Terrifier Director Reveals Major Studio Wanted a Less-Bloody Reboot for Mainstream Audiences

The director of the Terrifier series reveals how one major studio approached him for a deal - if he cut down on the horror.

By Kofi Outlaw

The Terrifier films have carved a spot as THE indie horror series of the last decade. By keeping creative control of the series in his hands, writer/director/producer Damien Leone has been able to keep the hardcore nature of the Terrifier films firmly intact; however, as the Terrifier franchise has grown in popularity over the years, it has become harder and harder to keep that way. In a new interview, Damien Leone reveals how one major film studio tried to offer him a deal for Terrifier 3 – if he was willing to cut down on the carnage. 

"They were so curious as to what I did with so little money," Leone told Total Film, without revealing which studio it was that approached him. "They wanted to reboot it for a wider audience. That's not what I was interested in. They would say, 'It's gotta be rated R, it can't be as gory as you made it.'" 

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(Photo: Cineverse)

That kind of change would've helped Terrfier reach a much wider audience than the series arguably has; however, that exposure could've come at a high cost. The Terrifier series' biggest marketing hook has been having kills that are so gory and demented it caused people to allegedly throw up in the theater; giving fans a standard R-rated slasher-horror film with the heavy tropes that Terrifier borrows may not have hit at all. Indie cred earned over 8 years is not something to discard so easily. And Leone knew that in the moment. 

"I knew they'd never let me shoot the first 10 minutes of what I wanted to do [in Terrifier 3]," Leone explained. "So I thought, 'Let's just stay true to what this franchise is.'"

The first Terrifier only cost $35-55K (partially through crowdfunding), and earned nearly half a million dollars. Terrifier 2 took a jump in budget ($250K), and walked away with $15.7 million at the box office, following the pandemic shutdowns. Terrifier 3 has secured a $2 million budget, which seems like the perfect scaling for the third film to be the most successful yet at the box office, without deviating from its roots. 

Related:

What Is Terrifier 3 About? 

Here's the official synopsis for Terrifier 3: 

In Cineverse and Bloody Disgusting's Terrifier 3, directed once again by Damien Leone, Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) is set to unleash another round of chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County as they peacefully drift off to sleep on Christmas Eve.

Terrifier 3 has a release date of October 11th. 

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