Good god, Terrifier 3. I sit here attempting to write my review and the gruesome images of writer-director Damien Leone’s latest entry into the wildly popular franchise keep interrupting my train of thought. I am also beating myself up for not investing in fake blood, but I digress. Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) is back to wreak his special brand of bloody mayhem that favors darkly comic brutality over efficiency. It is also a showcase of Leone’s improving capabilities as a filmmaker. Things feel tighter, the pacing better, and his ability to balance the plot with the trademark ghastly moments has improved.

This third installment picks up five years after the events of the second film as the characters are finally picking up the pieces and attempting to move on. After a deliciously gratuitous opening, we find Sienna (Lauren LaVera) from Terrifier 2 being released from a psychiatric hospital days before Christmas. Older sister Jessica (MARGARET ANNE FLORENCE) welcomes Sienna into her home to start anew with the support of Family. Sienna’s estranged younger brother Jonathan (Elliott Fullam) is coping in his own way by burying himself in college life and trying to move on. This is hardly an easy task since so many people on campus seem to have a sick obsession with the tragedy that he and his older sister survived. This includes Jonathan’s roommate’s girlfriend Mia (Alexa Blair Robertson) who relentlessly badgers Jonathan to appear on her true crime podcast. This is about the time that Art awakens from a catatonic state in an abandoned house to pursue his victims once again.

As Sienna and Jonathan reconnect we follow Art’s trail of chaos as he makes his way back to them. The collection of unbelievably grotesque moments is breathtaking. Limbs fly, heads are gashed and split in two by hand, and blood bursts from every wound at geyser force. In short, It’s exactly what slasher fans want. The special makeup effects in this movie are astoundingly realistic and stomach-churning and we can rest assured that this deserving work will go unrecognized by the Academy at nomination time. Onc scene, involving a chainsaw rivals Catherine Corcoran’s iconic kill scene from part one. This is sick, unhinged gore that slasher fans will slurp up with glee.

Thorton’s performance as Art is more emotive this time around. There is far more dark humor here as we get to know Art and his jet-black sense of humor. This is Doug Jones-level character work. LaVera grows into the role of Sienna and really asserts herself as a powerful final girl. I also have to call out Robertson’s insufferable Mia who, with a small amount of screen time, made me hate her so much. Great job!

With Terrifier 3, we see filmmaker Damien Leone evolve and grow as a filmmaker. The first film proved that he had something. The second film proved that Leone could give it everything he had. Terrifier 3 shows his growth in storytelling, pacing, and plot. How is it that in the Terrifier series, each film just gets better? What’s more, Leone is doing it with a fraction of the budget that other bloated projects are being made.

The indie filmmaking spirit is alive, kicking and screaming, and spewing blood-red profit all over the place. We love it. In short, go see Terrifier 3. It’s a hell of a good time.