How Terrifier 3 Will Continue The Sequel’s Wild Ending Detailed By Director: “It’s Sickening & Hysterical”

As anticipation grows for the killer’s return following the recent re-release, writer/director Damien Leone teases how Terrifier 3 will continue its predecessor’s wild ending. The second movie in the horror franchise saw Art the Clown hunting down a group of new young adults on Halloween night a year after the original, with Lauren LeVara’s Sienna Shaw having to rise up to try and save her friends and family. Becoming a viral sensation thanks to its crowdfunding campaign and horrific kills, Terrifier 2 was the surprise critical and commercial horror hit of 2022, with Leone quickly moving ahead with plans for a third movie.

During an interview with Screen Rant for Terrifier 2‘s re-release, Leone looked ahead to 2024’s Terrifier 3 and shared some details for the threequel. When asked how the next movie will tackle its predecessor’s wild ending, especially with his desire to return to the grindhouse aesthetic of the original, the writer/director acknowledged that there will still be “plenty of supernatural things” in the threequel, and teased that it will continue it “head on.” See what Leone shared below:

Pun intended, head on. [Laughs] No, there’s still going to be plenty of supernatural things, it’s inevitable in Part 3. Like I said, I’m not ignoring the groundwork that was laid, but there’s an artistic way to approach it where it’s just not so in your face. Some things just are going to be in your face, but you’ll understand when you see it, a lot of it’s grounded. But yeah, I’m excited, you’re gonna see, and it’s sickening and hysterical how it picks up and how Art gets out of that situation, if I could say that. Maybe this is a bit of a spoiler, but to see how the Victoria character aids Art the Clown in that journey is sort of just as interesting.

And I’m excited for people to see that as well. In this movie, there’s a lot of new fresh elements in this movie, there’s a lot of, I call it “safety net,” just a lot of Art the Clown doing his thing, everything you love about this franchise that you’re there to see, you’re definitely going to get. I’m always going to deliver that, you’re going to see the big kills and Art the Clown being his quirky, charming, sadistic self. But then there’s that other sort of 30%, where I allow myself to take really bold risks and just inject new fresh ideas and things that just make it something new.

I don’t think there’s any point in just recycling the same movie over and over again, that doesn’t interest me as a storyteller, so those are the things that always excite me the most is just seeing how the audience is going to react to these new elements that I put into the film, and there’s a lot of them.

Terrifier 2’s Wild Ending Explained (& What It Means For 3)

After having seemingly killed Sienna and left her in a bizarre alternate dimension, Terrifier 2 saw its final girl resurrected and utilize a sword forged by her late father to decapitate Art the Clown in time to save her brother, with the mysterious little clown girl known as The Little Pale Girl taking his head with her. The mid-credits subsequently reveal that Victoria Hayes, the survivor of the original film, currently resides in a mental health institution and has become deliriously attached to Art, writing his name paired with hers alongside other obscenities on the wall in her blood. This is taken a step further as she gives birth to Art’s living head, much to her joy and to the horror of a nurse on duty.

With only his head having been birthed, it remains unclear how Art will assemble the rest of his body for next year’s Terrifier 3, but it’s clear that Victoria will be a key player in the threequel. Leone himself previously expressed his desire to give the original movie’s final girl a bigger role in the next movie, having enjoyed his time working with actor Samantha Scaffidi, as well as crafting Sienna from his regrets of underdeveloping Victoria in the original. Set photos for the next movie have already revealed a Christmas setting and Art having regained a full body, though leaves it a mystery as to how he regains this.

What will be interesting to see is how Terrifier 3 explores the relationship not only between Art and Victoria, but Victoria and The Pale Little Girl. The survivor seems to be head over heels in love with her near-killer, making it possible that she becomes overprotective of Art to the point of alienating the girl, or even putting herself at risk should the murderous clown decide to take the side of the mysterious little girl. With Leone also having ideas for a potential Terrifier 4, there’s a lot of exciting territory to cover to expand Art’s mysterious nature and his relationships with the various characters.