Art the Clown may seem unstoppable, but that doesn’t mean the Terrifier franchise is going to continue forever. The horror series’ creator, writer-director Damien Leone, has confirmed as much.
“My big fear is of going on too long and wearing out my welcome,” the filmmaker confessed in an interview with SFX Magazine. “I want to have a solid franchise, whether it be a trilogy – or maybe a quadrilogy if I have one more in mind – where it starts, where it ends, and you can walk away with a satisfying conclusion and closure and say that was pretty cool.”
Like Halloween, Friday the 13th, and dozens of other classic horror properties before it, the Terrifier franchise has emerged as an unlikely success in the eight years since its first installment was released in 2016. That film, which Leone directed with a shoestring budget of just $35,000, went on to gross over $416,000 at the box office. Six years later, Terrifier 2 raked in over $15 million over the course of its theatrical run in 2022.
Now, Terrifier 3 is set to hit theaters in just a few short weeks. Set during the Christmas season, the new film sees David Howard Thornton’s Art the Clown return to wreak more chaos and carnage — this time whilst donning a red Santa suit. The sequel seems primed, in other words, to continue pushing its franchise’s already well-tested limits of both gore and pitch-black humor.
Whether or not Terrifier 3 will be able to replicate its predecessor’s success two years ago is impossible to predict. However, even if it matches or surpasses Terrifier 2 at the box office, it doesn’t sound like fans should expect to see too much more of Art the Clown. During his conversation with SFX Magazine, Leone was asked if he envisions a potential fourth Terrifier film as being the franchise’s final installment.
“I think so,” he said. “I have the whole story mapped out. I had it mapped out since part two, honestly, which is huge. Knowing where you’re going to end it is probably the hardest thing and I figured out the ending to this a while ago.”
Only time will tell what conclusion Leone has in mind for his horror franchise, but one can only assume it’ll involve Thornton’s Art, as well as his sword-wielding final girl nemesis, Lauren LaVera’s Sienna Shaw. For now, though, it sounds like Terrifier fans should just focus on enjoying their remaining time in the franchise’s surreal, bloody world as much as they can before they ultimately have to say goodbye to it.
Terrifier 3 hits theaters on Friday, October 11.