Art The Clown Will Slaughter For Two Hours In Terrifier 3

I'll admit it: I am Art the Clown-pilled. The "Terrifier" films aren't the most sophisticated of horror movies — they're pretty cheap and some of the acting is a bit stiff — but gosh, I kinda love 'em. I'm especially fond of "Terrifier 2," a mega-sequel that more or less fixes every problem I had with the first movie (you can read my "Terrifer 2" review right here). In addition to being extremely gory, "Terrifier 2" is also extremely long, especially for a slasher movie. It clocks in at a whopping 138 minutes! For reference, the first film runs a much more respectable 85 minutes.

With that in mind, you might be wondering about the "Terrifier 3" runtime. Will the next bloody tale of Art the Clown follow in the lengthy footsteps of "Terrifier 2"? Earlier this week, "Terrifier" franchise director Damien Leone took to Twitter (or X, as losers call it) to tease the runtime of the new movie. "Can't confirm the official run time for Terrifier 3 just yet but I can confirm it is shorter than part 2," Leone wrote. "Who's happy it's shorter and who wishes it was 5 hours long?"

Now, we finally have confirmation on the "Terrifier 3" runtime, and Leone wasn't kidding: the movie is shorter than "Terrifier 2." However it's still long!

Today it was revealed that "Terrifier 3" will be premiering at Austin's genre-friendly film festival Fantastic Fest, which runs from September 19 through September 26, 2024 at Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar in Austin, TX. This news also comes with a mention that the film's runtime is 128 minutes. However, we've been informed this isn't accurate. As of right now, the total runtime for the film is a solid 2 hours, which would make it 120 minutes. So there you have it: "Terrifier 3" really is shorter than "Terrifier 2," but it's still pretty long. 

Now, some genre fans might think this is still pushing it: very few slasher movies run for a full 2 hours, and some might argue that they shouldn't run for 2 hours (or more). But if you're a fan of Art the Clown, you'll probably be fine with this news: think of all the gruesome kills that can be packed into that runtime!

When asked about the lengthy runtime of "Terrifier 2," Leone made it clear that he wasn't trying to overstuff the movie. He just went where the story took him. "When I wrote "Terrifier 2" I didn't think about runtime whatsoever," the director told Macabre Daily, adding: 

"With any slasher movie, you purposely have to put filler there otherwise your villain is just killing people non-stop within the runtime. With "Terrifier" we were wondering what we could fill in between the kills to keep it interesting. With 'Terrifier 2', it was never a question of filler for me. This was a genuine and organic story that with every single scene in this propels the narrative where you are learning something about a character or character dynamic. You are raising the stakes so that a bit of new information is given to you. I was really careful with crafting it."

We can only hope that Leone was just as careful with crafting "Terrifier 3." In "Terrifier 3," "Art the Clown is set to unleash chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County as they peacefully drift off to sleep on Christmas Eve." In addition to playing at Fantastic Fest, "Terrifier 3" will hit theaters on October 11, 2024.