Terrifier 3’s most bloodthirsty scene channels Psycho – and Passion of the Christ

Don’t get too attached to the characters horror 3the latest film in Damien Leone’s viral splatter series about the evil killer mime Art the Clown. This installment gives a clearer sense of what Art the Clown actually is, offering more narrative, more backstory, and more character work, particularly with previous survivors Sienna (Lauren LaVera) and Vicki (Samantha Scaffidi). But it’s still about practically shot, lovingly rendered, grotesquely over-the-top eviscerations, and in most scenes anyone who comes into contact with art will probably become friends pretty quickly.

This is particularly true for the pushy true crime podcaster Mia (Alexa Blair) and her boyfriend Cole (Mason Mecartea), who have already been heavily hinted at horror 3Trailer as the kind of horror movie idiots who aren’t mourned when the worst happens. Mia and Cole are at the center of Leone’s grand murder: they have sex in a university shower stall as Art comes after them with a chainsaw.

As Leone explained in a question and answer session following the film’s world premiere at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, this sequence was the most difficult part of the film horror 3and the sequence most aimed at the series’ hardcore fans: “We shot it for maybe five days, and then we went back and shot it again for three days.” That’s a lot of work. I mean, with these effects, you could spend a whole day cutting off an arm and trying to hit it right.”

Horror fans might guess some of the scene’s obvious influences Psycho To The Chainsaw Massacre in Texas. But when Polygon sat down with Leone to discuss the sequence, the big surprise was how horror 3The most bloodthirsty scene is associated with The Passion of Christ.

This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Polygon: You mentioned it at the Fantastic Fest screening horror 3 that you had to keep refining and reshooting the chainsaw murder sequence to get what you wanted. What went into planning this scene?

Damien Leone: Of course from the beginning [we’re always asking]”What’s the next big kill scene?” Everyone wants me to do what we did in the previous film again, so I always try to find inspiration, be it from a medieval torture method or just something, what I’m tripping over, or whether I’m actually going to bother paying homage to a horror film I love. If I can take something like that and put my own spin on it… That’s exactly what I did for that kill scene.

Psycho is one of my favorite films of all time and has arguably the most iconic kill scene in horror. Before I decide to go in this direction for my own film, I would ask: This scene is so iconic and perfect, but if Alfred Hitchcock were given the opportunity to make this film for the first time today, would he explain it more clearly ? Would he shoot it the same way? I know that if I were given this opportunity, I would definitely show off everything a knife can do to meat.

I know no one will give me the opportunity to do a remake Psychoso I said, “Well, I’ll just try the shower scene where I’m not so obvious.” [imitating Hitchcock].” You need to change some details. So I said, “This time I’m going to give him a chainsaw,” because I always had the chainsaw in my back pocket. It was always too sacrilegious to give Art the Clown a chainsaw because that’s so sacred to Leatherface Chainsaw massacre in Texas. So I felt like we had to prove ourselves in a few films before we could actually touch a chainsaw. And then it was also a little homage to Scarfacein which there’s a chainsaw scene in the shower that really touched me as a kid. So it starts there.

I wanted to make the most graphic chainsaw kill I’ve ever seen in a movie. Now I’m locked in, I know we have this. I’ve also never seen Art the Clown kill two people at once, so instead of one person in the shower I’m going to include two people. Then I storyboard everything like a comic. This was the first time I didn’t create my makeup effects myself, so I had to be very detail-oriented for other artists.

Why did you want a new practical impact team this time?

We hired Christien Tinsley’s makeup team – he’s done Passion of Christ, No country for old men, Westworld, Renfieldhis people make big Hollywood films. I still can’t imagine they worked on it. So it’s just a matter of showing them the storyboards detailing exactly what I want to see and how we’re going to film these things and from what angles so they don’t waste their time building things they don’t have to .

And then they go and start scanning the actors’ bodies. Nowadays you can actually scan people in 3D. They would go on Zoom and send me videos and pictures of what they were building and I would give them notes and then we would get to work and really execute these things that took a lot of time.

What was Christien’s method? horror 3?

In particular, I wanted to work with him because he deals with very realistic gore in dramas, not typical slashers. I don’t think he’s ever worked on a slasher before. So I really wanted to see if we could bring that level of realism to a slasher film.

This film is still ultimately over the top, but if I could bring some of that realism, the level that he puts into his other films, I think that would be really effective – and it has proven to be effective. There’s just so much trust and so much relief, that weight is off my shoulders, knowing that he’s going to take care of it and I’m going to get these wonderful goofballs and the way they’re going to execute it on set just like that look fantastic.

I mean, there’s even a crown of thorns in there horror 3and it is the same artist for whom the crown of thorns was made The Passion of Christ. Someone who works in his workshop built this for this film. That was so damn cool, and to see what it was made of – he just made it out of pipes, the crown of thorns. It’s a very light, simple plastic tube and looks so incredible.

What about the new recordings you mentioned? Where did you feel the need to improve on what you had already shot?

Originally I don’t think we had the attack on Mia as Art just went at her with the chainsaw. I think originally we actually filmed her crawling out of the shower while he’s beating up Cole, and then Art goes back to her and cuts her in half, I think. And I felt like we missed that moment of pure madness where there’s just an onslaught, like a barrage of an attack.

We went back and filmed with a puppet and a double, basically we even put the glasses on the puppet. It’s actually a dummy when he does that, but we gave her a digital look. I am also very proud of this effect.

What limitations did you face with this scene, as an indie horror film that wanted to outdo everyone else in terms of horror?

[Prosthetics shots] are very difficult and don’t always work. That’s the tricky thing. You may only have enough money to build, say, one or two arms that you have to hack through with a chainsaw. So you only have two takes to get this right. And things often go wrong, so you need to make sure you know exactly what you’re doing. And if something does go wrong, it’s a good thing I’ve been in this situation many times. I usually know how to make a mistake work, or if I have to, I can shoot it from a different angle, or I could correct it in the editing room with the way I edit it. So that’s a relief too. I usually make sure things work in an emergency.

What’s the price for a believable, custom-made butt replica that can be chainsawed from multiple angles?

I’ve never really looked at it broken down like that, but I would say the total makeup budget – practical effects – was maybe a quarter of our budget. It was a big part of our budget. Maybe something like that [body double] could probably cost $25,000, something like that, give or take. I mean honestly, it depends.

As you storyboard in detail, Art’s plot feels very improvised and very spontaneous. What is your balance on set between free form and pre-planned action for David Howard Thornton, who plays Art?

It’s storyboarded, but really just to illustrate what the shots will look like. Once we’ve prepared the recordings, I often just let Dave go. I mean, there’s a blueprint for everything – I know what I want him to do, sometimes even down to the exact face I want him to make in the scene. As long as we get what I have for my draft first and we have time, I’ll just let Dave go crazy and improvise. And of course this often results in wonderful character moments. So it’s so much fun. We try to have as much fun as possible on set and do as much exploration as possible.

That’s not always possible, just because the clock is always ticking and you have so much to do. I wish I could play with the actors more and breathe a little more, especially for the finale of this film. We just had to hurry and it was so important and so intense and we had so little time to really collect ourselves and explore. You always wish you had more time. If I could change one thing, I would like to have maybe 10 more days of filming for it.

horror 3 is now in the cinema.