EXCLUSIVE: The Terrifier franchise has been one of the biggest success stories in grassroots genre moviemaking in recent years. The second movie in the slasher franchise showcasing the murderous Art the Clown was made for only $250k but last year took $11M domestic and another $4M internationally.
Genre fans have been keenly waiting for the third instalment, which as we first revealed in May, is getting a bigger budget and scope. We checked in with director Damien Leone and star Lauren LaVera to discuss the upcoming third instalment. We touched on returning and new characters, LaVera’s emergence as a Final Girl, and what may come down the line for the franchise and the creatives.
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Terrifier 3 is due to hit North American theaters on October 25, with David Howard Thornton reprising his role as Art the Clown and LaVera reprising her role as Sienna. Regarding the plot, distributor Cineverse has previously said the film will “unleash chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County as they peacefully drift off to sleep on Christmas Eve.” The Coven handles sales. You can watch an early teaser trailer for the movie below.
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DEADLINE: Where are you at with the new movie?
DAMIEN LEONE: We are in pre-production right now. We’re going to start shooting in two months, beginning of February. So, we’re in the thick of it. We’re assembling our crew; we’re still casting; we’re getting locations in order; special effects are being created; and we’re still working on drafts. It could always be better and tighter: I never stop doing that all the way through production. I’m finally getting to the stage where I’m very excited about it. We’re about to make a movie again, which is my childhood fantasy come true.
DEADLINE: How much of the script might change between now and start date?
LEONE: Not much. It’s pretty locked in. It’s pretty solid. I’m speaking to the main actors and Lauren constantly, I’m always asking for her notes, and she’ll go through the script, and she’ll do a whole redline that I ask for, and I want to hear everything she has to offer, even in regards to other characters or other scenes, but especially with her character.
The overall plot and structure of this franchise was pretty much cemented when I wrote Part 2, which is very comforting because it’s kind of scary to be lost in the woods, and be scrambling, and trying to figure out if there is a satisfying conclusion down the line and I feel like I do have one.
DEADLINE: But horror franchises never end, do they?
LEONE: It doesn’t have to end, and you know, once we open the door of the supernatural, anything’s possible in this franchise. So, I don’t think you could ever officially put the nail in the coffin, but if I ever did want to end it, I now have a satisfying conclusion for myself as an artist, as the creator.
DEADLINE: But the end of three does leave the door open?
LEONE: Absolutely. Absolutely. The door can always be opened.
DEADLINE: In terms of who we can expect back, I take it David, Lauren, Samantha Scaffidi [who plays Victoria] and Elliot Fullam [Jonathan] are among those coming back?
LEONE: Yes.
DEADLINE: Any more we can mention?
LEONE: There are a few new major characters introduced in three, one in particular that it’s too soon for me to announce…What I think I can say at this stage is that Chris Jericho [who has a cameo role as a psychiatric hospital attendant in a credits scene] is going to be returning. He’s super excited. This one is going to pick up where Part 2 left off, in the insane asylum, so, you’re going to see what transpires there, what mayhem unfolds, because seeing how Art and Victoria ended up, is so insane, and seeing how they get out of that situation and what happens next is going to be really wild. So, we have to get Chris back in there and see how he becomes a part of that situation.
DEADLINE: Nice. The fans are going to love that…Lauren, how excited are you to return to this franchise?
LAUREN LAVERA: Absolutely. Above all else, I really love this character. We’ve been discussing what the character’s mindset is after everything she went through in the last movie. Damien’s really fun to work with and he’s always been open to improvisation on set.
DEADLINE: You have been embraced by the fans of this franchise and I see you’re being called a Scream Queen in some places…
LAVERA: Even being called a ‘Final Girl’ is such an honor to me, but Scream Queen is something I never thought I would attain. Damien had so much faith in and understanding of this character. It has been overwhelming, but in the best way.
DEADLINE: Do you embrace the term Scream Queen?
LAVERA: I think it’s pretty badass. I mean that’s just me. I know certain people might have different opinions about that title but I think it’s pretty cool. I love horror. I’ve always been a horror enthusiast, and I love women in horror. I think they’re some of the most complex, interesting, layered characters, and that is true tenfold for Sienna, in my opinion. So, yeah, I love the title, and I would love to continue to have that title in the future.
DEADLINE: Are there any performances in the horror genre that you have particularly connected with?
LAVERA: The list is way too long. I think of some of the newer names like Anya Taylor-Joy, Florence Pugh and Mia Goth. I’ve always been a fan of Sally Field, who’s done some horror in the past, and I mean, Angelina Jolie is one of my favorite actresses of all time. I just watched Girl, Interrupted a few days ago, and I was blown away by her performance. She plays demented so well. And of course, Neve Campbell who I just met for the first time. She was so lovely and sweet. I really look up to her. I think Sidney Prescott is one of the best final girls in history. I’m close with some of the Scream guys now, like Skeet [Ulrich] and Jamie [Kennedy]. I’m really fortunate. It has been a crazy year.
