The “Terrifier” franchise is a fascinating history of the industry, a series of extremely low-budget and ridiculously gory horror films that prove that not every genre fan wants “higher horror.” Sometimes you just want a splatterfest, and Damien Leone undeniably provides that, trying to top his own carnage with every gruesome murder and reveling in the fact that people supposedly puked and/or fainted at screenings. Some aspects of these films are impressive, particularly the wacky make-up effects and underrated physical performance of David Howard Thornton, but “Terrifier 3” feels like a sideways move at best, after the filmmaking improves significantly from the first to the second chapter has. Leone continues to evolve as a filmmaker – and it's interesting to see how this develops over the course of the franchise. But his script continues to let him down by confusing his concepts with superficial mythology, atrocious dialogue and ridiculous padding, resulting in another film in this series that runs over two hours. I'm still hoping Leone figures it out, but in this case it's not included.

The best idea Leone had when making “Terrifier 3” was to set the film around Christmas and give the filmmaker the opportunity to play with the iconography of the era and use the murderous Art the Clown (Thornton) for the Dressed in a Santa Claus costume for most of his killing spree. Leone's playfulness with holiday scenes and his subversion of religious imagery seems like something a wiser screenwriter could really use to greater effect. Still, even if it's superficial here, it still makes for an impressive image – a chainsaw-wielding Santa Claus with sunglasses and clown makeup will definitely grab your attention.

“Terrifier 3” follows up on the last film’s ridiculous ending, in which the scarred Victoria (Samantha Scaffidi) literally gave birth to Art’s severed head. Don't ask. One of the things I liked about the second chapter was how it delved into the surreal and supernatural, understanding that something like this works better as a nightmare than a movie where all the storylines have to fit together. So do we need to understand how Art attaches his head back to his body? Not really. He just does it.

Art and Victoria take up residence in an abandoned house while the final girl, Sienna (Lauren LaVera), tries to deal with the trauma of the last film. She returns from a psychiatric hospital to live with her aunt Jessica (Margaret Ann Florence), her husband Greg (Bryce Johnson) and their child Gabbie (Antonella Rose), who in this film is clearly just waiting to be put in danger (or perhaps “Art's way”). Sienna's brother Jonathan (Elliot Fullam) is in college and struggling with his own post-traumatic stress disorder, but that's just an excuse for Art to skin more victims alive. To say that the plot in “Terrifier 3” is thin would be an understatement, and yet there is so much of it. Scene after scene of Sienna talking about her trauma unfolds in a way that I think is almost designed to make you want to see another act of cruelty from Art the Clown just to relieve the boredom .

And they are cruel. Much has already been said about the killing scenes in “Terrifier 3” and how blatantly they try to push the boundaries of taste even more than in the first two controversial films. They're so over-the-top ridiculous in design and execution that I don't really take them seriously. Still, they wouldn't disagree with anyone who is offended by a film and is willing to go in the same direction as this one, which not only includes mutilation and torture, but crosses boundaries that even most horror fans hold, including the death of children .

So why not write off “Terrifier 3” entirely? Two reasons: First, the DIY aspect of the film reminds me of genre films I loved when I first discovered the genre, and one of the reasons I still love horror – it's not a gatekeeper and allows anyone with the right passion to play it to make a film like this reportedly for less than $2 million, a profit threshold that will be exceeded before school is out on Friday. Secondly, Thornton is legitimately phenomenal, delivering a very physical performance that is more reminiscent of a silent comedy than modern horror. (And adding Victoria to the babble lessens the tension of the silent killer in this film. Don't do that again for the fourth film, Damien.) While Leone and his insane alter ego still have some work to do, especially at Writing department, I'll keep searching for “Terrifier” to find out. After all, everyone loves a clown.