Terrifier 2 Director Promises Part 3 Will Release Sooner Than Fans Probably Expect [Exclusive]
We love Art the Clown, don't we, folks? That black-and-white, blood-drenched menace has worked his way into our hearts via the "Terrifer" franchise, a DIY horror series that's become something of a cultural phenomenon. Art first appeared in the short films "The 9th Circle" and "Terrifier" before starring in a segment in the anthology film "All Hallows' Eve." Then he finally got to take the lead in two feature films, the gory "Terrifier" and the even gorier "Terrifeir 2." And that's just the beginning! Art is set to return in the Christmas-set "Terrifer 3," a film due out sometime in 2024.
And we'll be seeing the film sooner rather than later, according to franchise helmer Damien Leone. Leone sat down (virtually) with /Film's Jacob Hall timed to the November 1, 2023, theatrical re-release of "Terrifier 2," and spoke about why "Terrifier 3" will have a much quicker turnaround time compared to the previous films. It all has to do with the time and labor required to create those memorable gore effects.
'That's a lot of pressure off of my shoulders'
In a previous interview with Dread Central, director Damien Leone, who also works on the make-up effects for the films, said:
"I would rather hire a great makeup crew to do all the effects and I could just focus 100% on directing. For Art the Clown, we had to make him up probably 19 times throughout the course of the movie. It takes 2-3 hours and that's before we go into a 12-14 hour day and then I got to help him clean it off, and then by the time you go home and go to sleep you've got to come back, it's insane. Half of the time I was just on autopilot making that movie."
Well, it looks like Leone finally got his wish. Speaking with /Film's Jacob Hall, the filmmaker stated, "[O]ne of the great things that I can do now is hire a Hollywood makeup team to come in and do all the effects." He added:
"That allows me to be a better director. That's a lot of pressure off of my shoulders. I can focus on one thing instead of a hundred things. So that's going to be really exciting. And the other thing it's going to allow me to do is shoot the movie in three months as opposed to three years. So everybody will get Terrifier 3 much sooner, which is well worth the money."
Of course, this begs the question: will the Hollywood makeup team be able to match the gnarly, gruesome gore effects that the previous movies did so well? I guess we'll have to wait and see. But it's good to know that "Terrifier 3" will be making its way to screens in a quicker fashion than previously possible.