The gorehounds have won. "Terrifier 3" topped the weekend box office, beating out films with much bigger budgets. If you're wondering just how far this gross-out franchise could go, the director has laid out one thing he just won't do.
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00:00The gore hounds have won.
00:02Terrifier 3 topped the weekend box office, beating out films with much bigger budgets.
00:08If you're wondering just how far this gross-out franchise could go, the director has laid
00:12out one thing he just won't do.
00:15Art the Clown has been terrorizing the screen for more than a decade, but director Damian
00:19Leone's latest sequel about the murderous prankster has taken the enterprise to new
00:23heights.
00:24A big reason for the success of these films, particularly the latest installment, is the
00:28over-the-top gore.
00:30These slashers are filled with shocking moments and buckets of blood, yet for as excessive
00:34as they are, Leone does have his limits.
00:37In an October 10, 2024 interview with Variety, the director discussed bringing Terrifier
00:423 to life.
00:43Without getting into major spoilers, the film features some incredibly shocking moments,
00:47with the opening scene alone reportedly enough to cause certain audience members to walk
00:51out or get sick.
00:53This is an extreme movie by mainstream standards.
00:56Leone told the publication he loves to push boundaries and looks for lines to step over
01:00to make the audience squirm.
01:02So, what won't even Leone show Art the Clown doing?
01:05The director explained,
01:06"'There's a scene in the beginning where Art murders a child off-screen and you just
01:10hear it.
01:11I could have shown that in the glorious way that we executed the scene.
01:15I would never do that because, to me, that's just completely off-putting and you're going
01:18to alienate a large majority of your audience."
01:21Leone went on to say the level of shock that would come from showing Art killing a child
01:25feels desperate and that he feels it's his job to do things in a more responsible way.
01:30"'Don't try and, you know, force feed it.
01:32Let it be what it is.
01:33Everything about this is natural and it's always been that way.'"
01:36Terrifier 3 isn't the first time Art has killed a kid, actually.
01:39The ending of Leone's 2013 anthology All Hallows' Eve concludes with Art killing two kids.
01:45But importantly, the audience only sees the bloody aftermath, not the deed itself.
01:49While that may seem like splitting hairs to some audience members, it's an important distinction
01:53for Leone.
01:54The third installment in the Terrifier series once again finds David Howard Thornton's Art
01:58unleashing a fresh round of bloody chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County.
02:03But this time, it's on Christmas Eve in a change-up to the formula.
02:06"'Yes, that's me.
02:09Guilty as charged.'"
02:10Art even dresses as Santa and goes on a killing spree in the costume.
02:14The film absolutely does not hold back.
02:16It hits theaters without a rating from the Motion Picture Association, going well beyond
02:20the bounds of what an R rating would allow.
02:23For those horror-loving audiences with the stomach for it, the film is resonating big-time.
02:28Terrifier 3 raked in nearly $19 million the weekend of October 11th, 2024, beating out
02:34The Wild Robot, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and Joker Folia Do along with all the other competition.
02:40Its smash success came as a major surprise to the industry at large, ensuring that a
02:44fourth film will happen sooner rather than later.
02:47It also proves that the incredibly gory Terrifier 2 wasn't a fluke in 2022.
02:51There is a very sizable audience for this brand of horror on the big screen.
02:56All of this to say, there's no real reason for Leone to limit himself.
02:59The shock value is a big part of the reason people are showing up in such large numbers,
03:03and plenty of other horror movies have put kids in extremely dangerous situations.
03:08The 2023 film, When Evil Lurks, has a particularly shocking moment involving a young child.
03:13All the same, Leone feels it's important to exercise some level of restraint, even when
03:17the mission statement is all about letting a sadistic killer off the chain.