DEADLINE: What were your main touchstones for this franchise, Damien?
LEONE: It would have to be all the slashers that I grew up obsessed with, in particular, the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, probably Friday 13th, Part III and IV, and Nightmare on Elm Street, 1 and 3, and of course, Halloween. Halloween is my favorite, I would say, as a singular film, not necessarily the entire franchise. I think it’s the greatest slasher film ever made.
DEADLINE: Stephen King, I guess too, with It?
LEONE: Huge, huge inspiration. That character in particular, is very responsible for what Art the Clown wound up looking like and even acting like. But I consciously decided to make him look as different to Pennywise as possible, and also to take away the verbal communication and not have him be this sort of jokester.
DEADLINE: What needs to happen next for the movie? Is the money in place? We broke the story that this one is going to have a bigger budget and scope…
LEONE: The money is in place. I always write for the moon, you know? I don’t think about budget. If I want to have space-ships, I’ll write it in, but then I’ll come to the reality that we can’t have that. So, you have to start chipping away, and there’s even things in this script now where it’s like, oh, that’s a little much, we might not be able to do that, or that’s going to take too many days. We got to sort of streamline, and refine, and cut down. But we have a bigger budget this time, significantly bigger.
The final price tag of Terrifier, the original, was about $55k. The second one was a little over $250k. This time we have a couple of million to play with.
DEADLINE: Where will we see that on screen?
LEONE: We definitely want to take care of cast members, especially the ones coming back, but a chunk of the budget is also going to practical effects. This is the first time in my career I got to hire a Hollywood makeup effects crew to come in and take all of that off of my plate, which is incredible, because that’s one of the reasons why Part 2 took years to make, because me and my producer, Phil Falcone, did all the special effects ourselves. We’d have to take breaks in between shooting, for weeks at a time, sometimes, just to build an upcoming effects sequence.
It was worth the years of work and the stress, but it does get daunting. There’s a lot of pressure. The production value itself is going to be much bigger in this one. It’s going to be much more polished, even though I’m still trying to capture that vintage sort of Grindhouse aesthetic.
LAVERA: I’m really excited to dive into Sienna’s mental state because the wonderful thing about horror is that emotions are always at 100% because the stakes are life and death. It’s exhausting, but it’s also really rewarding.
DEADLINE: How about the gore factor?
LEONE: I’m trying to make this one PG…Not. No, of course, everything has to be taken to the next level, and Part 3 is going to be no different. My goal is always to push the envelope as far as I can but maintaining some level of sort of mass accessibility. I don’t want to turn off the audience too much with the gore, but I feel like I could open the door a little wider and show them things that they don’t typically see in your average horror movie, or even your average slasher film. So, there are scenes in this one that push it further.
DEADLINE: How do you keep the mood light on set when dealing with gruesome scenes, or maybe the mood isn’t light?
LEONE: It depends on what the situation is. Sometimes, the scenes are so technical that you don’t really have time to feel the weight of what you’re actually doing, it’s really just hours to set up one piece of the puzzle. But then there are moments where we’re filming the hacksaw scene in Terrifier, the original, and you know you have a vulnerable actress on set. There may be nudity, or a scene when a young woman is being hung upside-down. There were no jokes on set that day. Everybody was focused on safety and just getting in there and getting out of there. Then there are other times where we’re just having a ball, laughing and joking with each other.
DEADLINE: How much interest has there been from bigger Hollywood companies in this franchise?
LEONE: After Part 1, almost every studio in Hollywood wanted to meet me and discuss potentially taking it on. But it just wasn’t the right time or fit. I wasn’t ready to have studio interference at that point. I knew there would be a lot of eyes over my shoulders, especially in terms of the gore. People made it known that future instalments would need to be rated R [the franchise is unrated]. But I didn’t want to forget where I came from. I was happy to keep it with Cineverse after the success we’ve had. But of course, at some point I will probably move on from the Terrifier universe, even if I know it will live long as a movie and/or TV series franchise.
DEADLINE: Terrifier 3 will also be unrated, I take it?
LEONE: Yes, that’s one of the reasons for the success of this film and what sets it apart from other slashers. I don’t want to disrupt the formula that got us here. None of my movies have been rated to date.
DEADLINE: Is Terrifier 3 your next project and do you have other projects in the pipeline?
LAVERA: I have an offer for something that may go before Terrifier but we’re figuring that out. After Terrifier, there is a comedy that was pushed back due to the strike but my involvement in that will depend on the Terrifier schedule.
LEONE: Terrifier is definitely my next one to shoot. I’ve also had a movie in development with Ghost House Pictures, Sam Raimi’s production company. They reached out to me after the success of Terrifier 2, and we’ve had a lot of meetings, and they have one of my original horror ideas in development that they really want to get off the ground. So, that’s been fun, a really fun collaborative process with that team.
There are some other things. I might have the opportunity to write and direct one of my favorite exploitation films from the ’80s. It’s not a horror film, but it is an action sort of thriller revenge film from the ’80s. That would be a dream come true.