“Terrifier” is the biggest horror movie right now

I’m a huge fan of horror films and always look forward to Halloween because it’s the only time of the year that the (somewhat) controversial genre gets the spotlight all on its own. But in this spooky season, there’s only one horror show people want to talk about… “Terrifier.”

Trick or stream

Welcome! This article is part of Trick or Stream, a seasonal series in which Tom’s Guide staff share what they want to see for Halloween 2024 and their take on the horror genre, with the goal of helping you find great movies , you like Maybe you want to stream during the spooky season.

This slasher franchise started in 2016 with “Terrifier,” an ultra-low-budget slasher that revels in extreme gore, and the series only continues to enjoy popularity with the two subsequent sequels “Terrifier 2” in 2022 and “Terrifier 3.” greater popularity. ” which is currently playing in theaters nationwide after topping the global box office in its opening frame. Quite an achievement for an independent, unrated film.

The horror community is teeming with “Terrifier” fans celebrating the show’s entry into the mainstream and beyond “cult” status, and yet I can’t help but worry that its success is a threat to horror filmmakers will teach wrong lesson. That’s why “Terrifier” makes me fear for the future of the genre.

Warning: This article contains descriptions of graphic violence.

My problem with “Terrifier”

“Terrifier” places a heavy emphasis on being violent. We are talking about disturbing levels of violence. This is the franchise that begins with a female character being hung upside down and sawed in half, and culminates in “Terrifier 3” with a main character being force-fed live rats, only for them to get stuck in her throat. The blood, guts and gore content in all three films is practically off the charts.

For “Terrifiers’” small (but rapidly growing) fan base, this is the franchise’s main appeal. Ahead of the release of “Terrifier 3” earlier this month, online fan speculation largely had nothing to do with the fate of franchise lead Sienna Shaw (played by Lauren LaVera), but instead caught viewers in a guessing game where she tried to figure out how the series’ slasher villain, Art the Clown, wanted to brutally slaughter his new victims. Maybe he would opt for garden shears?

I don’t necessarily find the high level of violence in any of the “Terrifier” films off-putting (as a horror fan, I’ve developed a strong stomach for that stuff), but it’s more the overall unpleasant tone that gives me pause for thought. There’s something almost mean-spirited about the way series creator, writer and director Damien Leone presents Art’s blood-soaked rampage.

(Photo credit: Landmark Media/Cineverse/Alamy)

Sequences of intense violence are portrayed as something the audience should find almost comical. We are expected to smile gleefully while barely developed supporting characters are mutilated, dismembered and tortured. Art (and assistant Victoria Heyes) perform all of these killings with a sinister grin, and that reaction was reflected on the faces of many people in the audience at my “Terrifier 3” screening.

In a horror film, when a character succumbs to a terrible fate, it is usually presented as a shocking moment. In the “Terrifier” franchise, we’re expected to scream for our protagonists’ blood and root for each subsequent murder to be more extreme than the last. Admittedly, the slasher genre does always I was banking on the audience rooting for the antagonist (be it Freddy, Jason, or Michael), but in “Terrifier” things are taken to an extreme that I find borderline uncomfortable.

“Terrifier” lacks substance

David Howard Thornton as Art the Clown in

(Image credit: TCD/Prod.DB / Alamy Stock Photo / Bloody Disgusting)

I’m assuming some ardent “Terrifier” fans are already writing their vitriolic response to this opinion piece, declaring that I’m simply “too squeamish” to handle Art’s campaign of mayhem, but I can assure you that’s not the case case is.

One of my favorite horror films of 2024, hell, one of my favorite films of the year, period, is The Substance. This high-octane horror culminates in a sequence that probably contains more fake gore than all three “Terrifier” films combined, and I sat in my cinema seat on opening weekend completely transfixed by what I was seeing, loving every single second.

But crucially, the film’s insanely bloody finale wasn’t my favorite part of the film. The most memorable scene for me wasn’t one of the many other scary body horror moments in the film. It was the part where the main character, Elisabeth Sparkle (played by the phenomenal Demi Moore), prepares for a date and looks at herself in the mirror, her eyes full of self-loathing, before violently removing her makeup with unbridled rage.

Lauren LaVera as Sienna Shaw in

(Image credit: Landmark Media / Alamy Stock Photo / Bloody Disgusting)

This simple scene had such a deep impact on me because it was about the character. And “Terrifier” never understood that. Although the series technically has a protagonist, Sienna, and there is a rudimentary plot that ties together the numerous sequences of extreme violence, it all feels perfunctory. The story only serves to illustrate Art’s sadistic murderous methods. The characters are walking sacks of flesh that are ripped open for the audience’s amusement. “Terrifier” sums up the worst traits of the slasher genre. They feel nothing for the victims because none of them leave an impression.

Furthermore, it’s very hard to argue that “Terrifier” really values storytelling when a key character, Jonathan (Elliott Fullam), the younger brother of the series’ “Final Girl,” is murdered off-screen in the latest installment. Granted, there are fan theories that his “death” is actually a fake, but as per the franchise’s flimsy cannon, he has since passed away.

Elliott Fullam as Jonathan Shaw in

(Image credit: Landmark Media / Alamy Stock Photo / Bloody Disgusting)

To be honest, I suspect that if “Terrifier 4” (and there will be a “Terrifier 4”) has decided to abandon any attempt at a bland narrative and is just art, two hours of unnamed characters without any Context, the fan base would devour it with great enthusiasm and not miss a moment of Sienna Shaw.

“Terrifier” could influence the future of horror

Now I’m not here to spoil anyone’s parade. For the reasons stated above, the “Terrifier” series is clearly not for me, but that’s okay. Just because I’m a horror fan doesn’t mean I have to like it everyone Horror film or franchise. “Terrifier” has its fan base and I’m perfectly happy with it carving out its own niche within the genre. I fear that as the financial returns increase with each new installment, the future of horror films will become cheap “Terrifier” clones where maximum violence is more important than compelling stories and characters.

David Howard Thornton as Art the Clown in

(Image credit: Album / Alamy Stock Photo / Dark Age Cinema / Bloody Disgusting)

Replicating a tried-and-tested formula is all the rage in Hollywood, and we’ve seen similarly successful horror franchises spark new waves of intimators in the past. Take 2007’s “Paranormal Activity,” which grossed nearly $200 million on a budget about 1,000 times smaller. What followed (aside from way too many crappy Paranormal Activity sequels) was a flood of low-budget found footage films hoping to make similar returns. While “Terrifier 3” isn’t making quite the same waves, it has grossed nearly $45 million (to date), a hefty profit on a $2 million budget.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the next class of horror directors don’t observe the success of “Terrifier” and try to imagine ways to repeat its success. I can’t imagine much scarier than the next few years, where new horror films will be dominated by films that take the same shock-first approach to violence and gore as “Terrifier.” I sincerely wish the franchise (and its fan base) all the best, but I don’t want its influence to infect my favorite genre.

Regard “Terrifying” And “Terffier 2” Now on Amazon Prime Video

“Terrifier” is the biggest horror movie right now – and that worries me

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