The return of Art the Clown in Terrifier 3 has once again proven that this chilling slasher franchise is not for the faint of heart. Damien Leone’s sadistic killer clown character has become a true horror icon, with his unrelenting brutality and visceral kills eliciting visceral reactions from audiences.
The recent UK premiere of “Terrifier 3” was no exception last week with the film’s distributor, Signature Entertainment, commenting that movie theater staff “reported 11 people walking out and 1 person vomiting.” This extreme reaction is a testament to the raw, uncompromising nature of the “Terrifier” series, which refuses to pull any punches in delivering the most gut-wrenching, blood-curdling slasher thrills. Following the UK premiere, France’s film classification committee imposed the first under-18s ban on a “Terrifier” movie since the release of Saw 3 in 2006.
The “Terrifier” film series, first released in 2016, is notorious for eliciting visceral, extreme reactions from viewers. Over the years, numerous disturbing reports have emerged of audience members becoming physically ill or even fleeing screenings. By the time Terrifier 2 debuted in 2022, the franchise’s box office success appeared to be fueled by these accounts of intense viewer reactions. The films’ ability to provoke such extreme responses has clearly only heightened their cult status, and this type of provocative news has further stoked fans’ anticipation and excitement for Terrifier 3.
That said, Art the Clown is far from the first horror icon to elicit a visceral reaction from audiences. Cinematic history is littered with films that were met with outrage and uproar upon their initial releases, largely due to their graphic depictions of violence and gore that left viewers reeling. In anticipation of the return of Art the Clown in Terrifier 3, which releases in theaters this week, here are 5 films that also explored the darkest depths of human cruelty, forever altering the landscape of horror cinema and paving the way for future boundary-pushing gran-guignol works like Terrifier that continue to shock and horrify audiences.
Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky is a cult classic that defies conventional boundaries by blending disparate genres into a singular, viscerally charged cinematic experience. Equal parts dystopian prison thriller, frenzied martial arts epic, and unabashedly outlandish comedy, this Hong Kong film was so unflinchingly graphic that it was banned in numerous countries for its mercilessly gory depictions of carnage and dismemberment.
Sui-Wong Fan plays Ricky, a superhuman kung-fu master wrongfully imprisoned for a revenge killing in the wake of his girlfriend having taken her own life while fleeing from the clutches of ruthless drug dealers. Confined to a hostile, corporate-run facility, Ricky takes matters into his own hands in a bid for retribution, dismembering his adversaries with his bare hands in a startling display of martial artistry. The film’s most distinguishing feature though, is its unwavering dedication to delivering mind-blowing practical special effects, which take the limits of on-screen gore to delirious new heights.
While the sheer level of on-screen visceral violence is undeniably uncomfortable to watch, Riki-Oh manages to offset this with a deliberately irreverent and delightfully chaotic tone, reveling in the absurdity of its own uninhibited imagination.
This entry in the list serves up a visceral exploration of an extant virus with Herman Yau’s exuberantly savage piece of cinema cutting severely close to the bone. As the title suggests, audiences can expect an EVD outbreak of global proportions, but that’s not even the half of it.
At the center of this nightmare is the character of Kai, a wanted criminal who also happens to be a restaurant chef. While on the run in South Africa, Kai commits a heinous act of sexual violence, raping a woman and contracting the Ebola virus. Luckily for Kai but disastrously for the rest of the world, he is immune to the virus. He then brings it back to Hong Kong, where he then embarks on a campaign of unimaginable terror, spreading it through various means, including spitting on people and even grinding victims into Ebola-infected burgers for his unsuspecting diners.
Diving headfirst into the most depraved and taboo realms of human depravity, while the thrust of the film is its stark raving outrageous obscenities and kinetic carnage all of that somehow manages to never end up disarming the film’s intrinsic morbid streak, and that’s exactly why we’ve included it in this list.
If outrageous Category 3 films satisfy your particular tastes, rest assured that this one will leave you salivating.
With his debut feature film, In a Violent Nature, writer and director Chris Nash delivered an absolute doozy this year, showcasing his talents after previously contributing to the anthology film ABC’s of Death 2 with “Z is for Zygote.”
Johnny, a vengeful spirit driven by a horrific crime committed 60 years ago, is resurrected when a medallion is removed from a collapsed fire tower in the woods where his rotting corpse is buried.
The 94-minute runtime unfolds at a deliberate pace, yet Nash’s skilled direction sustains an unyielding momentum that builds the viewer’s anticipation with each gruesome death. When those cleverly calculated deaths take place, they do so in such uniquely wince-inducing ways that has had audiences gasping. While some may criticize a certain lack of character development, that is not the focal point here. The true draw is witnessing the relentless vengeance of our undead protagonist. In a Violent Nature is an ingeniously immersive slasher that grabs its audience by the scruff of the neck, dragging them, kicking and screaming, along for a richly atmospheric, shrewdly savage shockathon.
Those with a severe case of thanatophobia are advised to exercise caution when viewing Thanatamorphose. Writer/director Éric Falardeau’s deranged, bleak, and mentally taxing arthouse creation draws inspiration from two seminal contributions to the body horror genre: The Fly and the more recent Starry Eyes (the latter now set to receive a sequel according to the film’s writers and directors, Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer).
Brace yourself for a few days in the bleak existence of Kayden Rose’s nameless protagonist, who wastes away before your very eyes. The sheer gruesome spectacle of Thanatamorphose proves a potent hook for the audience and while the narrative lacks substance, an underlying esoteric social commentary permeates the film, providing a thought-provoking counterpoint to the visceral on-screen tragedy.
If you can handle some of the most astonishingly revolting effects ever captured on camera, you’re in for a truly torturous treat.
The opening scene of Found., where a 12-year-old boy stumbles upon a severed head in his older brother’s bowling bag, immediately signals that the audience is in for something unsettling and unconventional.
Found explores the disquieting results bullies have on young Marty whose only friend ultimately turns on him too, in the belief that association has lead to him being bullied too. Feeling increasingly isolated and ostracized, Marty retreats into the escapism of classic monster movies, seeking refuge from the cruelty of the real world. However, his discovery of a particularly twisted film called “Headless” in his brother’s collection has a profound and unsettling effect on him. As Marty grapples with the disturbing themes and imagery of this movie, he begins to wonder if it may have somehow triggered or amplified the killer instincts lurking within his own brother. Marty starts to entertain the desire to go out and commit killings himself, fearful that the film has awakened a similar darkness within him.
Adapting Todd Rigney’s novel, co-writer and director Scott Schirmer has crafted a gripping character study that builds to a grisly climax, as the horror slowly crescendos and blood and guts explosively take center stage in the final act.
Terrifier 3 is clearly poised to raise the stakes – in every sense of the word – when it receives a wide theatrical release on October 11, 2024.