24 October · 62 days to ChristmasThe advent calendar opens 1 December →

A snowy paper house has dark windows, coloured porch lights and an ajar red door, with a crumpled Santa hat on the path beneath a night sky.

A dark paper suburban house stands beneath a pale moon, with one amber window, a small porch light and deep snow around bare trees.

Christmas-adjacent · 2024

Terrifier 3

Name: Terrifier 3
Released: 2024-10-11
Duration: 125 min
Cast: David Howard Thornton, Lauren LaVera, Samantha Scaffidi, Chris Jericho, Daniel Roebuck

40/100Festive FactorWhy it scores 40 ↓

UK certificate 18125 min
Horror

A slasher that has worked out a Santa suit makes a very good disguise, and not much more about Christmas…

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Explore this film 11 sections

The CineClaus Christmas score

Festive Factor

Christmas in good measure.

Two paper elves inspect a snowy miniature house with porch lights, an ajar red door and a fallen Santa hat, beside plans and craft tools. — A little magic in the making.

Five ingredients make the Festive Factor.
Open an ingredient to find out more.

Christmas in the storyChristmas is the deadline.15/30

What we ask: Take Christmas out. Does the plot survive? Worth up to 30 of the 100 points.

A world dressed for ChristmasVisibly Christmas for about half.10/20

What we ask: How much of the running time is visibly Christmas? Worth up to 20 of the 100 points.

The little seasonal details6 of the 10 kinds of Christmas icon we count turn up on screen.9/15

What we ask: How many kinds of Christmas icon turn up on screen: trees, lights, snow, carols and the rest? Worth up to 15 of the 100 points.

A Christmas heartHow far the ending rests on goodwill, family and belief: not at all.0/20

What we ask: Does the ending depend on what Christmas means: goodwill, family, redemption, belief? Worth up to 20 of the 100 points.

A returning traditionA December regular (25,000+).6/15

What we ask: Is it actually watched at Christmas in the UK? Worth up to 15 of the 100 points.

5/100

Cosiness Rating Rating

Cold or hostile in tone. Genuinely frightening. A bleak ending.

How we score →

What do these scores mean?

Festive Factor measures how Christmassy a film is. Five ingredients add up to 100: story (30), setting (20), seasonal details (15), emotional heart (20) and returning tradition (15).

Cosiness is a separate score for warmth of tone, sense of safety, visual comfort, a reassuring ending and how easily you can settle into it.

How the Festive Factor works →

Your next film night

Where to watch

United KingdomChecked 22 Oct 2026

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Streaming changes constantly and we cannot promise it is still right - check the service before you settle in. Streaming availability information provided by Streaming Availability API by Movie of the Night (opens in a new tab). Sky and Rakuten TV data by JustWatch.

The story

About Terrifier 3

Five years after surviving a supernatural killer clown, a young woman leaves psychiatric care and moves in with her aunt's family just before Christmas, still haunted by what happened. The clown and a monstrous accomplice return from hiding and, with the killer now disguised as Father Christmas, tear through a small town over the festive season. It ends in a bloody showdown at a family Christmas gathering that leaves the door wide open for another sequel.

The CineClaus verdict

A slasher that has worked out a Santa suit makes a very good disguise, and not much more about Christmas than that.

Damien Leone stages the gore with real craft and David Howard Thornton is unnervingly good in the costume, but the season is wallpaper here, hung round set-pieces that would sit just as happily at any other holiday.

It runs long and stays cruel to the very end. Horror fans who came for the effects will get their money's worth. Anyone after a festive film should keep walking.

The family desk

Can the kids watch?

Our take: children are among the victims and the BBFC's own advice warns of strong gory violence and injury detail, so this is for adults only.

BBFC advice: Strong gory violence, injury detail.

Content advice & accessibility

Where the advice comes from: The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).
Our age guidance: Editorial, separate from the official 18 certificate, and never looser than it.

The series

The Terrifier films

2 films, in release order

2022
The film before
Terrifier 2
2022
Third film in the Terrifier series.
Not in our catalogue yet
2024
You’re here
Terrifier 3
2024
You’re on this film’s page

The people behind the film

Cast and crew

The faces in front of the camera, and the people who brought the story to life.

Main cast

In billing order

Smiling man with swept-back grey-brown hair in a black T-shirt and a green convention lanyard, speaking at a panel microphone.

David Howard Thorntonas Art the Clown

Lauren LaVera with long dark wavy hair and red lipstick, smiling slightly in front of a purple event backdrop.

