2024 has truly been the year when the popcorn bucket industry (words not strung together very often in any year prior to this one) took off. A large reason for that, of course, is the internet’s love of meme-ing pop cultural ephemera to death, especially when something is unintentionally salacious or provocative, which the “Dune: Part Two” sandworm popcorn bucket certainly was. After “Deadpool & Wolverine” licensed its own popcorn bucket that was deliberately salacious and provocative (albeit one that took a bit of finagling to find the optimal way to use it), it seemed like the joke of popcorn buckets as, ahem, marital aids was officially coming to a close. While that may be true, the trend of popcorn buckets as a new sought-after collectible piece of movie memorabilia feels like it’s just beginning to ramp up, with everything from the “Alien: Romulus” Xenomorph head to the (much less naughty) sandworm bucket for “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” selling out like crazy at theaters across the nation.
Since the gag about sexy popcorn buckets is already a bit played out, the designers of these items are beginning to have some more fun with what kind of kooky popcorn vessels they can come up with, both in terms of the objects themselves as well as the new release features they can tie them into. If a popcorn bucket can be funny, or weird, or erotic, can one potentially be … terrifying? That seems to be the aim with the new popcorn bucket that the Cinemark theater chain will be selling to promote “Terrifier 3,” with preorders dropping on September 18 in advance of the film’s October 11 release. While this bucket may seem less upsetting than others at first glance (there are no uncomfortable holes, winking jokes or moving parts), this Art the Clown bucket might still have some secrets up its sleeve. Er, head.
Santa Art is comin’ to town
On paper, the “Terrifier 3” Cinemark popcorn bucket isn’t all that special: It’s simply a popcorn vessel made in the likeness of Art the Clown, the demonic serial killer as played by David Howard Thornton. Anyone who’s seen an image of Art the Clown knows that he’s not exactly a friendly face, however, as his eerie black & white clown make up and menacing stare are enough to get anyone nervous. Adding to that nervousness is the decision to have the Art bucket sport a particularly aggressive half-smile, half-growl, all while sporting a Santa Claus hat. That’s right: “Terrifier 3” is a Christmas movie, and writer/director Damien Leone has been only too happy to lean into that element ever since the film’s initial teaser trailer. So, not only will Art be decked out as Santa in the film, but this bucket is one of Santa Art as well.
Granted, the bucket isn’t as gruesome as one might’ve hoped for (or feared) given the “Terrifier” films’ penchant for extreme gore and other gross-out elements. There’s only a little bit of blood splattered on Art’s face, a rare case of “less is more” for the franchise. Yet the implication of that blood combined with his evil looking stare set in stone (or plastic, or whatever material they’ve used to make the bucket) makes for a pretty intimidating thing to even have in the room with you, let alone on your lap. Yet given that the images and video of the bucket released so far don’t quite reveal where the, you know, actual popcorn goes in the popcorn bucket, it can be assumed that there’s either a hole in the top, or perhaps that Santa hat comes off. In either case, you’re likely going to be eating popcorn straight out of Art’s noggin. That’s both an allusion to eating the brain of the vicious murderer as well as to a kill straight out of Art’s repertoire: In “Terrifier 2,” Art dispatches Allie’s Mom (Amy Russ) and, it being Halloween night, hollows out her head and serves candy from it to trick or treaters. What an homage!
The Terrifier 3 popcorn bucket might be used as a decoration, or something more horrifying
Like any popcorn bucket worth its salt (ba dum chish), the “Terrifier 3” bucket doesn’t just have to function as a popcorn vessel. Given its festive holiday nature, it can double as a decoration for your Christmas festivities. After all, who wouldn’t want to sit down to a turkey dinner with the family while Art sits proudly at the center of your table? While it’s unclear how heavy the bucket will be, most of them aren’t too weighty, so there’s even a possibility that you could tie a string to it and hang it on your Christmas tree. Or maybe mount it on your front door in place of a wreath. So many possibilities!
Yet there’s a secret second option for the popcorn vessel, one that Cinemark might want to start promoting if the theatrical release of “Terrifier 3” is anything like “Terrifier 2.” Since Leone has gone on record exclaiming that the third film will continue the series’ tradition of extreme, over-the-top gore, it’s not too late to pivot the marketing campaign from a popcorn bucket to, well, a barf bucket. This would put the bucket and “Terrifier 3” in the long, proud tradition of boundary-pushing horror films that made licensed barf bags a main part of their selling point. It’d be a good bit of ballyhoo to get audiences titillated and nervously excited about the film, all while still being in keeping with the grossness of “Terrifier.” Heck, instead of a barf bucket, how about a diarrhea bucket, given Art and the Little Pale Girl’s penchant for loosing their bowels at a moment’s notice? All this is to say, the sky’s the limit for using your Art the Clown bucket. Just, pretty please, don’t post any pictures of you using it online.
“Terrifier 3” hits theaters on October 11, 2024.
