Horror director warns sequel will be ‘crazier than ever’ after first films made fans vomit

Terrifier director Damien Leone has teased that the fourth film in the horror franchise will be ‘really intense and experimental.’

Following the runaway success of Terrifier 3 last year, the director, 43, is set to wrap up the story of Art the Clown in the fourth and final installment in his slasher series.

The third film saw fans vomit in cinemas and walk out, and the same reaction could strike again with Leone teasing that the upcoming finale will be ‘crazier than anything he’s done before.’

During an appearance on the Talk is Jericho podcast, he said: ‘It’s going to be a really tough one to shoot, especially what I want to do in the last half hour of the movie … it’s going to be really intense and experimental and really out there.

‘Like crazier than anything I’ve done before. It’s going to have some really wild stuff in it. I’m taking some bold swings.’

Leone noted every loose end left dangling in the series will be tied up in Terrifier 4 after delving more into Art and Sienna Shaw’s (Lauren Lavera) lore in Terrifier 3.

He said: ‘A lot of these movies … when I go into writing it’s like “All right, how are we going to top the previous movie in terms of the big gory set piece?”, Terrifier 4, that’s certainly it, but now it’s more everything comes together in part four.

‘Every loose end you might think that was a loose end or something you’re wondering, “But what is that character’s purpose?”, or this or that – it all comes together in this one.

‘So from a storyteller standpoint, it’s the most important aspect of Terrifier 4, which is so exciting.’

He added: ‘You’re going to get a lot of answers in Terrifier 4.’

The All Hallows’ Eve filmmaker teased that Terrifier 4 is his favorite installment in his horror franchise.

He said: ‘It’s my favourite one I would say, just as a viewer that I wish I didn’t have to make. I just want to watch it.’

Terrifier 4 will see the return of Lauren LaVera’s Sienna Shaw and Elliott Fullam’s Jonathan Shaw as they face off with the dreaded Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) for the final time.

In terms of the progress he has made on Terrifier 4, Leone revealed he was just ‘fleshing out’ the story beats as of now.

He shared: ‘The script is like halfway there. Well, it’s pretty much … ‘cause I don’t write until I have it like broken down in like beats on a separate page.

‘So I have like bullet points, so I know where I’m going, so I’m not just lost. Now it’s just fleshing all those beats out. So, I know what the movie is.’

Even so, Leone admitted writing new and creative kills for Art was getting ‘difficult’ for him, as he was determined to maintain the “mass appeal” of the franchise by not getting too morbid.

He explained: ‘I’m always trying to top it, but it’s getting difficult. I’d be lying if I said, I mean, how many different things can you do to the human body?

‘We’re not only competing against ourselves, we’re competing against every other slasher movie that comes out.

‘It’s tricky because I could think of really despicable things to do to people, but it gets to a point where, “How far do you take it?”, where you step so far over the line of taste where you lose everybody.

‘So I’m still trying to walk that line and see how far can we push it, but maintain some sort of mass appeal, you know before it becomes like a Serbian film or something. I’m not bashing those movies, I just don’t want it to be that kind of movie.’

The beloved and bloody horror franchise has consistently broken records, with the third and most recent film becoming the highest-grossing unrated film of all time and the highest-grossing film in the Terrifier franchise to date.

Terrifier 3 grossed more than 40 times its budget, making it one of the most profitable films of 2024, and it hit the number one spot in several countries during its opening weekend.

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