Director Damien Leone struck gold when he released his 2008 short The 9th Circle featuring the horror icon Art The Clown for the first time. Art then featured in the anthology horror film All Hallows Eve before Leone released the first Terrifier film in 2013. Packed with blood, guts, and gruesome kills, Terrifier soon became a genre favourite and its 2022 sequel Terrifier 2 cemented its status as a modern classic franchise. Coming to cinemas on 13th October, Art is set to deck the halls in Terrifier 3, a Christmas instalment that is sure to be more maniacal than merry.

Ahead of Terrifier 3's release, FILMHOUNDS spoke to Leone as well as Jonathan Shaw actor Elliott Fulham all about the madness of creating Terrifier 3, how audiences have influenced the tone of the latest films, and what the future has in store for Art.

Terrifier 3 comes out soon and this time around, you had a much bigger budget and crew. What was that like to navigate after starting off so small?

Damien Leone: It was great because I was able to hire a makeup effects team for the first time, so that was a huge weight off my shoulders. Even though I absolutely love makeup effects, it makes it very hard to focus on every other aspect of filmmaking. So I was able to collaborate with my actors and with other departments more than before. Because of that, I think we have the best-looking film and the best performances that we've had so far.

But on the flip side, when there are so many more people, there are so many more problems. You're getting pulled in a million different directions constantly every day to answer so many more questions. We had to shoot and edit this movie within a year, so we had to hit the ground and run the clock, which is constantly ticking. There was no time to stop, assess, and catch our breath. So that was intense. And we had more unions breathing down our neck this time which added a whole other layer of tension and pressure to this set that we never had. Nobody knew we existed before so we could do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted to do it. So this was completely new terrain for me.

What was that leap like for you, Elliott? Terrifier 2 was your first film role, and Terrifier 3 is much bigger this time around

Elliott Fullam: It was very different. I remember the first thing I thought about Terrifier 3 was that everything was running so smoothly. It was crazy, it was literally like a machine. I had a fantastic time on both sets, but Terrifier 3 was for sure more smooth.

Following its world premiere at Fantastic Fest, most of the reactions to Terrifier 3 have been about the kills. Damien, when writing these scenes, do you have the story first and work the kills in, or do you have an idea for a kill and build the story around it?

DL: It has happened in both directions. The original Terrifier was a very simplistic slasher or stalking-slasher movie, so I probably just had set pieces in my mind that I knew would be a cool scene. And then it's just connecting the dots. But once I got to part two, it was really all about the story and the characters, and really just honing my skills as a storyteller, and as a screenwriter, as best as I could.

The big kill scenes are getting trickier because there's more hype for each movie, and the pressure is mounting. How are we going to one-up ourselves every time? There are only so many horrible, despicable things you can do to the human body. So it's getting tricky to be creative, because we're not just competing with ourselves with each film, we're competing with every other horror film. Which is cool because it forces you to be more creative, but there are only so many creative and wild kills, and everybody's throwing up now so it's getting tricky, but I have some tricks up my sleeve. I have some ideas for sure.

Were there ever any scenes that almost didn't happen, due to technical hurdles or maybe the concept seemed too tricky to pull off?

DL: That happens often. It was almost impossible for us to build the water tank that Lauren (LaVera, Sienna Shaw) is in in Terrifier 2. We didn't have the budget to buy something or build something like that. We were calling aquariums and trying to order things from China. None of it made any sense, and then finally people told us it was impossible to build for the amount of money, but we proved them wrong. We wound up building it ourselves—there are things like that where we just won't take no for an answer, and we'll make things happen.

In Terrifier, we had to build that contraption that holds up Catherine (Corcoran, Dawn) when she's outside. We built that five hours before we shot. That was really old-school guerilla filmmaking, we could never do that now. Terrifier 3 was a completely different animal and, as Elliott said, it was a well-oiled machine. It was a very professional, completely different experience. But whatever we write we can figure out a way to do it – even if we have to get very creative.

Elliott, what is it like being in these films and experiencing all of the guts, gore, and mayhem that we see onscreen first-hand?

EF: I've always been a huge horror fan, so there's nothing like this that I would say no to. It's such a fun film. If anything, the hardest things have been unexpected. On the very last day of filming Terrifier 2, I was walking down these icy steps thinking “I don't want to slip and fall and break something on the last day”. But other than that, it's been such a fun experience. I trust Damien and whatever he says to do, I do it.

Following the release of All Hallows Eve and the Terrifier films, Art The Clown has become a modern horror icon. Why do you think he connects with audiences?

