Terrifier creator weighs in on the future of the gory horror franchise: “My big fear is of going on too long and wearing out my welcome”

Terrifier 3 will soon be hitting theaters, and director Damien Leone has already confirmed a fourth movie is on the way, too. The future of Art the Clown looks bright, then.

“The whole reason why this was successful is because it’s just been very true to me,” Leone tells SFX magazine in the new issue, which features Terrifier 3 on the cover and hits newsstands on October 2.”I’ve been able to just be autonomous with it. Really, it’s my true vision, for better or worse, but I really do believe that’s one of the reasons why it’s successful, that there’s no interference. Hopefully it’s just the singular vision of the artist that’s really coming through.”

“My big fear is of going on too long and wearing out my welcome,” he considers. “Because that does happen to all of my favourites. Almost always it happens to the slasher franchises where they make 10 of them. I want to have a solid franchise, whether it be a trilogy – or maybe a quadrilogy if I have one more in mind – where it starts, where it ends, and you can walk away with a satisfying conclusion and closure and say that was pretty cool. I know what that is. So that would be the goal.”

Leone suggests that a fourth instalment of Terrifier could be the last, however. “I think so,” he says. “I have the whole story mapped out. I had it mapped out since part two, honestly, which is huge. Knowing where you’re going to end it is probably the hardest thing and I figured out the ending to this a while ago.”

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Terrifier 3 releases on October 11. Read more in the latest issue of SFX magazine, which features Terrifier 3 on the cover and will be available from Wednesday, October 2. 

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