So, the ultra-gorefest horror movie Terrifier 3 landed Number One in the Box Office on its opening weekend with $20 million, and the sales for Joker: Folie ´A Deux fell about 80 percent on its second week with about $7 million.

That’s a new kind of slaughter. According to entertainment sites like Hollywood Reporter, Terrifier 3 cost about $2 million to produce..so it is doing pretty well, I would say.

I loved the first Joker movie, and still do. It reminded me of the old Elseworlds One Shot DC comics I enjoyed back in the 90s that looked at characters as retellings or in other time frames and worlds. But it really should have just remained as one film. I admit I was hopeful the second would do well. Remember how excited we got about the trailer?

Horror movies, like Terrifier, however, thrive as multi-film exploits and have since literary classics like Frankenstein and Dracula hit the screen. If you have a favorite horror villain, you likely know of at least three films they’ve been in, especially in the slasher genre. These are grind house staples and the horror filmmakers like to grind them out.

These are often smaller budget films not made by the big companies starring actors only horror fans know and featuring unredeemable characters committing acts of violence intended only to be gruesome. I know who David Howard Thornton is..but do you?

Thornton is the guy behind the Terrifier franchise’s demonic villain, Art the Clown, and his ticket sales are beating the bejeebers out of award winning actor Joaquin Phoenix.

Even the teaser for Terrifier 3 might be too much for some…so fair warning before you watch:

How is a film that is so gory and so over-the-top beating a pristinely crafted high-budget sequel to a box-office breaking movie? The answers are easy!

First, Terrifier didn’t claim to be anything expect what it was. People knew it was going to be horribly gross, and that’s what they got. The warnings from theatres of the extreme violence seemed almost like the old school horrors where there were warnings for the “faint of heart.” If you are paying to see this movie, you know what to expect…and you’ll get it in buckets.

Next, the filmmakers love what they are doing and love their audience. You can tell director Damien Leone had fun making this. They know that people will be showing up to these screenings with their horror buddies in cosplay. They know these fans just want to escape and scream and even hide their eyes at the gross dark humor for a while, then talk about it after with enthusiasm.

I’m going to defend the plot of Joker 2 (just a little), because although I didn’t like it at all I got where it was coming from…to a point. However, the reasons behind this plot seemed like Todd Phillips made it out of spite for everyone who loved the first one. Phillips forgets, people have always loved (or loved to hate) a good villain. That doesn’t mean they will do bad things themselves. Darth Vader murdered an entire planet of innocent people, for goodness sakes! You can’t just drop a load of cash on a movie intended to show the audience what misguided jerks they are for liking the first film. Well, you can, but don’t be surprised when people don’t show up.

Finally, it’s all about audience connections!

Big budgets, big stars and big concepts are part of the Hollywood mystique. Yet, this coddled, isolated and too-powerful world is something that seems so far away and separate. “Enjoy our films, peasants, but don’t talk to us otherwise.” While actors like Phoenix are standing behind podiums lecturing us about some topic or another, actors like Thornton are doing things like this:

And that in a gore-encrusted nutshell is what it’s all about. Movies are for escaping and having a blast. Yes, there are some great dramas that make you think…but we don’t only need those all the time! Terrifier 3 fans have been having a blast and Joker 2 viewers aren’t. Whatever you think of either film, that’s the lowdown. One is doing great and one is not.

I know not everyone likes horror, and that is completely fine. I get it. Bloodfests like the Terrifier films aren’t for everyone.

Apparently, looking at the numbers, they are for a lot more people than the Joker 2.