DL: I think Art The Clown is filling a void for the slasher genre that's been missing for a while, just that nostalgic 80s slasher that sort of petered out after Ghostface. There have been others. There's been Jigsaw, but Jigsaw's quite different, right? His methods are more behind the scenes, but there are a few boxes he checks for these characters. They have to look striking, they have to walk the walk in terms of the kills, and they have to be really cool and memorable.

With Terrifier, we try to push them further than Hollywood horror movies can potentially go, so we get away with a little more. Art's kills are more interesting than things you typically see and are certainly gorier. But I think it's Art's personality that sets him apart. There's something super sadistic about him, cruel, and terrifying, but he's also very charming. In one instance, you want to run away from him, and the next you want to be his friend. He'll absolutely terrify and repulse you, but then he makes you laugh your butt off. So I think the audience loves that sort of roller coaster of emotions with this character and how unpredictable he is.

I think that one of the keys, of course, is what David Howard Thornton brings to the performance. He has this wonderful theatricality with his gestures and there are so many nuances in his performance. With his facial expressions, he brings all that humanity to the character, and I think that's what people love in Art—the humanity we can draw from that character. I think the audience leans into him.

EF: I think it's just refreshing, like when you watch a film that can gross you out, make you terrified, or make you laugh. Terrifier is something that I feel like any kind of person could enjoy or be completely freaked out by. And I think Art's energy and his whole vibe is what attracts people. Unlike other Hollywood horror films, Terrifier is so in your face. It wears it on its shoulder and it doesn't care. That's what makes Terrifier fantastic.

Damien, did you always know the direction in which the world of Terrifier would go, or are there aspects that you have changed based on fan reactions and opinions?

DL: I do that all the time. I don't run away from criticism, I read everything online—the good, the bad, and the ugly—and I dive right in. You can take negative criticism in a couple of ways. You can say, “All right, this person is just a troll or a hater”, but if I'm getting the same negative note over and over, maybe there's something there to pay attention to. Maybe something is really not clicking with audiences, so I should pivot or course correct, and I do that often. That sort of changed the way I made part three because we went so deep into the fantastical realm in part two, which I loved, but I knew it was going to be very polarizing for audiences. Some people absolutely adore Terrifier 2, and a lot of people still think Terrifier is superior. So I wanted to try and meld the two for Terrifier 3 and see if I can strike a better balance and bring some of that grittiness back into it and potentially make it the darkest one.

Certainly, it's very disturbing, but at the same time, Terrifer 3 has probably the funniest scenes in the entire franchise. But I also can't let the audience dictate my movie. It's got to come from me. It's got to be the story that I want to tell, and hopefully, audiences are coming to me for my imagination and to show them something they're not going to think of. So it's a fine line and you have to sort of balance all of those things and just try and do what's best for the story at the end of the day.

If it was you writing the next Terrifier film, Elliott, which direction would you take it in?

EF: Honestly, I think you can't touch what Damien has done. It's perfect. If I was directing Terrifier, I don't think I'd do a good job! I think Terrifier is its own beast, and I think it comes from the heart and soul of Damien and whatever's going on in his head. You just can't replicate that type of magic.

Lastly, what's in the future for the Terrifier franchise?

DL: The news that there's going to be a Terrifier 4 is quite premature. The way that that came out wasn't supposed to happen. But what I can tell you is, when I was writing Terrifier 2 I knew almost immediately how it was going to end this franchise. Once I brought Sienna's character into it, I knew how it would end between her and Art. So that's alleviating, because usually franchises don't know where they're going to end, and you're just sort of meandering before it all falls apart and at the end. So I feel secure enough that I know where I could end it. It's just a matter of how many more films it's going to take for me to get to that ending. There are so many amazing scenarios and situations you could put Art The Clown in, and it's tricky. These movies are very tricky to structure, and that's another polarizing thing. People will say “These movies are too long” or “I wish it was longer.”

What people don't realise is one of the cool things about this movie that sets Art apart from the other slashers is his screen time. If you take the screen time of all the other slasher villains, they're probably in the movie for about seven minutes in an hour and 30-minute movie. But Art The Clown is the star of these movies. He has these big kill scenes, and he has this foreplay before he kills where he's toying with his victims. And that makes the Terrifier films much more unorthodox, and it adds to the length. When Art's not in it, it's probably less than your hour and 20 minutes average horror movie. So it's been tricky to balance.

Again, I have all these great scenes, but if I want to put those scenes in and continue doing it the way I've been doing it, it could be two more movies as opposed to one more movie. I mean, who knows, we'll see. It just has to feel natural. I don't force anything. I'm just concerned about telling the best story.

Terrifier 3 is released in UK cinemas on October 11, 2024.

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