Warning: This article contains spoilers for Terrifier 3.
The Terrifier franchise’s main protagonist, Sienna Shaw, was initially introduced as a typical final girl, but she turned out to be an avenging angel warrior with superpowers, symbolic armor, and a magical sword. After the first Terrifier movie was criticized for its weak writing, Leone made sure to flesh out the protagonist of the sequel a lot more. In 2016, Terrifier was praised for its transgressive violence and inventive approach to gore, but it was criticized for its one-dimensional storytelling. Its screenplay is less a cohesive three-act narrative and more a series of increasingly gruesome murders.
Leone stepped up his game with the characterization of the sequel by introducing Sienna, played by Lauren LaVera, as Art the Clown’s arch-nemesis. At first, Sienna seems to be another archetypal horror protagonist in the mold of Laurie Strode or Sidney Prescott. But as Terrifier 2 progresses into its second and third acts, it becomes clear that Sienna is no archetype. She has the signature attire of angelic armor, a sword with magical powers, and her own set of supernatural abilities. But what exactly are Sienna’s powers, and how do they work?
Sienna's Angel Armor Is Inspired By Her Dad's Drawings
Sienna's Late Father Created The Angel Warrior Character Before His Death
After being absent from the first film, Sienna made her on-screen debut in Terrifier 2. The sequel’s opening scenes introduce her as a typical teenage girl, reeling from the recent death of her father. She’s living with her younger brother Jonathan, of whom she’s very protective, and her widowed mother. At the beginning of Terrifier 2, Halloween is coming up, and Sienna is planning a costume with a deeply personal connection to her late father. She’s been developing a cosplay based on an angel warrior character that her dad created before his death.
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Art the Clown in Damien Leone's Terrifier 2 may be linked to Sienna's father. Could this be the beginning of an origin story for the killer clown?
As the movie goes on, it becomes clear that this angel character was more than just a fantastical creation born from their father’s vivid imagination. Jonathan believes that their dad envisioned Sienna as the only person on Earth capable of defeating Art. She begins to have disturbing encounters with Art, both in real life and in her nightmares, and eventually, she has to face him in battle. At this point, the angelic armor becomes more than just mere cosplay — it’s essentially the superhero costume she dons to fight the world’s most sadistic supervillain.
Sienna's Armor Is Symbolic Of Her Role Fighting Art The Clown
Sienna Is An Angel Fighting A Demon
It’s no coincidence that Sienna’s superhero costume is that of an angel. It’s symbolic of the role she plays in the battle against Art. Art is a demon who’s incarnated on Earth as an invincible clown. It’s only right for the one person who can defeat this demon to be depicted as an angel. Sienna is the last line of defense against Art — she’s an angel fighting a demon. The symbolism is a little on-the-nose, but then again, this is Terrifier, not Citizen Kane — the fact that there’s any symbolism at all is impressive.
How Powerful Sienna's Sword Is
It's Not Just A Weapon — It Also Has Healing Powers
After his death, Sienna’s father passed on a sword to her. This sword was the perfect addition to Sienna’s avenging angel cosplay, completing the look as outlined by her dad’s drawings. But when she went head-to-head with Art, this turned out to be no ordinary sword. In the Terrifier universe, this sword is the only weapon known to be capable of killing Art. After engaging Art in a fight to defend her brother, Sienna decapitated him. Art came back shortly thereafter when his decapitated head was birthed by an institutionalized Victoria Heyes, but for a brief moment, he was dead.
Just as Art is about to devour Jonathan, Sienna is mysteriously resurrected by the sword, giving her another chance to kill him.
And this sword isn’t just a powerful weapon; it also has healing powers. Before Sienna was able to cut off Art’s head at the end of Terrifier 2, Art stabbed and killed her with her own sword. Just as Art is about to devour Jonathan, Sienna is mysteriously resurrected by the sword, giving her another chance to kill him. Sienna’s dad’s sword seems to have other powers, too; she was able to use it to deflect the flames from Art’s flamethrower. This sword seems to be capable of doing whatever the plot requires of it.
Does Sienna Have Any Other Powers In Terrifier?
Sienna's Powers All Come From Her Sword
Sienna doesn’t have any superpowers outside the ones given to her by her sword. The healing factor and the capacity to kill Art have both been attributed to Sienna herself, but she couldn’t do either of those things without the sword. But that doesn’t make her any less of a superhero. While it’s not technically a supernatural ability, one of Sienna’s most useful traits is her resilience. A less courageous hero would’ve given up after being impaled and killed by Art, but Sienna refused to back down until she lopped off the clown demon’s head and saved her brother.
Lauren LaVera won a Fangoria Chainsaw Award for her turn as Sienna in Terrifier 2.
In many ways, Sienna’s hero-villain dynamic with Art is comparable to Batman and the Joker. The most obvious parallel is that the villain is an evil killer clown and the hero is the only one who can stop him, but the similarities go deeper than that. Since Sienna doesn’t have any bona fide superpowers and all her powers come from her armor and her weapons, she’s basically Bruce Wayne without the cowl. Much like Batman and the Joker, there’s a genuine adversarial quality to their relationship. They’re not just on opposing sides; they’re each other’s arch-nemesis.
Sienna's Armor & Sword Are Key To Her Future In Terrifier 4
Sienna Loses Her Sword At The End Of Terrifier 3
Sienna will need her angelic armor and magical sword when she returns in Terrifier 4. At the end of Terrifier 3, Sienna uses her father’s sword to kill the possessed Victoria. Unfortunately, it has a pretty dire unintended consequence: Victoria’s blood burns through the floor and creates a portal to Hell, into which Sienna’s younger cousin Gabbie falls. After Sienna fails to save Gabbie, both Gabbie and the sword fall into the portal, ending the threequel on a cliffhanger. As Art gets away, Sienna vows to find Gabbie and save her.
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Terrifier 4: How Will The "Final" Movie Resolve That Cliffhanger?
The ending of Terrifier 3 featured a literal and metaphorical cliffhanger, leaving the door open for Terrifier 4 to resolve the ongoing narrative.
This has set up a pretty awesome story for the next Terrifier movie. Sienna will literally have to go to Hell and fight her way through Satan’s minions to save her cousin. But she’s lost the sword, so before she can save Gabbie, she’ll need to retrieve it. Sienna is a badass with or without the sword, but she might not be able to battle demonic forces unless she has that blade in hand. In the already confirmed Terrifier 4, Sienna could get an upgraded suit of armor to help her defeat Art for good.
Terrifier
Created by Damien Leone, Terrifier is a horror multimedia franchise that centers around the sadistic Art the Clown, a serial killer who appears on Halloween night to stalk partygoers. The series is known for being one of the most shocking in the slasher genre, with over-the-top kills and a darkly comedic tone. Art the Clown's first appearance was in a horror anthology film, All Hallows' Eve.
- Created by
- Damien Leone
- Cast
- David Howard Thornton , Samantha Scaffidi , Lauren LaVera , Elliot Fullam , Jenna Kanell