There is gore and then there is gore. Damien Leone’s Terrifier franchise is the latter of the two.
Picking up where Stephen King left off, Terrifer capitalizes on the public’s aversion to cl0wns. The franchise follows the ghoulish antics of Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton), a killer so horrifying that viewers have had to restrain themselves from throwing up in the theater. The original film premiered in 2016 and since then, the nauseating visuals have become a badge of honor. So much so that when Leone was approached to reinvision the films for the masses, he shot it down. He spoke to Total Film about the studio’s desire to repackage the films.
“They wanted to reboot it for a wider audience. That’s not what I was interested in. They would say, ‘It’s gotta be rated R, it can’t be as gory as you made it.’ I knew they’d never let me shoot the first 10 minutes of what I wanted to do [in Terrifier 3], so I thought, ‘Let’s just stay true to what this franchise is.'”
The opening scene of the third film is reportedly so intense that even Thornton himself had to resist the urge to vomit. The new film is following up where the previous one left off, some months later. According to the film’s synopsis, Terrifer 3 will lean away from its roots on All Hallow’s Eve and instead appeal to the Christmas crowd.
“After surviving Art the Clown’s Halloween massacre, Sienna and her brother are struggling to rebuild their shattered lives. As the holiday season approaches, they try to embrace the Christmas spirit and leave the horrors of the past behind. But just when they think they’re safe, Art the Clown returns, determined to turn their holiday cheer into a new nightmare.”
A fun-filled night for the whole family. Just in time for the event, Cinemark plans to release a popcorn bucket full of holiday cheer.
When will the Terrifier popcorn bucket be available?
Cinemark reports that the new popcorn bucket will be available as early as September. Fans can pre-order the collector’s item on the website when it becomes available. The bucket has the likeness of Art, but naturally, dressed as Santa Claus.
Since the bucket has yet to go live, pricing information remains unavailable. However, presumably it should fall in the range of similar merchandise. AMC has made a killing off of popcorn buckets, from Dune to Deadpool & Wolverine. And while this bucket doesn’t have the same suggestive aesthetic as its predecessors, one can expect it to fall in a comparable price range. The haunting exclusive Wolverine bucket goes for $32.99, while the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice light-up container is going for $24.99.
It is safe to say that the Terrifier version won’t reach astronomical prices, such as the catastrophe of the Dune bucket. The popcorn recepticle had gone viral because of its appearance suggestive of the Shai-Hulud, causing the strange phenomenon of second hand retailers selling the bucket for hundreds of dollars. At this time, fans of the horror franchise will more than likely have to wait for the September 18 date for further details.