2 Years Ago, A Disgusting Horror Movie Changed the Genre Forever by Breaking Box Office Records

It has been two years since a horror movie came out that broke box office records despite its disgusting premise. When it comes to the horror movie genre, most movies that are successful at the box office are either more pop-culture-centric or just terrifying and intense thanks to the dark storylines. However, when it comes to the super gory horror movies that rely on the more disgusting horror moments, those are often sent to niche streaming services like Shudder or are sent straight to home video. That makes one of the most successful modern-day slasher franchises so interesting because what should have been a niche movie series ended up breaking box office records with its theatrical release.

On October 11, 2024, Terrifier 3 hit theaters, improving on the first two movies in the franchise and breaking box office records. Terrifier 2 was also a huge success, with a $250,000 budget, while making $15.8 million at the box office. Then Terrifier 3 followed it, and it became the highest-grossing unrated movie of all time, shattering box office records and changing the genre forever.

Terrifier 3 Was a Shockingly Bloody Box Office Success

The first Terrifier movie brought Art the Clown to his own solo movie franchise, and this slasher killer suddenly became a shocking cult favorite. Art had previously appeared in short films and the 2013 release, All Hallows’ Eve, but Terrifier took him and turned him into a main event player. That first movie had a low budget of $35,000, which made its low $421,798 worldwide box office take a success. It also allowed the second movie to have a higher budget, although it still had a rock-bottom budget of only $250,000. When Terrifier 2 made $15.8 million worldwide, people started to take notice.

However, no one could have expected what happened next. Terrifier 3 came out in 2024, and while it had a higher $2 million budget, it ended up as a massive success. The movie made $90.3 million worldwide and $54 million domestically, breaking the record as the highest-grossing unrated movie of all time. This was shocking because it was expected to do well, but not this well. It finished its opening weekend with $18.9 million, making more than Joker: Folie à Deux. Terrifier 3 beat out the previous record holder, the concert movie Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé, which made $44 million. The NC-17/X-rated movies to hold box office records were Lust, Caution ($67.1 million) and Midnight Cowboy ($44.8 million), and Terrifier 3 shattered those numbers.

Terrifier 3 Was a Sequel That Surpassed the Originals in Every Way

The Terrifier franchise piqued the imagination of horror aficionados. Part of its appeal comes from the charisma of Art the Clown, who has joined Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, and Jason Voorhees as the faces of the slasher genre. The performance of David Howard Thornton is a big reason for this, as Art is mute, so Thornton has to convey everything through his pantomime performance and body language. It is a brilliant performance that blends slapstick comedy with unhinged sadism, laughing and mocking his victims as he mutilates them.

Thanks to the franchise’s historically low budgets, even though the third movie cost $2 million to make, the way to keep costs down was to use practical effects and ignore the CGI that other horror movies use. Director Damien Leone started his career as a special effects makeup artist, and he brings that to full effect in the franchise. This helps because Terrifier is a slasher movie, but it is also a grindhouse movie at heart, delivering something that is even more terrifying than its contemporaries.

Terrifier 3 had the bonus of people hearing about the gore and terror of the first two movies and then deciding to see what all the fuss was about in this third effort. What happened was that Terrifier 3 upped the stakes and created a movie that surpassed its predecessors. Impressively, Leone was just getting better and better as a film director, and with higher production values, he didn’t have to take as many shortcuts and totally cut loose with his gore and disgusting, extreme special effects.

Adding in the holiday season made this a Christmas horror movie to go along with the gore and splatter that Terrifier fans came to see. This movie also made things a little more supernatural than the first two films, with the dark lore and mystery that connected Art the Clown and his Final Girl, Sienna Shaw (Lauren LaVera). This was the movie that offered what could allow Terrifier to continue on as a successful franchise for years to come, and based on the record-breaking box office of Terrifier 3, the series could eventually stand among the best in history.

Are you a fan of the Terrifier franchise? What do you consider to be the best part of Terrifier 2? Let us know in the comments below.