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Review: ‘Terrifier 3’ — Damien Leone’s Disgusting, Distinctive Gorefest
Leone’s Art the Clown franchise reaches its zenith with its audacious, blood-thirsty third entry
The growth of Damien Leone’s bold Terrifier franchise is one of the most intriguing developments in independent American film in the last decade. A far cry from the droves of A24-distributed dramatic indie darlings that have seen independent cinema become a much more secure and prestigious approach to making films today, Leone’s work is the first work in some time reminiscent of the gnarly, confrontational abrasive qualities seen in Harmony Korine’s early works or similarly harsh artists. Leone is also working in a very different genre — rather than being dramatic works, Leone’s Terrifier films are pulling almost entirely from the ’80s slasher, re-working its tropes into modern contexts and quite boldly removing itself from almost all contemporary horror genre expectations.
And yet, despite the fact that Terrifier 3 is the most confrontational and tough to watch horror film released into cinemas and even close to being mainstream in years (perhaps not counting Terrifier 2 — this film is a bit more fun than that one, and less outright unpleasant), it has been a fascinating box office success. Keeping in mind that a film like Terrifier 3 is…
