Terrifier 3 Will Be “Scariest” in the Franchise Says Director

The box office success of the slasher sequel Terrifier 2 this year all but guaranteed a Terrifier 3 would get made, horror as a genre after all is largely built on franchising. Series creator Damien Leone has already spoken about plans for another movie in the series, one that could very well lead to two more movies in the franchise, and now he has a fresh update for fans. As some may know, the Terrifier movies and their trademark killer Art the Clown actually began in a series of short films, 2008’s The 9th Circle and 2011’s Terrifier, something that Leone is keen to channel again with the next movie.

Taking to Twitter, Leone offered this tease about Terrifier 3: “One of my main goals for Terrifier 3 is to recapture the creep factor present in the original Terrifier short film. That had a genuinely spooky atmosphere that I’m still proud of. If all goes as planned, part 3 will be the scariest Terrifier thus far.” Produced on a reported budget of $250k, Terrifier 2 became a runaway success at the box office and has grossed over $10 million in the US alone, making forty times its production budget and becoming one of the most unique wins for the year at the box office.

In a previous interview with Variety, Leone teased that he’d been considering the plot for Terrifier 3 while working on the second film. “There are so many questions brought up in ‘Part 2’ that are not answered, and that was part of the design because I know I’m going into a ‘Part 3,’” Leone said. “I pretty much have the entire treatment ready for ‘ Part 3,’ but it’s getting so big that it could potentially split into a ‘ Part 4’ because I wouldn’t want to make another 2 hour 20 minute movie. So we’ll see.”

Something that should gives fans some solace though is that Leone is in no hurry to make Terrifier as a franchise and Art the Clown as a horror movie icon become oversaturated. Unlike other slasher franchises that have shown to have no end in sight and contless reboots, Leone is hoping to know when exactly to stop.

“My fear is that eventually the well is gonna run dry, we’re gonna wind up jumping the shark, there will be nothing left to say with this character,” Leone added. “It happens with a lot of franchises that I’m still a huge fan of. I’ve watched all these Part 10s and Part 13s, but sometimes that could really ruin the entire franchise. For them to peter out or not have this satisfying arc or the movie goes in another direction, that could be devastating to your overall franchise. I want to try and avoid that.”

Terrifier 2 is now available on blu-ray.