The upcoming Terrifier 3 is already turning heads – and audience members' stomachs – with Damien Leone's latest dose of unrelenting gore. This third installment in the shock horror franchise made its mark with a powerful debut at Fantastic Fest in September, and is now poised to drive a hatchet right through the 2024 movie schedule. The film immediatley pushes boundaries with its gnarly, controversial opening scene, showing off a budget that's far higher than its $250,000-funded predecessor while still keeping things indie. But as The Notorious B.I.G. once taught us, with more money come more problems.
In a candid interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Leone laid bare the pros and cons of his newfound financial flexibility. The Terrifier creator, who has built his career around a grassroots, DIY approach, didn’t hold back in discussing the stress of stepping into a bigger production. (Read our Terrifier 3 review here!) As the filmmaker explained to the publication:
In some regards, it was easier, but it was also the most stressful and intense film I’ve ever worked on. More money, more problems is real, and I had to deal with so many more people that I’ve never had to deal with before in front of the camera, behind the camera and behind the scenes. You’re getting pulled in so many different directions. There were so many more questions I had to answer because there were many more departments with many more crew members in them. So that was really tough, and we had to shoot this film in such a shorter amount of time. Once the clock is ticking and you’re off to the races, you can’t really stop. It’s like the train has left the station, and you’re just basically trying to catch up to it. You’re trying to make the best decisions you can on the fly and in the moment, as a lot of money is burning now.
At first glance, it may seem like a dream come true for any filmmaker to level up in terms of funding. But as Damien pointed out, the increase in resources comes with its own set of complications. More money means more crew, departments, and—unsurprisingly—more decisions.
When it came to the indie nature of the first two films in the gore-a-thon franchise, Leone had the luxury of time—something that vanished when he moved into the larger-budget territory. He continued:
The two other films were very homemade. We made them at our own pace. We didn’t have anybody breathing down our neck, saying, ‘The movie needs to come out by this date.’ And I’m not saying this as a negative critique. This is just the nature of the beast. So that was a lot of pressure, and I basically had a year to write the script, shoot the movie and edit it to get it out for a specific release date. And that’s not the way I recommend you make a film. The nature of this film just happened to be that.
The special effects superstar-turned-director’s reflections offer a rare peek behind the scenes of a filmmaker in terms of balancing passion with pragmatism. One of the biggest hurdles with Terrifier 3 was the sheer time crunch, with edits still being made on the film the afternoon of its world premiere, though it wasn’t all doom and gloom.
Leone made sure to highlight how, this time around, he had an “incredible team” to support him, including the renowned Christien Tinsley’s special makeup effects team. If that name rings a bell, it’s because Tinsley’s work has been featured in everything from The Passion of the Christ to Westworld. The filmmaker shared:
But I had an incredible team now — Christien Tinsley’s special makeup effects team. They took that huge burden off of my shoulders, and that was one of the reasons why Terrifier 2 took years to make. So I was able to focus on other areas and hopefully be a better filmmaker in the grand scheme of things. I was able to focus on my actors a lot more. I was able to focus with my director of photography [George Steuber] a lot more over the course of the day. So there was a lot more attention paid to those details and those areas that maybe got sacrificed a little bit in the other films because I was so preoccupied with the makeup effects.
Leone’s experience can be viewed as a cautionary tale for filmmakers entering the big leagues. Sure, a bigger budget offers more possibilities, but it can also lead to new challenges that can feel overwhelming. From the ticking clock to the pressure of delivering on audience expectations, Terrifier 3 has proven to be the director’s biggest test yet. And while the director is undoubtedly grateful for the additional resources, it’s clear that working on a larger scale comes with its own struggles.
As the upcoming horror movie Terrifier 3 prepares to hit theaters, one thing is clear: Damien Leone has managed to maintain the gory, controversial core of the franchise while adapting to the pressures of bigger budgets and tighter schedules. And with an ever-growing fanbase, the Scary Clown franchise isn’t slowing down any time soon.
