Halloween is here and so are terrifying new movies that come along with the season. “Terrifier 3” hit cinemas earlier this month on Oct. 11 as the third installment to the “Terrifier” franchise. The movies follow the gruesome and deadly doings of Art the Clown, who has proved to be an unkillable demon.

Featuring the story of Sienna, her brother Jonathan and their quest to defeat Art the Clown — the movie featured endless gore that made it a bit hard on the stomach. Jump scares and thought-provoking scenes were rare but blood and guts were endless, contributing more to the feeling of wanting to throw up than just being spooked.

As Sienna and Jonathan grapple with the Halloween massacre Art left behind just five years earlier, Art returns to wreak havoc on their family and anyone in his way. Dressed in a Santa suit, Art terrorizes the community just in time for the holiday season.

While this may be satisfying to previous fans of the franchise, it can come off as disturbing and almost lazy for anyone watching it for the first time. Instead of interesting, clever and chilling connections, there’s guts, blood and more guts.

Horror movies are best done when they make the viewer feel like the movie’s creator is clever — when connections can be made that truly make the audience shiver. However, that really seems to be lacking with this movie. It barely connects to the other “Terrifier” movies and doesn’t make any interesting connections to itself. Instead of a reliable plot structure that builds on and connects to itself, the story of “Terrifier 3” is choppy and unrelatable. There isn’t a lot of relationship between the audience and the main character, Sienna, which creates a feeling of something missing.

The writing and acting were also lacking. The lines were unoriginal and cheaply written with out-of-control cliches which added a layer of predictability to the movie, making it less scary.

Sure, a little gore here and there doesn’t hurt and is even a staple of the industry — when accompanied by satisfying acting and plot structure. But the scenes in this film ranged from pretty disgusting to downright deranged. It wasn’t spooky, thought-provoking and thrilling like good horror movies are. Rather, it was fairly disgusting and borderline unwatchable. With the lack of good acting or thoughtful writing, the story wasn’t convincing and failed to make the audience feel as though they were in the story as well.

A lot of what makes movies good is when viewers know the main character well and feel as though they are also fighting for their cause. The emotional relationship between viewers and characters creates a drive for the viewers to actually root for the characters, which is what puts the viewers on the edge of their seats. If you care about a character, you are more likely to be invested in what happens to them.

So yes, what happened to Sienna and her family was gruesome and terrible, but that’s all it was. With little to no connection to the character and the storyline, it didn’t make you invested in what was happening to the characters. It didn’t leave the viewer with any hope for the characters’ future. It’s also a horror-movie copout when a villain is immortal — making it so there is no true solution to the characters’ plight and an inevitable circle that will just keep producing more films.

Overall, this movie is sufficient for a bit of scare and gore but makes the viewer wonder about the depraved depths of the creator’s mind. As far as being meaningful, interesting and frankly scary, “Terrifier 3” falls short.

Rating: 1/5