Who would have guessed that in 2024, an indie slasher film would be topping the box office, beating out the likes of Tim Burton, Todd Philips, Transformers, and Dreamworks? This weekend, Damien Leone's Terrifier 3 grossed $18 million in its opening weekend, an impressive feat that nobody saw coming. So how exactly did we get to the point where Joaquin Phoenix's Joker is not the leading clown at the box office? The story begins in 2016 when an indie filmmaker named Damien Leone released a passion project at the Telluride Horror Show...
In 2016, an 85 minute indie slasher film called Terrifier premiered at Telluride. A film about the murderous, Art the Clown, with a bare-bones budget of around $35-55,000. Despite receiving mixed reviews, it ended up grossing nearly half a million dollars at the box office during its limited theatrical run. For a film that was financed through Indiegogo, this was an unbelievable success for Leone and company, but Art the Clown wouldn't get his full moment in the spotlight until 2022, when the sequel was released.
Terrifier 2 was a monumental upgrade from the original. This time it was backed by the horror media company, Bloody Disgusting, and had a proper budget of $250,000. While Terrifier was criticized for having a meandering, unclear plot, Terrifer 2 had a full-fledged story with characters the audience could relate to and root for. The film premiered on October 6th of 2022 and quickly gained infamy for its extreme gore. Rumors began spreading that people were passing out, throwing up, or walking out by the time the movie was halfway over. Soon, it became a sort of challenge to grab all your friends, go to the theater, and try to sit through this insane, bloody splatterfest. As someone who has seen my fair share of extreme horror and shock films, I can confirm that Terrifier 2 is appallingly gory, especially since the camera never seems to turn away from the action, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination. While the original had a noteworthy amount of scares, nothing could've prepared me for just how much extreme violence would be in the sequel. It's extra hard to watch because the special effects are so realistic and well done. And these kills aren't the simple bullet to the head or knife to the chest, these on-screen victims have their scalps peeled back, jaws ripped off, limbs torn off, until they're left an unrecognizable mess of blood and viscera. Its a film that's sure to test even the most seasoned horror fans.
Due to this newfound infamy, Terrifier 2 amazingly grossed nearly $16 million at the box office. Not to mention, winning all 4 awards it was nominated for at the 2023 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards. At this point, audiences had completely fallen in love with the macabre campiness of David Howard Thornton as Art the Clown. So after Terrifier 2 completed its insanely successful theatrical run, there was only one thing left to do...make plans for the next film!
On October 11th 2024, the long-awaited Terrifier 3 premiered in theaters throughout the United States, only this time it was a...Christmas movie? It takes place five years after the events of Terrifier 2, just in time for the holiday season. And if you thought that last film was gory, you ain't seen nothing yet!
Terrifier 3 deals with the main character of the last film, Sienna Shaw as she tries to deal with the trauma of surviving an attack from Art the Clown and the fact that he's still out there. The film opens with a delightfully campy scene of a suburban family being visited by Art in the middle of the night in his new Santa Claus costume that ends exactly how you'd expect. The film was shot using anamorphic lenses to give it a vintage feel, as if you were watching a classic 80's slasher.
There is a plethora of graphic, disgusting, and above all, creative kills throughout the film's two hour long runtime. Art uses liquid nitrogen, bombs, and in one particularly chilling scene, rats. I can confidently say that the third act of this movie is one of the hardest thing I have ever had to watch in a theater.
While the Terrifier series can be over-the-top and difficult to sit through at times, it represents a trend that I hope to see more of in the coming years. Terrifier is a full-on passion project that rose through the ranks through a dedicated, enthusiastic fanbase. It's not a legacy sequel, a reboot, or something that already came from a huge property. It's a shining example of what can happen when a film finds the right audience. As cheesy as it sounds, Terrifier stands as a monument to people's love of cinema.
Due to Terrifier's cult following, and amazing performance at the box office lately, it seems as though a fourth installment is inevitable. Damien Leone confirmed last month that Terrifier 4 is currently in development, and if it's anything like it's predecessors, sign me up for a front row seat!
Komentarze