Damien Leone’s Terrifier 3 is already off to a strong start, critically. On the opposite end of the spectrum, its opening scene, featuring Art the Clown’s latest familial victims, prompted some U.K. premiere attendees to walk out in response to the filmmaker’s boundary-pushing gore. On top of that, France has now banned anyone under the age of 18 from seeing the holiday slasher film in theaters. This is all familiar territory for the Philadelphia native whose $250,000-budgeted Terrifier 2 (2022) created similar controversy en route to becoming an unexpected critical and commercial hit ($15.7 million at the worldwide box office).
The DIY horror franchise that began in earnest with 2016’s Terrifier secured more resources ahead of its threequel, including a $2 million budget and a proper makeup effects team, so that Leone, a former special effects makeup artist, and his producer Phil Falcone didn’t have to stop production midstream to design the nauseatingly bloody materials themselves. But as a result of the franchise’s sudden influx of cash, Leone felt a new form of pressure that he’s yet to experience as a full-fledged feature director.
“In some regards, it was easier, but [Terrifier 3] was also the most stressful and intense film I’ve ever worked on. More money, more problems is real,” Leone tells The Hollywood Reporter ahead of Terrifier 3’s Oct. 11 theatrical release. “The two other films were very homemade. We made them at our own pace. We didn’t have anybody breathing down our neck, saying, ‘The movie needs to come out by this date.’ And I’m not saying this as a negative critique. This is just the nature of the beast.”
Terrifier 3 world premiered on Sept. 19 at Fantastic Fest, and during the post-screening Q&A, Leone’s comments about a probable fourth film were picked up across the Internet. However, he still wants to caution fans that Terrifier 3’s success will ultimately decide how quickly he gets to resolve its cliffhanger ending that he likens to Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.
“I didn’t want that news to come out all of a sudden: ‘Terrifier 4 is happening!’” Leone says. “I have a lot of [Terrifier 4] blueprinted now, and depending on how Terrifier 3 does and if it continues to get a good reception and people really want the next one, then that could be something I dive into right away.”
Leone’s second installment received some criticism from genre fans for its 138-minute runtime, as slasher movies are generally known for being a tight 90. (Scream is typically regarded as the slasher franchise that broke the mold with runtimes in the two-hour range.) So Leone set out to split the difference on this go-round, but he still found himself with a nearly two-and-a-half hour cut that he really enjoyed. Determined to honor his partners’ wishes of a runtime closer to two hours, he trimmed a fair amount of material that he hopes will see the light of day in an extended cut.
“I wound up cutting probably five scenes out of this film, and a lot of them I really, really loved. There were some really great character moments that I had to cut out that really fleshed out the relationships a lot more, but maybe one day there’ll be an extended version,” Leone says.
Terrifier 3 picks up five years after the events of Terrifier 2, as Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) and Sienna Shaw (Lauren LaVera) have both been out of commission in their own respective ways. But just as Sienna attempts to enjoy the Christmas season with her remaining extended family, she’s put on another collision course with her archnemesis.
Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Leone also discusses LaVera’s place in the franchise, as well as the nature of her character’s dream sequence that’s been teased in the film’s marketing.
Terrifier 3 jumps ahead five years. What prompted this hibernation period for all of the characters?
Elliot Fullam [who plays Sienna’s younger brother Jonathan].
Damien Leone and Elliott Fullam as “Jonathan” behind the scenes of Terrifier 3
Courtesy of Jesse Korman/Dark Age Cinema
Especially after he grew two feet in the middle of the Covid-interrupted Terrifier 2.
Exactly. He was aging out. I would’ve had this take place at the Christmas directly after Terrifier 2, but he’s clearly older. We also started getting lost in the timeline. We were already years behind [in 2018], so I wanted to just get us up to date and have it be contemporary. It takes place in 2023, 2024 at this point, so it just seemed like the right decision.
We talked previously about how you were finally able to hire a professional makeup effects team for Terrifier 3. You no longer had to stop production for days or weeks to design the effects with your producer Phil Falcone. On top of that, you also had eight times the budget of Terrifier 2. So how would you describe the impact of these added resources?
In some regards, it was easier, but it was also the most stressful and intense film I’ve ever worked on. More money, more problems is real, and I had to deal with so many more people that I’ve never had to deal with before in front of the camera, behind the camera and behind the scenes. You’re getting pulled in so many different directions. There were so many more questions I had to answer because there were many more departments with many more crew members in them. So that was really tough, and we had to shoot this film in such a shorter amount of time. Once the clock is ticking and you’re off to the races, you can’t really stop. It’s like the train has left the station, and you’re just basically trying to catch up to it. You’re trying to make the best decisions you can on the fly and in the moment, as a lot of money is burning now.
The two other films were very homemade. We made them at our own pace. We didn’t have anybody breathing down our neck, saying, “The movie needs to come out by this date.” And I’m not saying this as a negative critique. This is just the nature of the beast. So that was a lot of pressure, and I basically had a year to write the script, shoot the movie and edit it to get it out for a specific release date. And that’s not the way I recommend you make a film. The nature of this film just happened to be that.
