Damien Leone says “Terrifier 3” is the “Empire Strikes Back” of his horror saga and he’s already mapping out ideas for “Terrifier 4″…
“Terrifier 3” lands in theaters on October 11 but writer and director Damien Leone is already mapping out ideas for his fourth film in the horror franchise.
Now to be clear, Leone admits that he can’t get too far ahead of himself because a fourth film is predicated on “Terrifier 3” finding success. His second film “Terrifier 2” was crowdfunded but then the low budget movie ended up earning more than $15 million at the box office and became a surprise hit in 2022.
Obviously he’s hoping for the same with “Terrifier 3” opening on Friday, especially with the way he’s already developed the story for a fourth film.
“I didn’t want that news to come out all of a sudden: “Terrifier 4 is happening!” Leone told The Hollywood Reporter. “We showed the film at Fantastic Fest, and there was a Q&A afterwards. And like you just said, if you see this film, it’s undeniable that there’s going to be another one. It leaves on a blatant cliffhanger. It’s like our Empire Strikes Back of the saga. So somebody asked me if there was going to be more, and I was like, “Well, you just saw the movie, so, of course, there’s going to be more. I would never leave the audience there.”
“So I know a lot of where I’m going to take “Terrifier 4,” and I knew a lot of where I was going to end the franchise when I was writing part two. It’s a great safety net to have because figuring out the end of your franchise is usually the hardest part, especially if it’s, hopefully, a satisfying ending. So I have a lot of it blueprinted now, and depending on how “Terrifier 3″ does and if it continues to get a good reception and people really want the next one, then that could be something I dive into right away.”
“Terrifier 3” deals with a five year time jump between sequels, which Leone explained happened in large part thanks to actor Elliot Fullam — who plays lead star Lauren LaVera’s little brother Jonathan in the film — getting older, which also means a lot taller.
Leone originally planned for “Terrifier 3” to take place at Christmas directly after “Terrifier 2” ended but he recognized that Fullam was clearly “aging out” so he had to make some changes to the script. Plus the five year time jump allowed the “Terrifier” franchise to catch up with present day as the new film takes place sometime between 2023 and 2024.
While “Terrifier” is built so much around Art the Clown — the brutal mute slasher played by David Howard Thornton — Leone also recognized how much his films have now become just as much about LaVera’s character Sienna Shaw.
LaVera received rave reviews for her performance in “Terrifier 2” after becoming an iconic Final Girl — a staple of slasher films — and she plays a major role in the new film as well.
“Sienna is my favorite character,” Leone said. “She’s become the heart and soul of this franchise, and it’s just as much her franchise as it is Art the Clown’s at this point. It’s her story you’re following. The audience is living vicariously through her and empathizing with her, hopefully.”
One big difference between “Terrifier 2” and “Terrifier 3” is the run time with the newest sequel clocking in at 2 hours and 5 minutes. “Terrifier 2” ran for 2 hours and 18 minutes when most traditional slasher films rarely exceed 90 minutes.
Leone says he had to make a lot of cuts for “Terrifier 3” but perhaps one day he’ll get the chance to release a director’s cut that will restore all of that lost footage.
“First of all, we knew we didn’t want to make another two-hour and twenty-minute film because [Terrifier 2’s runtime] was so polarizing,” Leone said. “So I tried to keep it at a more respectable slasher length, but it got to the point where I still had a two-hour and 25-minute movie. I then said that we can’t do that again, and everybody was begging me to keep it under two hours.
“So I wound up cutting probably five scenes out of this film, and a lot of them I really, really loved. There were some really great character moments that I had to cut out that really fleshed out the relationships a lot more, but maybe one day there’ll be an extended version.”
For now, the theatrical version of “Terrifier 3” opens in theaters on Oct. 11.
