Terrifier 3’s biggest character death is a police officer

Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Terrifier 3 (2024)

Although Terrifying 3 may have many sickening moments, one of its most important deaths is a stunning disappointment. THE Terrifying Movies are many things, but no one could accuse director Damian Leone’s horror series of subtlety. Art the Clown’s bloody horror films leave little to the imagination, shocking viewers with an onslaught of carnage and graphic violence that most conventional films would never come close to. Terrifying 3Art’s brutal deaths are no exception, with Art’s antics getting even bloodier and more graphic this time around as the franchise increases its body count once again.

As such, it comes as an unwelcome shock to realize that the most important death in history Terrifying 3 takes place entirely off-screen. Keeping the act off-screen isn’t a complete shock. Art the Clown’s murder of two children in the 2013 anthology film All Hallows’ Eve also happens off-screen, as does the death of two children in Terrifying 3the controversial opening scene. However, what’s shocking is that this character is pivotal to the series’ plot, yet his death is effectively ignored in the sequel. This leads viewers to wonder if it will be retconned.

Terrifier 3 should have shown Jonathan’s death

Terrifier 3 Inexplicably Skipped Its Most Important Character’s Death

Even though Sienna’s brother is a vital character in the franchise’s mythos Terrifying 3Jonathan’s death occurs completely off-screen. The character is last seen dozing off in his dorm after a tense conversation with his sister, which is interrupted by his thoughtless roommate, Cole, and Cole’s crime-obsessed girlfriend, Mia. Cole and Mia are murdered by Art the Clown in the shower in a scenario that may be the bloodiest sequence in the entire franchise. However, Jonathan is not mentioned again until what is apparently his head, eaten mostly by rats, is displayed by Art and Vicky in the final scene.

There are countless reasons why this twist doesn’t work. The first is that Terrifying 3Scary new villain Vicky initially claims the skull belongs to Sienna’s niece Gabbie, while she and Art torture and kill Gabbie’s mother Jess. They then reveal that the skull actually belongs to Jonathan, but Vicky also specifies that she needs Sienna to lose all hope so she can possess his body. As such, it seems obvious that Art and Vicky are lying again in hopes of making Sienna feel discouraged and hopeless, making her easier to possess.

Jonathan’s death happening off-screen in Terrifier 3 goes against the core of the franchise

Terrifying films are about disturbing character deaths

In terms of plot, Jonathan’s death occurring off-screen makes no sense. In terms of pacing, the jump from Art’s time in the frat house to his appearance at Jess’s is confusing, to say the least, as it’s unclear where Vicky was during Cole and Mia’s deaths and whether she was involved in the Jonathan’s death. Furthermore, the fact that Vicky and Art had lied about the skull’s providence just minutes before, when they had no reason to do so, makes it much more likely that the pair would repeat that lie when it could weaken Sienna and leave her defenseless.

However, the issue of this death is not limited to its practical implications for the narrative. Although Terrifying 3 was well received by critics, the decision to keep Jonathan’s death off-screen also goes against the spirit of the series. The proudly tasteless Terrifying films have never shied away from depicting violence on screen, and they have always stubbornly pushed the limits of what audiences can watch without provoking involuntary physical responses. This approach should be no different when it comes to killing off a major character like Jonathan, so Terrifying 3 going down such a toothless path makes the twist hard to believe.

Jonathan’s off-screen death makes it hard to believe

Victoria and Art already lied about the Providence of the Skull once

As evidenced by discussions of the sequence in Reddit, Jonathan’s death occurring off-screen immediately made viewers doubt it ever happened. A substantial portion of posters in the above thread are hoping that the sequel will reveal that Jonathan is still alive, even if this isn’t Leone’s ultimate plan for the series. In fact, if Jonathan’s death is real and not a misdirection, it could be the most disappointing disappearance in the series’ history. Sienna’s brother is a central character who serves as a foil for her throughout Terrifying 2 and Terrifying 3.

When Sienna just wanted to be a normal teenager Terrifying 2his morbidly obsessed brother began to unravel the links between Art the Clown and his late father. When she desperately wanted Jonathan to acknowledge his supernatural ties to the Miles County killer in Terrifying 3now it was Jonathan who wanted to forget his entire ordeal and Sienna who needed to talk to her brother before it was too late. It is certain that Terrifying 3Sienna’s emotional ending gives Sienna a new family member to protect, Gabbie, but that only makes Jonathan’s disappointing death more of a problem for the future of the franchise.

Terrifier 4 needs to make up for the disservice of Jonathan’s death

Jonathan needs a comeback or a real death scene

Whether Sienna’s brother is alive and returns or whether his death is depicted in a detailed flashback remains to be seen. Terrifying 4 needs to fix Jonathan’s disappointing exit from the series. If the sequel reveals that Jonathan actually died and his death is never mentioned again, the series will be taking its subversive approach to horror conventions too far. It was impressive, smart and genuinely surprising in 2016 Terrifying when Art the Clown pointed a gun at the film’s apparent Final Girl and simply shot her in the head. This joke had shades of the infamous Michael Haneke Funny games.

The moment shocked viewers by betraying the conventional rules of horror, both with the villain’s use of firearms and the Final Girl’s sudden death in the middle of the story. However, killing off important characters like Jonathan without fanfare is not an equally subversive move. Instead, it seems more like an oversight or a poorly disguised twist. If Terrifying 4Sienna’s story began by revealing that Gabbie died on her way to hell and was never seen again, this would undermine any emotional resonance of Sienna’s story. Likewise, the unfavorable ending to his brother’s story makes him Terrifying 3It’s harder to care about the plot.

Source: Reddit