By David Dent
Well, we’ve come a long way: from the 2011 short that spawned Art the Clown, via his first feature outing in 2013’s multi-story All Hallows Eve, director Damien Leone has stayed the course and now offers up the third official instalment in this most unlikely of franchises.
The big change with 3 is moving the action from Halloween to Christmas. Leone has commented that placing Art in the middle of Yuletide frivolities is his homage to the ‘All Through the House’ story in the 1972 Amicus portmanteau flick Tales from the Crypt, which is nice, but let me confirm, there’s nothing that mild going on here.
Leone now has the story arc to bring back some favourite characters; so 3 opens five years after the last movie, with Sienna Shaw (Lauren LaVera) in recovery mode, now living with Aunt Jessica (Margaret Anne Florence), Uncle Greg (Bryce Johnson), and her cousin Gabbie (Antonella Rose) Sienna’s dad flashbacks, warning of more awfulness to come, turn out to be pretty on the money as Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) comes a calling once more, after having reconnected head with body (yes, Leone does explain the last scenes of T2!). Meanwhile, the mashed-up Vicky (Samantha Scaffidi) returns with an expanded role that rivals Art for overall meanness and Sienna’s brother Jonathan (Elliott Fullam) also makes a welcome return.
There’s an ongoing conversation in cinema/censorship circles about whether exposure to screen violence desensitises the viewer. All I’ll mention here is that mid-way through T3’s 2-hour running time, I was getting quite used to seeing such unbelievable scenes of violence and dismemberment (even exceeding T2’s set pieces) without breaking a sweat; until I remembered that all this was taking place at Christmas. Y’know, Santa…and Frosty…those things ring a bell? Come on!
If I can sound a note of caution, it’s that the almost pantomimic levels of gore do tend to take one out of the picture a bit. Yes, I know it’s all make-up, but once you see a body hacked to pieces like an inexpertly filleted turkey for a few minutes you kind of stop having any empathy with the hackee. And then you’re into Herschell Gordon Lewis territory (and what are these movies if not souped-up HGL homages?).
But there’s no denying that Leone does this thing very well indeed; the mind boggles at where Art will crop up next.
Terrifier 3 is showing at UK cinemas on 11 October 2024.
Bloody Flicks 