Damien Leone Is Writing Terrifier 3, And Then Hopes To Work With Sam Raimi

One of last year's most unexpected hits was that of "Terrifier 2," an epic-length splatter film that garnered bold headlines for its impressively sickening gore effects. On top of that, its $250,000 budget went on to gross a pretty insane $14.7 million at the box office. When an ode to exploitation cinema rakes in that kind of money, it wasn't a matter of "if" a "Terrifier 3" was happening, and more of a "when." Director Damien Leone is already hard at work writing the threequel, with the possibility of expanding it into a fourth film. "There may be two to tell this story and tackle all the ideas that I have in my head," says Leone (via Insider).

Given the dangling plot threads of "Terrifier 2" that were left open-ended, there's plenty of room to play around with where this demented story could go. Leone has assured that the sequel will pick up with the sequel's newcomers, as Lauren LaVera's Sienna has become just as important to this series as her interdimensional tormenter. "There's a lot more to explore with Art the Clown, the pale girl, Victoria, and certainly Sienna as our final girl. We will be following her journey to the end of this franchise," says Leone.

One of the most notable criticisms of the first film was that there wasn't someone to follow throughout the bloody journey besides Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton). Thankfully, "Terrifier 2" rectifies this with an awesome performance from LaVera, who gives the kind of Scream Queen performance that turns actors into horror mainstays. But while Leone seems committed to getting the third "Terrifier" out sooner than later, he might be a bit busy working with a horror legend.

When you make the kind of numbers that "Terrifier 2" did, it grabs the attention of bigger names. For Leone, one of those names was Sam Raimi. According to a report from Insider, Leone says he's met with the "Evil Dead" scribe to develop a secretive new project:

"There is an original project I have in development with Ghost House Pictures, which is Sam Raimi's production company [...] So if that happens, that would be amazing. I'm really hoping that that could happen before 'Terrifier 3,' or it might happen right after, we'll see."

Ghost House has been responsible for releasing Raimi's "Drag Me to Hell," in addition to "30 Days of Night" and "The Grudge." One of Hollywood's lasting trends is plucking independent filmmakers and giving them a big-budget production as a sort of way to usher them into the big leagues. Last year, Paramount took a gamble on Parker Finn, who had only directed a few shorts, to helm the urban legend chiller "Smile." In addition to being a pretty great horror movie, it grossed over $216 million against a $17 million budget.

For someone who also built their way through the indie horror scene, it's really heartening to see Raimi reaching out to a new generation of horror filmmakers. We may not have any idea of what Leone is developing, but given his admiration for practical effects, I wouldn't count out another bloody spectacle.

"Terrifier 2" is currently streaming on Screambox.