Terrifier 3 adds Daniel Roebuck as Santa Claus

Daniel Roebuck has been cast to play Santa Claus in writer/director Damien Leone’s Terrifier 3, which reaches theatres in October

Daniel Roebuck has racked up over 250 credits over the course of a career that has lasted nearly 40 years so far, and our friends at Bloody Disgusting have just broken the news that one of his next credits will be on writer/director Damien Leone’s Terrifier 3, which is set to receive a theatrical release on October 25th. According to the site, Roebuck will be appearing in the film as Santa Claus. It seems fitting, because Roebuck was already in Santa mode for a family-friendly movie called Saint Nick of Bethlehem, which he co-wrote and co-directed. That movie will be released later this year as well.

Roebuck provided the following statement: “I’ve been holding this secret for a long time! I’ve been really excited about it. I’m actually entering into the movies that I watch. It’s extraordinary. This is Terrifier bigger, badder, best.“

Leone had a budget of around $55,000 to work with on his breakout horror film Terrifier, and a budget of “a little over” $250,000 for Terrifier 2, which was a massive hit when it was released last year, earning $15.1 million at the box office. Since the second film did so well, Terrifier 3 has a substantially higher budget. A “couple million” is going into this one. It has the following synopsis: Art the Clown is set to unleash chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County as they peacefully drift off to sleep on Christmas Eve. 

David Howard Thornton is reprising the role of Art the Clown, a character who was first introduced in Leone’s 2013 anthology All Hallows’ Eve. Lauren LaVera is back as Terrifier 2 heroine Sienna and Elliot Fullam returns as Sienna’s brother Jonathan. Samantha Scaffidi is returning as Terrifier and Terrifier 2 character Victoria Heyes. Chris Jericho, who had a cameo in Terrifier 2, is also back in Terrifier 3 – but he has let everyone know that his appearance in the film won’t last very long.

Leone has said that this new sequel will be going back to the tone of the first movie, as he’s aiming to make the third film the scariest, goriest, and most depraved of the bunch. He’ll be pulling back on the mystical/fantasy element that was so prevalent in the second film, and is also aiming to make sure this one will be less than two hours long, since the second one surpassed the two hour mark. If you’re worried that Terrifier 3 might wrap the franchise up as a trilogy, have no fear. Leone knows that horror franchises always continue, and anything’s possible once the supernatural gets involved. So even if he brings a sequel to a satisfying conclusion for himself as the creator of the franchise, the door can always be opened to more sequels.

Among Roebuck’s many credits are The Fugitive, The Last Shift, Final Destination, Nash Bridges, Bubba Ho-Tep, Lost, John Dies at the End, Phantasm: Ravager, 9-1-1, and multiple Rob Zombie movies: The Devil’s Rejects, Halloween, Halloween II, The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, The Lords of Salem, 31, 3 from Hell, and The Munsters.

What do you think of Daniel Roebuck joining the cast of Terrifier 3? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.