghoulish humour from a Christmastime setting that gift wraps tidings of extreme discomfort and joylessness, including a ho ho horrible visit to a department store Santa’s grotto.

Sienna Shaw (Lauren LaVera) emerges from Sunny Valley Treatment Centre to rebuild her life after her near-fatal encounter with Art the Clown (Thornton) last Halloween. Aunt Jessica (Margaret Anne Florence) provides emotional sanctuary during the Christmas holidays and the fractured family looks forward to a peaceful Yuletide with Jessica’s husband Greg (Bryce Johnson) and daughter Gabbie (Antonella Rose). Sienna’s younger brother Jonathan (Elliott Fullam), who also bears physical and psychological scars from Art, is studying hard at college and politely rebuffs invitations to share his harrowing story on a true crime podcast hosted by his roommate’s girlfriend (Alexa Blair Robertson).

Alas, Art is revived by infecting the only other survivor of his carnage, Victoria Heyes (Samantha Scaffidi), and the diabolical clown goes on the rampage dressed as a nightmarish Santa with a very long naughty list and a sack containing all manner of sharp implements. Sienna senses approaching evil and is plagued by disturbing visions. As blood flows and bodies are gleefully dismembered, Sienna’s behaviour becomes increasingly erratic and aunt Jessica contemplates committing her niece to a secure medical facility.

Terrifier 3 is two hours of hacking, slashing nastiness interspersed with equal opportunities nudity in a shower that quickly becomes a bloodbath. Brief flashes of humour are a welcome respite from the evisceration as cast members scream to the point of hoarseness under Art’s withering gaze. Fervent fans of the franchise will lap up every maniacal and menacing moment.

– Kim Hu