Terrifier 3, the latest instalment in the horror franchise, has gained headlines for its extreme gore and graphic content.
Damien Leone’s horror film stirred strong reactions at its recent UK premiere. Reports say 11 people walked out, with nine exiting during the opening scene.
In a recent interview with Dexerto, Leone shared that one scene in Terrifier 3, inspired by American Psycho, had to be toned down due to its intense violence.
As we dive deeper into this scene, just a heads-up: we might get into spoiler territory.
While the threequel has plenty of intense kills, with the shower scene as a standout, the most brutal scene comes near the end.
Art ties Sienna’s aunt Jess to a chair and then uses a giant plastic tube to force live rats down her throat.
Once the rats have chewed through enough of her insides, Vicky slashes Jess’s throat, releasing the still-alive rats from her neck.
This might ring a bell for fans of Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho – the book, later adapted into a film starring Christian Bale, includes a similarly disturbing scene.
Leone said, “That’s where it came from. Me and my buddy were beyond obsessed with that movie when it first came out on pay-per-view before it even became popular.”
Leone shared that his friend became so intrigued by American Psycho that he ended up reading the book.
The director said, “And he relayed all those little excerpts to me. He’s like, ‘Dude, let me tell you, that book is nothing like the movie… the book is absolutely insane… you don’t know how graphic it is.’”
“He told me that scene, and it blew my mind, and it’s been stuck in my head forever.”
Leone aimed to create a homage to the infamous torture scenes of American Psycho but ultimately decided to make it less explicit to avoid overwhelming audiences.
He further added, “It’s a very sexual, explicit, gratuitous scene in the book that I would never do in the movie, but I just thought the idea of what he does is so disturbing with the rats in the tube that I could do it in a less provocative way.”
“A less sexual way.”
“We intended for that scene to be way more graphic in the movie, but it became more subtle… well, I guess, a little subtler. Quicker cuts.”
“We don’t linger on it too much. Compared to other scenes in this film, it’s a lot less is more – just the idea of what’s happening is disturbing.”
Terrifier 3 follows Sienna and her brother Jonathan as they attempt to move past the traumatic events of Art’s Halloween massacre.
As Christmas approaches, Art reemerges, determined to turn their holiday into a nightmare.
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