Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Terrifier 3 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Oh unholy night... the blood is brightly gleaming!

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown December 27, 2024

The 21st century's chosen Freddy Kreuger successor is quite the reflection of where we are in 2024. Quieter, zanier, bloodier, gorier, terribly unsubtle and profoundly dumb (in a maybe-big dumb maybe-fun kinda way), Art the Clown is a force of chaos and, in Terrifier 3, holiday cheer mutilation in what's sure to become the next atypical Christmas movie in some (weirdly festive) households. A horror/comedy in name only, the third film in the surprise hit franchise made a splash in theaters, despite being particularly unscary and unfunny. The crowd I was sitting in continually gasped and laughed, though, making me scan the faces all around me in wonderment. Am I missing the joke? Am I now an old man who no longer gets it? Why am I so unimpressed with a film that clearly is the delight of legions? And why, oh why, are they delighting in such rampant savagery and artery-spraying mundanity? Horror has long been a reflection of the times and Terrifier 3 is no different. Loud, garish and ludicrous in every imaginable way, it's indicative of a country happily plunging to our doom with choices that in no way suit our own best interests. We're self-destructive 24ers, baby. Look out.

Art the Clown is back. Having been resurrected after his death at the heads of Sienna Shaw (Lauren LaVera), Art (David Howard Thornton) and the possessed incarnation of the Little Pale Girl (Samantha Scaffidi) settle in for a long winter nap -- a five-year winter nap actually -- to recharge for his next killing spree. Meanwhile, Sienna is discharged from a mental health facility and goes to stay with her aunt Jess (Margaret Anne Florence), uncle Greg (Bryce Johnson), and younger cousin Gabbie (Antonella Rose), who's been kept in the dark about why her aunt was away for so long. (Younger brother Jonathan, played by Elliott Fullam, is away at college.) Sienna experiences numerous flashbacks and hallucinations, making her initially doubt a sighting of Art, awakened after a pair of construction workers stumble across his body in a building being prepped for demolition. And wouldn't ya know it? He's awake just in time for Christmas. What follows is a string of slapstick, Looney Tunes killings that are constantly interrupted with Sienna updates. Or maybe it's the other way around. Who can say. The Sienna segments are warm and serious. The Art sequences... obviously not so much. The disjointed results rob the film of real scares, while Art's Vaudevillian antics and winking at the camera crashes head long into the definition of funny, leaving little question as to what we're all watching. It's a Christmastime mess, but one fans of the franchise have and will continue to lap up.

Each kill scene increases in length and complexity, making Art's eventual reunion with Sienna a test of torture-porn endurance beset by Christmas lights, a crown of thorns and a redder-than-red St. Nick costume. It's grueling, ugly and completely unengaging, and reports of vomiting and theater walk-outs are more likely clever marketing than anything born out of chewing on this nasty mouthful of gristle. (If you go into Terrifier 3 that unsure of what to expect and that shocked by the outcome, you're not exactly paying attention, are you?) Those sensitive to plot contrivances will note how much time and mercy Art affords Sienna compared to others, while those sensitive to the contents of their last meal wouldn't be chastised for leaving it on the floor. Blood soaks, sprays and sloshes across every inch of the production design, and decapitations, nauseating births, impalements, dissections, dismemberments, chainsaw-ings, and other brutalities make the film's stabbings hilariously dull. But it all grows dull quite quickly. The lights are so high, the carnage so visible, the darkness so bright that it all starts to wear on the senses. I'm not one to use the word "desensitization," but it's appropriate here in that so much is thrown on screen, and with such visceral pulpiness, that it ceases to have an effect on the viewer.

I do appreciate Terrifier's hard left turn into the supernatural, even if Art's lore is getting confusing as filmmaker Damien Leone irons out the kinks and begins retconning his own earlier films. As a demonic eruption of the id, Art is more affecting, and omnipresent, making his absurdism a tad more unnerving and inexplicable. Is he a human born into evil or an evil born into humanity? Or neither? Is he an abstract concept sprung to life? Or supernatural life imitating 21st century ultra-horror art? It's hard to tell, and even harder to stomach. (Again, not the gore but the pacing, scripting and barrage of inanity.) If there's any saving grace it's Florence and Rose's performances and chemistry, which ground the flick with a touch more heart than the series previously offered. It makes rooting for Florence that much easier, but also adds a small bit of promise by film's end when a development with Florence promises interesting encounters ahead in the inevitable Terrifier 4.

Terrifier 3 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Terrifier 3 features a stark, twice-baked 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation that, for better or worse, is faithful to every inch of Damien Leone and cinematographer George Steuber's blood-stained intentions. Colors lean into orange and teal tones during hearthy family scenes, but the film is all about the reds; cherry-red Santa suits, overly ripe red blood, red gore, red guts, red red red. Primaries have a distinct pop, contrast is hot but suitable to the business at hand, black levels are inky, and the image, while often grungy and dingy, serves the production well. Detail is quite good too, particularly in 4K, with clean edge definition, plenty of revealing textures, solid delineation, and a fine veneer of grain that lends a touch of filmic prowess to the grindhouse shenanigans. There isn't a substantial difference between the 4K and standard BD presentations, but there is enough of a boost here to declare the 4K edition a clear winner. Add to that a complete lack of blocking, banding and the like, even when light floods the darker corners of the film, and you have a transfer that's sure to please Art's fans.

Terrifier 3 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The latest Terrifier boasts an involving DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track that seems to have far more fun with the film than I did. Every squelch, squirch and squishy splash and splatter sounds positively revolting, a testament to the joy the sound designers bring to the mix and that the disc brings to your home theater. And it comes from all directions convincingly too, with rear speaker activity having a good time at your stomach's expense. Directionality is pretty dead on (despite plenty of purposefully heightened prioritization), pans are smooth and unsettling, and dynamics deliver. LFE output lends welcome weight to ax swings (and thunk-y connections) and the added power allows Art's attacks to register with more strength and verve. Dialogue is intelligible at all times too, even though screams cut through anything and everything to up the ante. Is the mixing perfect? Eh, no, but it serves its purpose. But the lossless track? It does exactly what it's meant to do: reproduce the film's audio with precision and proficiency.

Terrifier 3 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Making of Terrifier 3 (HD, 16 minutes) - A rather short trip behind the scenes of Art's latest massacre. Nothing too special but the fly-on-the-wall footage is fun and the cast seems to be having a good time.

• Sneak Peek: Art Attack! Documentary (HD, 3 minutes)

• Eulogy Log (HD, 24 minutes) - A tiresome Art the Clown Yule Log-style screen saver.

• Bloody Stills Collection (HD, 2 minutes) - Photographs from set.

Terrifier 3 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If Terrifier 3 is your idea of a merry Christmas, well then I say bah humbug. Not my cup of tea. So enjoy. Art will certainly be back. Maybe next time he'll capture my imagination. In the meantime, the film's 4K and Blu-ray releases will have to do. Backed by excellent video and audio, the only real disappointment is that the "Collector's Edition" barely offers any extras, which is a real shame.