The latest installment in the “Terrifier” series is looking good for the franchise as Damien Lyon's unhinged slasher continues to break boundaries. In case you haven't heard, “Terrifier 3” absolutely killed it at the box office, grossing $18.3 million in its opening weekend and beating lamented box office flop “Joker: Folly a Deux” to become the number one movie in America. Considering that the previous installment, “Terrifier 2,” grossed $15.7 million during its entire run, it was a solid debut. “Terrifier 3” has been called one of the worst horror movies ever made by /film's own Jacob Hall.
How can a movie that is wall-to-wall degenerate fare so well? It has a lot to do with word of mouth as audiences are eager to test their mettle against a popular movie even before its official release. “Terrifier 3” caused walkouts in the first few minutes of its UK screening, following reports of similar incidents during its predecessor's screening. Also, the terrifying killer at the center of the movies, Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton), has been slowly building pop culture cache after the breakout success of “Terrifier 2” and is now a full-fledged slasher icon.
But even with all that in mind, the success of “Terrifier 3” is still notable for being a film that features a character wearing a crown of thorns and getting punched in the gut. The box office haul isn't the only surprise: audiences seem to love the savagery, and the film earned a “B” CinemaScore – a rare feat for a horror film and especially shocking given the film's content.. Now, “Terrifier 3″ has taken another top spot for new horror movies, this time for Rotten Tomatoes.
Terrifier 3 breaks new ground on Rotten Tomatoes
The “Terrifier 2” surprise box office success is notable in 2022, as Damien Lyon made his independent slasher on a budget of just $250,000. It goes without saying, but taking in $15 million represents a ridiculous return on that investment. Despite having a relatively low budget of $2 million, “Terrifier 3” is still proving a huge success, not only surpassing its predecessor's box office performance but winning over critics and mass audiences alike.
Back in August 2024, Rotten Tomatoes announced a new “Verified Hot” label with the launch of its Popcornmeter for movies. The new system acknowledges the importance of audience reactions to movies in an era where ignoring fans has become a practice for many studios and franchises. The “Verified Hot” badge is awarded to images that receive a verified audience score of 90% or higher and have at least 500+ verified ratings. This designation is essentially equivalent to the “Certified New” badge, which is awarded to films that receive a critic score of over 75% and have at least 80 reviews.
Now, film commentator Eric Davis points out that “Terrifier 3” has become the first new horror film to go both Certified Fresh and Verified Hot since the launch of the Twitter/XPopcornMeter and its new designation. The film currently holds a critical score of 76% and an audience score of 89% which may seem puzzling given the Rotten Tomatoes 90% requirement for the verified hot badge. But, the site itself explains that “even if a movie achieves Verified Hot status, if its PopcornMeter subsequently falls below 80%, it will lose Verified Hot status.” From now on, “Terrifier 3” becomes the first new horror film with the Certified Fresh and Verified Hot badge to its name.
Terrifier 3 was a real surprise hit
Arguably, much of the success of “Terrifier 3” was due to “Joker 2” doing so badly — at least Damian Lyon's horror topped the box office. But with a B CinemaScore and now these Rotten Tomatoes ratings, the film proves that amidst the unbridled brutality, there's something noteworthy lurking somewhere. Beyond $18 million in its first week, then, The real surprise is that people seem to love “Terrifier 3” and Leon has tried his best to scare us all away, which is truly shocking..
“Terrifier 3” is full of shocking moments but none of them seem to have put off critics or audiences. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has received 83 reviews, a remarkable enough number that its 76% score may seem like a solid summation of the film's quality (though, again, we always encourage everyone not to use RT scores as the final word on whether a movie is worth watching). However, the average rating, which is representative of the actual scores and grades given to the film by critics, is a low 6.3 out of 10. Audiences, on the other hand, rated the movie 4.4 stars out of five. With over 1000 verified ratings the film has a verified hot status with that 89% score.
“Terrifier 2” was followed by “Terrifier 3” which was expected to do well and the movie was a surprise box office hit. But I'm not sure anyone expected the ratings to be there This is So much for a movie about a harlequin, a ghost who brutally attacks everyone, including children, during Christmas.
“Terrifier 3” is in theaters now.
