“Terrifier 3” is so horrible that people are throwing up and walking out of theaters. Director Damien Leone says the film “delivered the goods.”

Two years later Horror 2 While the third part of the series unsettled theatergoers with its gruesome scenes, it goes one better. Terrifier 3, The film, about the remorseless serial killer Art the Clown who terrorizes a city before Christmas, caused some viewers to leave the cinema just five minutes after its premiere in Great Britain.

Writer-director Damien Leone knew that the first scene was so over-the-top that he would never get it financed by a major studio, and the film's PR team confirmed in a statement that at least 11 total viewers and one left the film has vomited. For cinemas in the US, where the film opens on October 11th, the film has been marked as “unrated” and France has banned minors from showing it in cinemas.

Leone told Yahoo Entertainment that he had to “push the limits” after the unexpected box office success (and swooning viewers) of Horror 2.

“You want the next thing you do to be better,” he said. “It's become an integral part of the franchise that we really have to go all out with at least one epic kill scene… [it’s] It’s somehow based on controversy, exploitation and shock value.”

The first two More terrible Movies have standout murder scenes: the first involves a dingy basement and a hacksaw, the second involves a bedroom, salt and bleach. Art the clown does unimaginable things to people and laughs silently throughout the entire performance. That's what the actor who has portrayed him since 2016 does more terrible, David Howard Thornton says that's his appeal.

“He does terrible things, but he does them in such an entertaining way,” he told Yahoo Entertainment. “He's fun! I think people like that he’s fun.”

Art, the clown, has a larger budget at his disposal for the practical effects lover Leone and commits several barbaric murders horror 3 – so many that Leone wasn't even sure which moment would be this film's standout moment, even though he knew the first scene would be controversial.

The team released a teaser in November 2023 that suggested Art the Clown might kill a child at the beginning of the film – something that left some viewers upset More terrible had gone too far. Leone responded that he “enjoyed stirring up controversy.”

“I like to push it to the finish line, then maybe step right over it and see if I can come away with something you wouldn’t normally see,” he said. “But [I’m] I'm conscious not to go too far in that direction because then you could really get lost in a world of extreme antipathy and alienate a large majority of the audience.”

Leone said that as an artist, he considers nothing to be “taboo” as long as no actual harm is caused because “everything is fictional.” The teaser was accurate – a child is brutally murdered Terrifier 3, but the action itself happens off-screen.

“The audience doesn’t have to watch it if they don’t want to,” Leone said. “It's their decision. Nobody straps her to a chair like that A Clockwork Orange and force them to watch these films.”

Thornton said he constantly checks on the actors who fall victim to Art the Clown's violence to make sure they feel comfortable and safe, but as a former elementary school teacher, he is particularly worried about the children on set.

Before another scene in horror 3 With children – here you see Art the clown wreaking havoc in the mall in a Santa Claus costume – Thornton got all the child actors together to talk.

“I did a whole question-and-answer session with the kids so they could get to know me as me,” he said. “I don’t want them to freak out about the makeup or anything.”

A horror icon is born

Thornton has been playing Art the Clown for years, but he's still not used to seeing his heavily made-up face everywhere.

“It definitely changed my life. I waited tables for 13 years and had people treat me like crap every day for the smallest, most insignificant things, like not having enough ranch [dressing] as a side dish to their salad,” he said. “[Now I] Walk into a store and look at an entire section dedicated to my character and it’s overwhelming.”

Art the Clown first appeared in a few short films included in the horror anthology All Saints Eve in 2013. Thornton took over the character for 2016 More terrible after the original actor retired. The story of his audition is now infamous: Thornton showed up without a script, re-enacted how to kill, taste and season someone, and then happily skipped away.

For Thornton, it is Art the Clown's cheerful clowning that gives him “personality and charisma.” Everything he does is a joke, but it's still a terrifying “fusion of every iconic horror villain that has come before.”

More than just a slasher

Although each film ramps up the gore even further, it also adds more plot and characterization. Leone said the first More terrible is a showcase for Art the Clown, but the second introduces one final girl, Sienna (Lauren LaVera), who has become the “heart and soul” of the franchise in the third film and is said to be “just as important as Art Leone.”

Sienna begins the second film as a high school student with a passion for cosplay. Through a series of encounters with Art the Clown, she realizes that she may be the only person who can defeat him. In the third film she is older and more traumatized, but triumphant. What Art the Clown really is and how they are connected will be revealed along the way.

Just as Art the Clown entered the canon of legendary movie villains, Sienna has become an iconic final girl. LaVera told Yahoo Entertainment that what sets her character apart is that she “has a lot of flaws” that are constantly on display.

“I love a messy woman, and I love bringing my own inherent messiness into that character,” she said.

LaVera does “around 98%” of her own stunts for the More terrible Movies. She was a stuntwoman and had 20 years of martial arts training.

“I started as an actress wanting to be Jackie Chan or Michelle Yeoh,” she said. “I love being physical in roles, but [Leone] doesn't let me do every little thing. … Some things he says, 'No, if you get hurt, we're screwed, so you don't do that.'”

Leone plans to continue the franchise for at least a fourth film, which is already in development. However, it has to be wilder than this.

“I think the crazier things are in reality, the more people crave a cathartic release in films,” he said. “So when bad things happen and people in this country are divided and hostility reaches its peak, people need more intense deliverance.”

horror 3 hits theaters nationwide on October 11th.