Violent, Unrated ‘Terrifier 3’ Is Bringing Back Time-Honored Teen Tradition

Terrifer 3 , the latest installment in the unbelievably gory but tongue-in-cheek horror franchise centered around psychopathic Art the Clown, appears to be heralding the return of an age-old movie-going tradition amongst teens.

Damien Leon’s Christmas slasher topped the North American box office last weekend with $18 million, a remarkable return considering its $2 million production budget. Even more astounding is that the film has no major studio backing and was released unrated. In the past, unrated films had difficulty making any box office impact due to strict limits on media advertisements for unrated and NC-17-categorized movies. For those reasons, very few theaters booked those films because they would likely not return much profit. Major chains like Regal and AMC have rarely, if ever, presented unrated films in the past.

But the tides have turned, and Terrifer 3 released wide in 2,513 cinemas including the country’s three largest chains—AMC, Regal, and Cinemark. According to The Hollywood Reporter , those theaters are treating Terrifer 3 as if it’s an R-rated film. This means doing their best to turn away customers under the age of 17 who aren’t in the company of a parent or guardian.

But industry analysts believe underage audience members are sneaking into Terrifier 3 using an evergreen teenage moviegoing trick. “Two distribution sources noted over the weekend that DreamWorks Animation and Universal’s The Wild Robot saw a noticeable bump, and speculate that teenagers and tweens bought tickets to that film and then snuck into Terrifier 3 ,” THR reported. “The same trend continued on Monday’s Indigenous Peoples Day holiday.”

The trick is undoubtedly familiar for those who recall purchasing tickets to the Mr. Bean movie to sneak into the original Scream , or grabbing Chicken Little stubs before absconding into Saw II . It’s admittedly touching to see a new generation indoctrinating themselves into ludicrous hyper-violence under the guise of corporate children’s entertainment.

Terrifier 3 struck a chord with all audiences, not just teens. Art the Clown additionally made headlines for dethroning the previous Clown Prince from the top box office spot. Experts say that Terrifier 3 gave killer clown lovers exactly what Joker: Folie á Deux denied them . “ Terrifier 3 was the movie fanboys wanted Joker to be,” an industry expert told THR .

Terrifer 3 is the second unrated film in history to claim the number one spot at the North American box office following Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé , which debuted in December 2023 to $21.8 million. That film, however, was hardly kid-unfriendly fare.

Terrifier 3 is currently in cinemas. You can check out the trailer below.