Starring
Kate Hodge, Viggo Mortensen, Ken Foree, William Butler, Joe Unger,
R.A. Mihailoff, Tom Hudson, Tom Everett, Jennifer Banko, Miriam Byrd
Nethery. Directed by Jeff Burr. (1990/85 min).
Not
to be confused with the recent similarly-titled film (which,
by most accounts, is pretty terrible), 1990's Leatherface: The
Texas Chainsaw Massacre III is the final chapter of the original
franchise. The first one without original writer/director Tobe
Hooper, it is also the most maligned.
The
original is, of course, a classic and one of the most influential
horror movies of all time. Hooper's totally bonkers sequel, The
Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2, dove head-first into black comedy
territory, piling-on the blood & gore he creatively avoided
before. Though thoroughly polarizing, it earned a latent cult
following. Leatherface, on
the other hand, remains the bastard son of the
franchise, seldom talked about and largely forgotten.
 |
| "It followed me home. Can we keep it?" |
One
reason could be that Leatherface was heavily edited by New
Line Cinema (who released the film) to earn an R-rating, leaving a
truncated version that de-fanged one of horror's most celebrated
psychopaths. Or maybe the world simply never needed a third chapter
(one could easily argue we didn't need a second one). But as
unnecessary sequels go, Leatherface isn't bad at all. It's
worth mentioning that, while I acknowledge its influence on the genre, I was never a massive fan of The Texas
Chainsaw Massacre (or Hooper's work in general...sorry). So maybe
my expectations were low to begin with.
Leatherface
strives for the middle ground between the grimy realism of the
original and the lunacy of Part 2.
What's impressive is how often it actually succeeds. Title
character notwithstanding, it bares no relation to the other films,
with a new batch of cannibalistic crazies terrorizing idiotic
wayward travelers and Dawn of the Dead's Ken Foree (yay!)
thrown-in as a gun-toting survivalist. The film doesn't have any
aspirations beyond cheap thrills and journeyman director Jeff Burr doesn't
re-invent the wheel here, but he manages to create a fair amount of dread and
suspense.
 |
| Viggo preps another Wet Willie. |
While
not particularly gory, Leatherface is still plenty-gruesome, and would-be thrill-seekers will be happy to know that
much of the footage that was removed to earn an R rating is
included in the bonus features (as well as an alternate ending which,
in my opinion, is much more effective). Additionally, part of the fun of
revisiting older films (especially horror films) is catching
early performances by some of today's A-listers. In this case, a very
young Viggo Mortensen shows up to pay the bills - and chew a bit of
scenery - as Tex, your not-so-standard local yokel.
Leatherface:
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III isn't a great film, but it's a
well-crafted slab of sick-minded sleaze that's certainly more twisted
fun than recent movies parading under the franchise banner. This disc
from Warner Archive also packs in some great fan-friendly bonus
features (from the original DVD release) that show us what the film
could have been without studio meddling.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
FEATURETTES:
"The Saw is Family: The Making of Leatherface"; "We Know
What to Do with Them Parts" (Scenes that were deleted to earn an
R rating...there are quite a few of them).
ALTERNATE
ENDING (they should have gone with this one)
AUDIO
COMMENTARY
TRAILER
KITTY CONSENSUS:
NOT BAD...LIKE CAT CHOW
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