The One Line That Even The Terrifier Movies Won't Cross

With the success of "Terrifier 3," it is very safe to say that this is horror's hot new franchise. While Art the Clown has been terrorizing the screen for more than a decade, director Damien Leone's latest sequel centered on the murderous prankster has taken the whole enterprise to new heights. A big reason for the success of these films, particularly the latest installment, has to do with the over-the-top gore. These slashers are filled with shocking moments and buckets of blood. Yet, for as excessive as they are, there is at least one line that Leone won't cross.

In a recent interview with Variety, Leone discussed bringing "Terrifier 3" to life. Without getting into major spoilers, the film features some hugely shocking moments, with the opening scene alone enough to cause certain audience members to walk out or even get sick. This is an extreme movie by mainstream standards. Be that as it may, Leone won't ever show Art the Clown killing kids. Will Art kill kids? Yes. But we're not going to see the gory details of how it's done. Here's what Leone had to say about it:

"I'm always looking for lines to get up to, to push the boundary. Maybe just step right over it. But you can absolutely fall into a level of extreme distaste that I'm trying not to do. There's a scene in the beginning where Art murders a child offscreen and you just hear it. I could have shown that and the glorious way that we executed the scene. I would never do that, because to me, that's just completely off-putting and you're going to alienate a large majority of your audience. It's like you're trying to shock the audience so much it just becomes desperate. I think it's my job as an artist to try and walk that line in a more interesting way, in a more responsible way."

Art has been killing kids on screen for a while, actually. The ending of Leone's 2013 anthology "All Hallows' Eve" concludes with Art killing two kids. Yet, we only see the bloody aftermath, we don't see the clown doing the deed. That may seem like splitting hairs to some audience members, but it is an important distinction.

"Terrifier 3" sees Art the Clown (once again played by David Howard Thornton) unleashing a fresh round of bloody chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County on Christmas Eve. In a change up to the formula, Leone decided to set the film at Christmastime, which makes the whole thing all the more messed up. Art even dresses as Santa in the film and goes on a killing spree in the costume. It's not exactly as though anyone involved was holding back. There's a reason this hit theaters in its unrated form. It would never be what it is with an R rating.

Even still, for the horror-loving audiences out there with the stomach for it, the film is resonating with its intended audience. "Terrifier 3" debuted to nearly $19 million, taking the top spot at the box office on its opening weekend. This came as a major surprise to the industry at large while ensuring that a fourth film will happen sooner rather than later. It also proves that the incredibly gory "Terrifier 2" wasn't a fluke in 2022. There is a very sizable audience for this brand of horror on the big screen.

All of this to say, Leone doesn't exactly have to hold back. The shock value is a big part of the reason people are showing up in such large numbers. It's also not like horror movies have never targeted kids. 2023's "When Evil Lurks" has a particularly shocking moment involving a young child. All the same, Leone feels it's important to exercise some level of restraint, even when the mission statement is all about letting a sadistic killer off the chain.

"Terrifier 3" is in theaters now.