storyteller
Veteran
I checked Terrifier 3, and it's more of the same but in a mostly good way.
The kills are brutal, there's a weird but legitimately funny dark humor to some of it, and somehow Leone managed to escalate things even more.
But I think we're getting close to the point of redundancy. This one had a little too much overlap with Terrifier 2 imo. Replace Sienna's mother and brother with her aunt and cousin/niece...Sienna's fodder friends are switched for Jonathon's. Then take all the "Chosen one" implications of 2 and give them added confirmation here.
It wast just different enough, thanks partially to the Christmas switch-up, that it still kept me entertained. But I think we need a more deliberate tweak to the formula to keep things interesting going forward. To put it another way, I liked the movie but don't have a lot to say about the positives because there's not much new to speak on. Art is still Art, Sienna is still a rockstar Final Girl, and the gore/vibes make up for a pretty simple plot.
My negatives have to go into spoiler territory, because the broad strokes were still gold with this movie but I felt there were some missed opportunities in the plot:
I realize that seems like a lot, but it's really a bunch of complaints at the margins or about the broader Terrifier plot. The movie stands alone as a strong addition the series. Terrifier 2 remains the pinnacle of the franchise, but this is easily better than part one. It left enough bread crumbs to move the series toward a fun conclusion, but it feels like a bridge movie rather than one that will standout...unless you count the Christmas theme.
The kills are brutal, there's a weird but legitimately funny dark humor to some of it, and somehow Leone managed to escalate things even more.
But I think we're getting close to the point of redundancy. This one had a little too much overlap with Terrifier 2 imo. Replace Sienna's mother and brother with her aunt and cousin/niece...Sienna's fodder friends are switched for Jonathon's. Then take all the "Chosen one" implications of 2 and give them added confirmation here.
It wast just different enough, thanks partially to the Christmas switch-up, that it still kept me entertained. But I think we need a more deliberate tweak to the formula to keep things interesting going forward. To put it another way, I liked the movie but don't have a lot to say about the positives because there's not much new to speak on. Art is still Art, Sienna is still a rockstar Final Girl, and the gore/vibes make up for a pretty simple plot.
My negatives have to go into spoiler territory, because the broad strokes were still gold with this movie but I felt there were some missed opportunities in the plot:
- The biggest missing piece is the demonic entity/little clown girl. I don't think they even referenced her in this one, and now I have to rewatch Terrifier 2 to confirm that she wasn't just supposed to be in Art's head (I could have sworn she wasn't). She seemed like a driving force of the plot in part two, but played no role in three.
- Jonathon was a plot casualty too. He played a major role in Terrifier 2, but showed ZERO development between 2 and this film...unless you count being killed off screen. His subplot didn't serve him at all; it just gave Art two new fodder characters for a kill-scene. Albeit, the "true crime podcast" girl was a cool idea, but wound up being a typical trope without much to add.
- I'll just add that, I assume they off-screened Jonathon's death in case they want to write him back into the plot and play it as a fakeout kill. It wouldn't solve Jonathon being a useless part of this movie either way. Plus, tbh, Gabbie is a better "protect the child" character because she's proactive and isn't such a lame.
- On that note...Gabbie getting dragged into hell...I'd rather this be the fakeout death, and I'd love for this moment to prompt Sienna to go into Art's world a la Hellraiser 2: Hellbound. But as it stands, Leone killed off the only interesting new character he created.
- Speaking of killing off key characters, Leone has killed everyone off. We're down to Art and Sienna, which is fine. But it devalues anyone we're introduced to going forward, since they'll all feel like fodder. If Jonathon and Gabbie can have such unceremonious ends to their stories, and the demonic entity from part 2 just got forgotten...I'll be hard pressed to care about anyone new.
- Jonathon was a plot casualty too. He played a major role in Terrifier 2, but showed ZERO development between 2 and this film...unless you count being killed off screen. His subplot didn't serve him at all; it just gave Art two new fodder characters for a kill-scene. Albeit, the "true crime podcast" girl was a cool idea, but wound up being a typical trope without much to add.
- I'll just add that, I assume they off-screened Jonathon's death in case they want to write him back into the plot and play it as a fakeout kill. It wouldn't solve Jonathon being a useless part of this movie either way. Plus, tbh, Gabbie is a better "protect the child" character because she's proactive and isn't such a lame.
- On that note...Gabbie getting dragged into hell...I'd rather this be the fakeout death, and I'd love for this moment to prompt Sienna to go into Art's world a la Hellraiser 2: Hellbound. But as it stands, Leone killed off the only interesting new character he created.
- Speaking of killing off key characters, Leone has killed everyone off. We're down to Art and Sienna, which is fine. But it devalues anyone we're introduced to going forward, since they'll all feel like fodder. If Jonathon and Gabbie can have such unceremonious ends to their stories, and the demonic entity from part 2 just got forgotten...I'll be hard pressed to care about anyone new.
I realize that seems like a lot, but it's really a bunch of complaints at the margins or about the broader Terrifier plot. The movie stands alone as a strong addition the series. Terrifier 2 remains the pinnacle of the franchise, but this is easily better than part one. It left enough bread crumbs to move the series toward a fun conclusion, but it feels like a bridge movie rather than one that will standout...unless you count the Christmas theme.
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