So, I have supported a little movie by Damien Leone, on social media for a little while now, since its release in October, I have also shown support for its main star, David Howard Thornton and the “final girl” of the series, Sienna Shaw, played by the very beautiful, but also very badass, Lauren LaVera.
But did I really support it? Knowing full well that a visit to the cinema could result in much puking and fainting, like so many others had done so before? No, I chickened out, after all, what 42 year-old man wanted to yak up or faint in front of a crowd of cinema goers?
I felt guilty, because I had not given them the box office money they so rightfully deserved (Like they cared, the movie has thus far made $89.6 million worldwide, on a $2 million budget. I call it the little movie that could.) It even smashed Joker 2 all over the shop.
I speak, of course, of Terrifier 3.
December 21st, my girlfriend’s birthday, and also the Winter Solstice, a fact that I am not lost on, my exes was June 21st, The Summer Solstice, what can I say, I pick ‘em, Heck, I share my birthday with the most famous wizard of all time, Harry Potter (And yes, I am still irked that he gets more birthday wishes than I do, he’s not fucking real! LOL). Anyways, Dec 21st, we all go into town, me, my girlfriend and our two daughters, with intent to get some food and then for me to get my missus some birthday presents. We get food (And believe me, it is good, I have never had Scampi like that before) and then we go to the recently reopened HMV and I’m like (Cheapskate that I am) “Here’s a virtual £100 voucher, spend it as you like.”
She spends about £30, and then says I’m done… WTF! I then spot Terrifier 3, as part of a trilogy and, I buy it, cos I’m determined that I am gonna watch this fucking movie, like, maybe tomorrow…
We go get desserts and this diabetic person (Me), decides that he’s gonna have a triple chocolate sundae, because, once again, I am an idiot and I heed no warnings (If it’s any comfort, it tasted fucking bae.) and during this time, my missus decides to look on her phone for cinema times, because she’d promised the girls a trip to the cinema to see Moana II. That is the sort of person she is, would rather go and do something the girls like, rather than celebrate her own fucking birthday. She says the only mean thing all day “Leigh, you’re gonna have to get the bus back, because I’m taking the girls to see Moana II” (That is not how she said it, at all, it’s for dramatic effect.)
She in fact said something along the line of “You sure you don’t wanna come along? We can watch the film together and then all get in the car to go home.” But an opportunity had opened up. I could go and prove to myself that I was a big boy and could stomach the practical gore, so Terrifier 3 it was. I bid my girlfriend and our two daughters adieu, I went and had a pint and then I got on the bus, handbag that proudly displayed “Wednesday is my Spirit Animal” in tow (Yes, that was one of the gifts my girlfriend chose) and I went home to confront Art the Clown.
(Plot twist, no I didn’t watch it alone, my brother in law, betrothed, may I say, was at home, so, I invited him to watch it with me. He’s new to the Terrifier lore, btw.)
We watched the movie and we laughed, we giggled, we certainly doubted our own humanity at one scene, and we both discovered that we might be a little wrong in the head, as Art carved his way through a series of people, some deserving of their fates and some, perhaps quite not. In my opinion, it was cinema as it was meant to be, it was meant to shock, was meant to repulse, was meant to bring out a reaction, and boy did it.
From the first scene, you knew that Damien Leone meant business, and that is what any director should do, they should mean to make an impression on the viewer.
It is, from then on, an assault on the viewer and on some occasions, I can understand why people fainted, or threw up, but it is like any horror movie should be. It harks back to the days of the 70’s when Dario Argento was doing his best work in Giallo, it is graphic, is it vesceral and at times, it is downright sick, but it makes an almost indelible impression on the viewer, it is simply, what a horror movie should be.
Did I feel as filthy as some people would judge? Yes, I did. I felt exactly as I did after watching Terrifier 2, like I needed a good shower and a session at confessional, but that’s what makes good horror, good horror, you are meant to feel filthy. You are meant to question yourself.
After all the doubts about whether I could handle it or not, I handled it, and I understood straight away why I supported Damien Leone.
