Terrifier 3 Already Told You It's Lying About That Big Character Death

The latest chapter of Damien Leone's grisly saga, Terrifier 3, saw many citizens of Miles County suffer horrific deaths at the hands of Art the Clown and his demonic ally Victoria "Vicky" Heyes, but one supposed death appears to be more of a trick than anything else. While every Terrifier movie sees some of its seemingly significant characters die, Terrifier 3's major character death came as a surprise to many given that it came out of nowhere. However, that also makes it seem very suspicious, given what fans have come to expect from Damien Leone and Art the Clown himself.

The cliffhanger ending of Terrifier 3 saw Lauren LaVera's Sienna Shaw survive another battle with Art, and while she was not able to kill him, she did manage to behead Art's yellow-eyed acolyte Vicky; in the process, she lost every loved one she had left. Art and Vicky killed Sienna's uncle and crucified his headless corpse in the kitchen of their home, killed her aunt in front of her in unspeakable fashion, and her young cousin Gabbie fell into what seemed to literally be the pits of Hell. However, one other death left plenty of room to doubt its legitimacy.

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How Art & Vicky Convince Sienna That Jonathan Is Dead

Vicky Has A Very Specific Token From Jonathan

Sienna Shaw also loses her brother Jonathan to Art and Vicky's Christmastime rampage, and as the only person who understands the long-term trauma that came from their first encounter with Art, Jonathan was the most significant person in her life. As horrible as the deaths of her aunt and uncle were, Jonathan's death is the one that could really break Sienna, which is something that Art and Vicky likely counted on.

As they torture the captured Sienna, Art and Vicky present her with a "Christmas present", which contains a cage full of rats gnawing on a freshly-skinless skull. Vicky initially told her that the skull belonged to Gabbie, but the duo quickly revealed that Gabbie was actually very much alive, and unharmed to that point. That was Vicky's cue to pull the skull out and put Jonathan's distinctive glasses on it, implying that it was actually his skull all along. The glasses were supposed to be the proof that it was in fact Jonathan's head, and that Jonathan died off-screen.

Vicky Already Lied About Who The Skull Belonged To

The Skull Was Introduced As Somoene Else's First

While Art the Clown is unable to speak, The Little Pale Girl/Vicky uses her voice to deceive characters over the phone in both Terrifier 2 and Terrifier 3. She also lied to Sienna when she told her that the skull belonged to Gabbie, thinking that would be the breaking point that Vicky needed to possess Sienna. It seems as though deception is Vicky's modus operandi, which further lends credence to the fan theories that The Little Pale Girl may actually be Satan in disguise, as Satan is biblically referred to as "the deceiver of the whole world."

All that deception makes it extremely difficult to believe anything that Vicky says. While it's certainly damning that she produced Jonathan's glasses to place on the skull, that is far from proof that it's his head. While the deceptive phone call that Vicky made as Jonathan's uncle picked him up from college likely indicates that Jonathan was in their possession at some point, it seems difficult to believe that Vicky and Art killed him unceremoniously just for that glasses reveal.

Jonathan's "Death" Happening Off-Screen Is Suspicious

The Terrifier Franchise Has Never Shied Away From Showing Major Character Deaths

The biggest indicator that Jonathan Shaw isn't actually dead is because it happened off-screen. Art the Clown and certainly his demonic companion Vicky take pleasure in their depraved dismemberment of their victims, and oftentimes execute their kills in the view of another person, sowing fear and dread before they kill the witness. With a plan in place to capture Sienna, it seems impossible to believe that Art and Vicky would have passed up an opportunity to kill Jonathan in front of Sienna, especially with the ultimate goal of breaking Sienna's spirit so Vicky can possess her.

It seems far more likely that Jonathan is either captive somewhere, or he escaped from Art and Vicky leaving his glasses behind. While it's true that Vicky was calling the shots at the end of Terriifer 3, it would be completely out of character for Art (and frankly, for Damien Leone) to kill a major character off-screen. The Terrifier franchise revolves around Art's sadism and murderous ingenuity, and there's no way that Leone would have passed up a chance for a truly memorable death scene just for the benefit of the glasses twist with the skull.

Terrifier 3 follows Sienna and her brother as they attempt to move past the traumatic events of Art the Clown's Halloween massacre. As they embrace the Christmas season, Art reemerges, intent on turning their holiday into a nightmare, continuing his reign of terror.

Director Damien Leone

Release Date October 11, 2024

Studio(s) Dark Age Cinema , Fuzz on the Lens Productions

Distributor(s) Cineverse

Writers Damien Leone

Runtime 125 Minutes