Somehow, this little prequel to the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre slipped past me when it came out. I vaguely remember hearing about it but I also remember shrugging because I didn’t care much. I’m not big on prequels. They can be good, no doubt, and I’ve seen many decent ones, but mostly they don’t prick my interest. When I belatedly found out this was made by the directors (Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury) of the French horror classic Inside, I began to question my horror cred. How had I utterly missed this? In any case, I bought it and finally watched it.
The Sawyer clan, in olden times, was run hard by the matriarch Verna (Lili Taylor!) who demanded loyalty to the family. She tries to train young boy Jed (later known as Jackson and played by Sam Strike) in their murderous ways, giving him a chainsaw to kill a bound interloper. When young Jed fails to do as he’s told, old Grandpa steps in and does his one lick with a hammer thing and kills the man dead. A disappointment, Jed/Jackson works to please Verna. Eventually he gets caught and shipped off to an institution where he grows up some (now known as Jackson), sealed off from Verna and his family. A wild jailbreak ensues and a group of teen delinquents take to the road, kidnapping a young nurse for insurance. The crew is led by an out of control guy who ends up shooting some folks and things get hairy. The police (lead by old Sawyer nemesis Sheriff Hartman played by Stephen Dorff) start pursuit, yada, yada, yada, and Verna finds out her boy is involved. They all meet up and Jackson gets his face sliced all to hell. In the end, he’s given the choice: take up the chainsaw and join his family again, or forever be ostracized from the entire world. The answer, as you already know, is that The Saw is Family.
So, yeah. This reminded me a lot of the Hills Have Eyes remake. It’s a good, solid film, but like that one, it feels like it’s trying too hard to be impressive. They directors are obviously fans and they bring their love of the property to the film, but everything fell a bit flat to me. There is a ton of gore in this, and my-oh-my is it so very pleasing. Blood is gushing everywhere. Dismemberment, cutting, slicing, terrorized screaming, this one has it all. I’d say in tone and spirit it falls in line with Part 2 with the gore and Part 3 with the story/quality of interest. It’s good, don’t get me wrong, but it doesn’t touch the first two films. All in all, I’d say I’d rank it sixth in line, after the first four and that sequel a couple years before this one. It’s definitely better than the remake and its sequel/prequel (yes, it’s confusing).
Leatherface is a decent little movie and if you’re a fan of the Chainsaw franchise you won’t be let down. While it certainly doesn’t knock it out of the park, there’s a ton of gore and plenty of eye candy to keep things moving along. It’s a fun little movie but ultimately inconsequential. I’m glad they made it, though, because there’s more than enough to warrant its existence.
Two and a Half Stars out of Four