But I had an incredible team now — Christien Tinsley’s special makeup effects team. They took that huge burden off of my shoulders, and that was one of the reasons why Terrifier 2 took years to make. So I was able to focus on other areas and hopefully be a better filmmaker in the grand scheme of things. I was able to focus on my actors a lot more. I was able to focus with my director of photography [George Steuber] a lot more over the course of the day. So there was a lot more attention paid to those details and those areas that maybe got sacrificed a little bit in the other films because I was so preoccupied with the makeup effects.
Lauren LaVera as “Sienna” in Damien Leone’s Terrifier 3
Courtesy of Jesse Korman/Dark Age Cinema
We also discussed how Lauren LaVera, to get into character, journaled as Sienna Shaw on Terrifier 2, and I presume that is what inspired Sienna’s journal in Terrifier 3. Were those Lauren’s original entries being read?
No, they weren’t, but that’s interesting. That may have come from her, subconsciously, but who knows? I probably said this to you last time, but Sienna is my favorite character. She’s become the heart and soul of this franchise, and it’s just as much her franchise as it is Art the Clown’s at this point. It’s her story you’re following. The audience is living vicariously through her and empathizing with her, hopefully.
It was so exciting to explore this chapter of the character’s life and to see how she’s ended up. It’s five years after her immense trauma, and she’s still having to go through this supernatural metamorphosis, this metaphysical transformation. So how does she balance all of that? How does she remain sane? Does she remain sane? Does she still have it in her to be this warrior that we set up in Terrifier 2? So I really enjoyed exploring this aspect of her, and there’s this certain level of maturation that she has now that she didn’t have in the second movie. She assumes more of a maternal role, in some regard, to her little cousin Gabbie. So it was really cool to explore a new chapter in her life.
We see pieces of Sienna’s dream in the trailer, so what can you say about that odd arrangement with a masked man who’s forging a weapon next to a Mother Mary figure?
Well, there’s a blurred line as to whether these are dreams or premonitions. Is she having a sort of outer body experience? So those are things that would be spelled out more in future installments, should we get there. But because Terrifier 3 is Christmas based, I really wanted to inject a lot more biblical imagery into this film. There’s churches and statues of Mary everywhere and paintings of the Last Supper. We really peppered that stuff throughout the film, because I was raised Catholic and that imagery is just embedded in my head. Even in part two, we set up this epic good-versus-evil battle between Sienna and Art, and there’s heaven and hell imagery everywhere, so I wanted to keep that going with this one. But that dream sequence you referred to is not some arbitrary, meaningless scene that I wanted to throw in for cool visuals. If we’re lucky, that will actually play a part.
The movie ends in such a way that people are going to want a fourth movie as soon as possible. How far ahead are you on that story?
I didn’t want that news to come out all of a sudden: “Terrifier 4 is happening!” We showed the film at Fantastic Fest, and there was a Q&A afterwards. And like you just said, if you see this film, it’s undeniable that there’s going to be another one. It leaves on a blatant cliffhanger. It’s like our Empire Strikes Back of the saga. So somebody asked me if there was going to be more, and I was like, “Well, you just saw the movie, so, of course, there’s going to be more. I would never leave the audience there.”
So I know a lot of where I’m going to take Terrifier 4, and I knew a lot of where I was going to end the franchise when I was writing part two. It’s a great safety net to have because figuring out the end of your franchise is usually the hardest part, especially if it’s, hopefully, a satisfying ending. So I have a lot of it blueprinted now, and depending on how Terrifier 3 does and if it continues to get a good reception and people really want the next one, then that could be something I dive into right away.
Damien Leone and David Howard Thornton as “Art the Clown” behind the scenes of Terrifier 3
Courtesy of Jesse Korman/Dark Age Cinema
Terrifier 3 clocks in at 2 hours and 5 minutes. Did you have to leave any darlings on the cutting room floor?
I did, actually. A lot. First of all, we knew we didn’t want to make another two-hour and twenty-minute film because [Terrifier 2’s runtime] was so polarizing. So I tried to keep it at a more respectable slasher length, but it got to the point where I still had a two-hour and 25-minute movie. I then said that we can’t do that again, and everybody was begging me to keep it under two hours. So I wound up cutting probably five scenes out of this film, and a lot of them I really, really loved. There were some really great character moments that I had to cut out that really fleshed out the relationships a lot more, but maybe one day there’ll be an extended version.
Also, the finale of the film was probably ten pages longer. There were a lot more gags and horrifying things going on at the end of the movie, but they were cut in the filming stages. As we were getting closer [to production] and I saw how big this movie was getting, I knew that was going to really add to the runtime. So there were things in the script that we didn’t even bother shooting.
It bothers me when people call [certain scenes] filler. They go, “Oh, Terrifier 2 has so much filler in it,” but that’s not what filler is. Filler is: “I don’t have enough material to make an hour and twenty-minute movie, so I’m just going to film this character smoking a cigarette or walking around aimlessly in the woods.” That’s not what Terrifier 2 and Terrifier 3 are. I have too much material, and there’s too much story that I’m telling, but that’s not the same thing as filler.
Well, I hope we get to do this again a year from now, but that might be too quick of a timeline. No pressure.
Don’t be surprised! It might happen.
***
Terrifier 3 releases in theaters nationwide on Oct. 11.
