Terrifier: There’s Gold In Them There Kills!
If you kill it, they will come. Figuratively and literally.
I’ve been a fan of Damien Leone since the original Terrifer movie when I stumbled upon it on Netflix many moons ago. Terrifier was just gritty insanity tucked into a tidy little 85-minute package. When people ask me about the series I say, well, if your name is in the credits and it doesn’t say “Art the Clown” next to it, then he killed you. The end. The COVID-delayed anticipation of Terrifier 2 certainly helped ramp up the enthusiasm of the fanbase, but not as much as a couple articles about early, unexpectant movie goers throwing up at the violence in the film. More likely it was people drinking in the parking lot before the movie and getting sick, but there’s no such thing as bad press, am I right?
Which brings us to Terrifier 3. The original two films certainly had their signature kill scenes. And this is an IYKYK moment. If I have to point them out to you then you can probably stop reading here. And don’t worry about smashing the ‘like’ button. But Terrifer 3 had to be the most insane, gonzo, bonkers two hours of horror and comedy smashed together I think I’ve ever seen. It’s just relentless. There’s no signature kill because they’re all signature kills…and when they’re all signature kills, then none of them are signature kills.
But, within all this mayhem, Leone manages to weave in some real character death…sorry, depth…Force of habit when writing about Art…We see some really relatable emotion as Sienna deals with the fallout of what’s happened to her with a sort of PTSD response. And all of a sudden this thing, that started out as a short film, evolved into an little anthology and then sprouted the original +/-$50,000 film has evolved into a truly outstanding horror franchise and has given us Art the Clown, the first true addition to the pantheon of horror since Ghostface almost 25 years ago. Which brings me to my Christmas wish…yes, I know it’s not even Thanksgiving yet, but if Home Depot can put out Christmas decorations out in the middle of September, then I’m sure you’ll grant me this transgression. I wish to see…Leonehouse…or something along those lines. Let me explain.
Jason Blum basically started out as a producer with a teeny-tiny film called Paranormal Activity. That little micro-budget found-footage gem exploded into a wildly successful franchise which eventually led to Blum becoming successful enough that he launched Blumhouse Pictures and Blumhouse Games and Blumhouse Books, etc., etc. You get this point. Now, the Blumhouse library is loaded with movies with many more coming out every year. So, I think there’s a course of action mapped out here for Mr. Leone.
Leone clearly knows what he’s doing from a storytelling point of view. And he knows that if he pushes the Terrifier series on for too long, it’s going to get stale and dumb. (See…Friday the 13th, Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Leprechaun in Space for fuck’s sake. Yes, we love the characters, which is why we kept coming back. But some of the movies were baaaad). Any story can only be told for so long and Leone seems to realize this. So how about producing. Leone can be the face of batshit crazy horror movies that don’t even bother with the Motion Picture Association ratings system as Blum is to the more tempered mainstream horror. Leone has already took a step in that direction with the recently released movie Stream. So, let’s keep that going! Terrifier 3 cost $2 million to make and, when it’s box office run finished, it was at over $80 million in ticket sales. That says, #1, there are a lot of sickos out there (hell, I’ve seen it twice already). And #2, those sickos have no problem plopping down their shekels if you can put an insane, quality movie on the screen! So, Mr. Leone, we’re inviting you to lead the charge.
Whatever becomes of Damien Leone’s future, we have to thank him for the fun he’s given us to this point. The Terrifier series is so entertaining with the manic David Howard Thornton somehow making us laugh after doing things like chainsawing a girl’s head half off in the most epic tip of the cap to Psycho that you’ll ever see. Lauren LaVera is perhaps the greatest final girl of all time. She’s certainly the most badass, and the piece-by-piece storytelling of the series gives the viewer just enough in each installment to allow us to speculate and discuss what exactly is going on. And isn’t that the ultimate goal? (I mean, besides the $80 mil at the box office) Get people interacting and talking about your movie. That’s so cool! So, Mr. Leone, wishing you the best until you haunt our screens again!
