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The director of the new horror movie Terrifier 3 has revealed that a major studio asked him to tone down the gore in his successful horror franchise about a killer clown.
The Terrifier series has been one of the biggest independent horror hits of recent years with its 2022 sequel earning more than $15 million (£11,494,950.00) at the worldwide box office, from its very modest budget of $250,000 (£191,582.50).
The slasher movies follow the depraved antics of the murderous Art the Clown, played by David Howard Thornton have become notorious for the level of violence featured in them, which has even had cast members admitting that they almost “puked” on set.
Now director Damien Leone has claimed that an unnamed major studio approached him intending to reboot Terrifier for a more mainstream horror audience but on one demand.
Talking to Total Film, he said: “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.’”
The 42-year-old director added: “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 previous film was released in September 2022 in limited cinemas across the United States but word-of-mouth led to more screenings being announced across the country.
The success of the film did generate some controversy after people on social media claimed that they had passed out while watching the gory flick.
Naturally, a contingent of people have been wary of these reports, with some suggesting that they have been planted by the film’s producers in an attempt to make it more successful.
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Leone went on to deny these reports, writing on X/Twitter: “To everyone saying that reports of people fainting and puking during screenings of Terrifier 2 is a marketing ploy, I swear on the success of the film it is NOT. These reports are 100 per cent legit.”
He added: “I wish we were smart enough to think of that! But then again we didn’t need to.”
Terrifier 3, which is set on Christmas Eve, is set for a theatrical release date of 11 October, with a premiere at Fantastic Fest set for 19 September.