Lauren LaVeraas Sienna

A woman with long dark brown hair and gold hoop earrings, in a white top and a colourful knitted cardigan, looking at the camera with a slight smile.

Samantha Scaffidias Victoria Heyes

Chris Jericho laughing, with long wavy hair, a goatee and a small headset microphone, wearing a dark jacket and a cross necklace against an orange backdrop.

Chris Jerichoas Burke

Close portrait of Daniel Roebuck smiling, with short light brown hair, wearing a dark zip jacket with blue trim over a pale checked shirt.

Daniel Roebuckas Santa Clause

A woman with brown hair and a fringe, in a black polo neck and a thin gold necklace, laughing as she speaks into a microphone at a convention.

Margaret Anne Florenceas Jessica

Behind the camera

Directed by

Damien Leone

Original score

Paul Wiley

Writing & production credits

Writer: Damien Leone

Photo credits

Portraits via Wikimedia Commons, each under its own licence, approved for this page by a person. Sources and full photographer credits:

David Howard Thornton · Gage Skidmore · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (opens in a new tab).

Lauren LaVera · Super Festivals · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY 2.0 (opens in a new tab).

Samantha Scaffidi · Super Festivals · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab).

Chris Jericho · Collision Conf · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY 2.0 (opens in a new tab).

Daniel Roebuck · Rob DiCaterino · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY 2.0 (opens in a new tab).

Margaret Anne Florence · Kevin Paul · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab).

Damien Leone · Gage Skidmore · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (opens in a new tab).

Step into the story

Filming locations

The real places behind Terrifier 3. Choose one to explore.

Find it on the mapSnug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden, Staten Island

Map shows the selected place. Drag to explore; use + and − to zoom.

Greek Revival building with a row of tall stone columns and a pediment, reached by wide steps, with a Main Hall sign at the foot.

Location photograph
Bmzuckerman (Wikimedia Commons, opens in a new tab) · CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab)

Filming location

Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden, Staten Island

A Staten Island arts campus and garden used as a shooting location.

Open in OpenStreetMap ↗ (opens in a new tab)Scene source ↗ (joblo.com, opens in a new tab)

Choose your next scene

Photographs of the real places

There’s more behind the film.
Explore the next place.

Photo credits & location sources

These are photographs of the places, not film stills. Dates vary; photographs do not show current conditions or guarantee access.

Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden, Staten Island · Bmzuckerman · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab) · joblo.com (opens in a new tab)

St. John's University, Queens and Staten Island · joblo.com (opens in a new tab)

Staten Island Mall · J dahlia · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab) · joblo.com (opens in a new tab)

Map pins mark the place, not a camera position or a route. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), including any pin positions read from OpenStreetMap.

A little more Terrifier 3

Film facts &
behind the scenes

For the fans who stay after the credits.

Movie magic

Frozen limbs built to be smashed again and again

The shattering frozen limbs were fragile outer shells with a bloody filling inside, so the crew could break one and swap in another for every take.

Read the story

Source: joblo.com ↗ (opens in a new tab)

On set

Art's make-up went to a new artist

This was the first film in the series where Damien Leone did not handle all the effects himself. Academy Award-nominated Christien Tinsley led the effects and did Art's make-up, which took David Howard Thornton about an hour and a half in the chair.

Read the story

Source: joblo.com ↗ (opens in a new tab)

On set

The mall scene was shot in a real mall

Most of the shopping centre sequence was filmed on location, with the explosion shots done separately in a car park where no children were present.

Read the story

Source: joblo.com ↗ (opens in a new tab)

On set

A bigger budget, still a small one

The film cost about two million dollars, more than the earlier films in the series combined and still modest by Hollywood standards. Filming ran from February to April 2024 in New York, with extra shooting in June.

Read the story

Source: joblo.com ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Movie magic

Hot mushroom soup stood in for sick

The fake vomit in one scene was hot mushroom soup, and live rats used on set were supervised by American Humane, with a prop used for the rat tube scene.

Read the story

Source: joblo.com ↗ (opens in a new tab)

And at a glance

The Christmas in it: Set on 24 December. The story unfolds on Christmas Eve, in a family home decked out for the season and a shopping centre with a Santa photo spot.
Releases and certificates: 11 Oct 2024: Premiere (US).
11 Oct 2024: In cinemas.
At the UK box office: £2,825,153, as of 27 Oct 2024.
Awards: Won: Fangoria Chainsaw Awards 2025, Best Kill.
Nominated: Fangoria Chainsaw Awards 2025, Best Makeup FX.