When is Terrifier 4 out? Possible release window, plot theories & more

❘ Published: 2024-10-23T15:51:02

Art the Clown, who'll return in Terrifier 4

Cineverse

Terrifier 4 may be the final movie in the Art the Clown saga – and if you’re already hungry for more after Terrifier 3, here’s everything we know about the next film in the franchise.

It’s been over 15 years since Art the Clown’s first on-screen appearance in Damien Leone’s The 9th Circle, a short that was included All Hallows’ Eve, which led to the Terrifier series.

Now, he’s a bona fide slasher icon. Just look at the Terrifier 3 box office: it’s made more money than all of its predecessors combined and it’s the highest-grossing unrated movie in US history.

With rumors that Terrifier 4 could end Leone’s Art saga, speculation is rife about his final face-off with Sienna. Let’s get into it (spoiler warning).

Is there a Terrifier 4 release date?

Terrifier 4 doesn’t have a release date, but it could be released sometime in 2026.

Let’s look at the timeline of the Terrifier movies in order: the first film was technically released in 2016, but it didn’t screen in cinemas until 2018. So, 2022’s Terrifier 2 took six years to make – which isn’t surprising, considering it was crowd-funded.

When it exceeded box office expectations, Terrifier 3 quickly got the green light, and it only took two years before it was released.

One thing is certain: Terrifier 4 is happening and it’s in active development right now.

Who’s in the Terrifier 4 cast?

Two people are confirmed to return in Terrifier 4: Lauren LaVera as Sienna Shaw and David Howard Thornton as Art the Clown.

Questions remain concerning other cast members. For example, at the end of Terrifier 3, Jonathan (Elliott Fulham) is seemingly killed off-screen by Art, but many fans think he’s still alive. It’s Horror Movie 101: if you don’t see a death, it didn’t happen.

If he is alive, Leone is keeping his poker face. Speaking to Collider, he acknowledged that it’s a “very divisive, polarizing part of the film…. I think Terrifier 3 will play better, believe it or not, on a story level when people watch it a second time.”

In his words, it would have been “disrespectful” to show Jonathan’s death because it would have come straight after the shower scene (IYKYK), and it probably would have been even more brutal.

Unless she’s resurrected, Victoria (Samantha Scaffidi) won’t be back – though stranger things have happened.

Antonella Rose starred in the threequel as Gabbie, Sienna’s little cousin. For reasons we’ll get into shortly, there’s a good chance we’ll see her again next time – but it depends on the plot.

What will happen in Terrifier 4?

The plot of Terrifier 4 depends on whether or not it’s the final movie, but the stage has been set for Sienna to travel to Hell to fight Art the Clown for the last time.

In the closing minutes, we saw Gabbie get sucked into a Hell portal, opened via Vicky’s acidic blood pouring onto the floor after Sienna sliced her head off. Leone told Fantastic Fest attendees that “Sienna has to find Gabbie”, so that’ll be her main goal in the next film.

What about Art? Vicky is dead, he’s all alone again, and he’s probably angry; after all, Sienna got the better of him.

Here’s the thing: Terrifier 3 is secretly one of the year’s best Christian movies, and it’s full of religious and Biblical imagery. Leone knows where the “endzone” is, and I’m betting that it’s the 9th circle of Hell.

“I know where the endzone is. I know what the end goal is for these characters and where Sienna and Art the Clown’s finale happens. It’s just a matter of finding out how many movies will it take me to get there,” he told DiscussingFilm.

While Leone has hinted at two more films, ending the saga with Terrifier 4 seems like the best option, especially with his desire for a “concrete” conclusion.

“When you see it, you’ll know what it is. You’ll know when this thing is put to bed for a while, at least. I mean, we’ve opened up the door to the supernatural, so I could always figure out a way to bring Art the Clown back if I wanted to,” he explained to Coming Soon.

“But I want to have a solid franchise, a saga that I could tell with a beginning, middle, and an end. You know what it is. You could walk away feeling satisfied. I don’t want to just kind of get lost in the woods and you just meandering and kind of fall into like the category of just diminishing returns, and you’re just tarnishing everything that’s come before it, or characters who you thought should have played a major part, really had nothing to do in the grand scheme of things.

“It’s like, ‘Well, why did I invest all that emotion, all that time and energy into what came before it?’ So I don’t wanna run into that trap, which happens to a lot of franchises. So, I think maybe one more film and that’ll really tell the story that’ll put an end to the saga for a while anyway.“