Terrifier 3's Cliffhanger Ending Explained By Art The Clown Actor

Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for Terrifier 3!Art the Clown actor, David Howard Thornton, offers some insight into where Terrifier 3 leaves off with the killer clown. At the end of the latest installment, Art and a possessed Vicky subdue Sienna and the remaining members of her family, with the latter attempting to possess Sienna, but fails, with the protagonist using her sword to kill her and wound Art. As Sienna becomes distracted by trying to save her cousin Gabbie from a portal to Hell, Art flees in the final moments of Terrifier 3, unnerving a bus driver and passenger along the way.

While speaking with Screen Rant ahead of the movie's release, Thornton revealed that Terrifier 3's ending was his favorite moment in the film. The Art the Clown actor would also go on to explain that the way the movie leaves both his and Sienna's characters is in "a very equal state of being" going into the planned fourth movie, while also expressing his hope to further "tap more into his mental state" as Art also learns about the nature of loss. See what Thornton shared below:

I was very stoked, but I think that the moment I was most excited for was the ending, because the first draft of the script, I liked how Damien ended this film. It's not one of those happy upbeat endings, it kind of ends on a cliffhanger, and I was really excited for that, because I thought it left both of these characters in a very equal state of being, and both in very vulnerable states of being, and that made me very excited. I feel that that's giving us an interesting place to go going forward into the next film, and a lot of new possibilities that we can explore with these characters, especially Art. I think we can tap more into his mental state now, because he's lost a lot, and he's actually having to deal with loss, and I'm excited to see what possibilities we can go with him going forward with him in that next film.

It's Getting Personal For Art & Sienna

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Terrifier 3 concludes with a bus scene, as Art the Clown boards the bus, covered in blood, and inevitably attracts the attention of the sole female passenger. He presses the Santa Claus horn that he took from one of his victims and lights up with a smile. Thorton's comment sheds some light on the scene and how it depicts Art's vulnerable side, as he's all alone at the end of the film, having lost Vicky, with whom he had a lot of fun during Terrifier 3.

Related Does Terrifier 3 Have A Post-Credits Scene? The Terrifier franchise expands with a third installment following Art the Clown. Here's if Terrifier 3 has a post-credits scene teasing the future.

With the bus scene that sees Art looking for his next victim, the Terrifier franchise is getting personal with Art the Clown's story arc. Having sent Gabbie into hell, which is also a more personal space for him, and Sienna now planning to go save her from the underworld, Terrifier 4 will likely delve more into Art's origin story. Thorton's comment also suggests that Art's mental state will likely set the tone for the next film.

Our Take On Art the Clown's Future

There's More To Explore With Art the Clown

Terrifier 3 is the franchise's most disturbing offer to date, as it's packed with gruesome deaths and brutal gore that cause discomfort among the audience. While on the surface, it seems that the film is after shock values and sensational kills, there's more to it. Terrifier 3 marks the climax in Art the Clown's story arc, as the ending leaves him in a vulnerable state, and thus further installments can get deeper into Art's character.

Art is a twisted serial killer with a shocking level of brutality, or at least that's what he seems like on the surface. The third film is a massive buildup toward the revelation of his origin and why he acts the way he does. His relationship with both Vicky and the Little Pale Girl also seems intriguing, as it seems that they might also be surrogates for someone else. Regardless of what answers are to come for Art and the other characters in the future, there are certainly more stories to tell about Art.