Terrifier 3

Leone’s talent for tone control and his ability to shift from...chaotic, blood-soaked joy into a horrifying, blood-soaked hopelessness...makes Terrifier 3 work as more than a special effects exhibition.

Rarely has so much on-screen bloodshed been so lifeless.

It's really kind of a lot of fun.

continues to confront us with the ever-uncomfortable question of not just what we are willing to watch, but why. And there is more to come. A cliffhanger ending suggests that this third entry is no trilogy closer. Art, you see, good or bad, never dies.

Terrifier 3 puts the “E” in Extreme, and it has an ace gimmick, one that simultaneously winks at and fulfills franchise expectations.

The film proffers plenty of funny gifts along these lines, foremost among them a written-for-the-film Christmas tune rivaling the Muppet Christmas Carol’s gold standard, but the real reason for the season is the simple, honest lust for carnage.

A slight step down from the previous entry, Terrifier 3's split narrative often feels like two very different films forced into one with tonal shifts that lack finesse. Thornton and LaVera's performances elevate the wobbly execution, though.

The biggest drawback in Terrifier 3 is its role as a transitional chapter leading to an inevitable fourth installment which, if it continues along the current trend, could become a slasher cathedral remembered by future generations of fans.

While 2 remains the benchmark to beat, Terrifier 3 proves there's plenty of life left in David Howard Thorton's Art the Clown and the Christmas debauchery is extremely, extremely welcome (particularly the chainsaw scene)

Wonderfully gross, disturbing, dark and hilarious for any fan of slasher movies.