After drumming up quite a bit of controversy due to several sickeningly gruesome scenes, Terrifer 3 has now carved its way past the $50 million mark at the worldwide box office.
While this may not seem like a particularly impressive accomplishment in an age where major studio blockbusters clear that figure in a single weekend, it's important to keep in mind that the recent slasher sequel has a budget of just $2 million.
This global haul now makes it the highest-grossing unrated movie of all time, while also surpassing the biggest NC-17 rated earners.
It's worth noting that not all movies are unrated due to extreme violence or sexual content. In fact, the previous record holder for an unrated movie at the box office was the concert film Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé, which took in $43 million worldwide.
The sequence that's come in for the most backlash shows the aftermath of a child (maybe 9 or 10) being hacked to pieces by Art the Clown.
"Mark my words," Leone said of the scene in question during a recent interview. "I guarantee you the first five minutes of this movie is going to be very controversial. But that's not even the big kill scene. So that's why I was like, I need to just make this movie on my own, because it's too insane If you thought Art the Clown's reign of terror in part two was extreme, you haven't seen anything yet."
"I got to meet with studios, like legit Hollywood studios, who wanted to make Terrifier 3. But before I even had a script, just having meetings and getting the feel that I was going to have eyes over my shoulders, and they were concerned about the levels of gore and this and that," he added.
"After surviving Art the Clown's Halloween massacre, Sienna and her brother struggle to rebuild their shattered lives. As the holiday season approaches, they try to embrace the Christmas spirit and leave the horrors of the past behind. However, just when they think they're safe, Art returns, determined to turn their holiday cheer into a new nightmare."