The first film in writer/director Damien Leone’s Terrifier franchise had a running time of 85 minutes, which I feel is just about perfect for a slasher movie. Then Leone went wild on Terrifier 2, letting it go on for 138 minutes… which a lot of viewers didn’t mind, while others (like me) thought was painfully excessive. So when he was working on the recently released Terrifier 3, he promised this one would be shorter. And it is, slightly. Terrifier 3 has a running time of 125 minutes – and during an interview with Coming Soon, Leone took a moment to defend the length of the Art the Clown sequels.
When he was asked about running time complaints and lessons learned while making these movies, Leone said, “I’m happy with what Terrifier 2 is. I’m happy with the length of it, but what wasn’t working for a lot of people was the length. It was too much for just a mass audience. Especially now we’re living in TikTok era. 2 hours, 18 minutes, which is the runtime of Terrifier 2, is a lot to ask of the audience. So I don’t think it was a mistake, so to speak. That was just genuinely the movie, the story I wanted to tell. But I don’t wanna double down on that now and say, ‘Well, you didn’t like 2 hours, 18 minutes. Here’s 2 hours, 40 minutes. Deal with it.’ That’s not what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to make this as accessible for people while not losing what’s important to the franchise. So, that’s the reason why (Terrifier 3) came in at now 2 hours. I think it’s 2 hours and 5 minutes. So it’s like two hours, not including credits. But this could have been longer. Again, my original cut was like 2 hours and 20 minutes, and I had to just cut out like five or six scenes because I really didn’t want to deliver that 2 hour, 18-minute movie again because it’s a lot to ask. So, again, it doesn’t mean I won’t make a two-and-a-half-hour movie if that’s genuinely the story I want to tell, and I don’t feel like it’s dragging. I’ve spoken to people before. You’ll hear people say, ‘Oh, there’s all this filler in these movies that could be cut out,’ or it’s ‘unnaturally long.’ I don’t think that’s a fair criticism. I think that they’re underestimating or they’re not realizing what’s padding these runtimes isn’t the stuff in between that you think is dragging. It’s the big Art the Clown set pieces that make these movies unorthodox, and that adds to the longer runtime. Everything else, if you took it out, it would be just as long as the ‘filler,’ so to speak, that’s in your typical slasher movie. Your typical slasher movie is an hour and 20 minutes, an hour and 30 minutes, and your killer’s only in the movie for five minutes, like seven minutes. The kill scenes add up to about three minutes of the entire movie. You know what I mean? So you probably have more filler and more drama in your typical 80-minute slasher than you do in Terrifier 2. It’s just there are so many big scenes with Art the Clown where he’s toying with his victims for four minutes, where he’s killing somebody for four minutes. You don’t want just one kill. You want a bunch of kills. That’s what this franchise has become known for. So again, it’s a very unorthodox slasher film, and I think it gets unjustly criticized for its runtime.“
Terrifier 3 has the following synopsis: Art the Clown is set to unleash chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County as they peacefully drift off to sleep on Christmas Eve. Here’s some more information: After surviving Art the Clown’s Halloween massacre, Sienna and her brother are struggling to rebuild their shattered lives. As the holiday season approaches, they try to embrace the Christmas spirit and leave the horrors of the past behind. But just when they think they’re safe, Art the Clown returns, determined to turn their holiday cheer into a new nightmare. The festive season quickly unravels as Art unleashes his twisted brand of terror, proving that no holiday is safe.
David Howard Thornton reprises the role of Art the Clown, a character who was first introduced in Leone’s 2013 anthology All Hallows’ Eve (although Thornton didn’t start playing him until Terrifier). Also in the cast are Lauren LaVera, who’s back as Terrifier 2 heroine Sienna; Elliot Fullam returns as Sienna’s brother Jonathan, Samantha Scaffidi is returning as Terrifier and Terrifier 2 character Victoria Heyes, and Daniel Roebuck, who has been cast in the role of Santa Claus. FX legend Tom Savini also shows up, as do Jon Abrahams, Antonella Rose, Krsy Fox, and legendary character actor Clint Howard. Chris Jericho, who had a cameo in Terrifier 2, is back in Terrifier 3 – but he made sure to let everyone know that his appearance in the film doesn’t last very long.
What do you think of what Damien Leone had to say about the running times of the Terrifier sequels? Do you think the length is justified, or could he have found ways to trim the movies down some more? Let us know by leaving a comment below.