Movie: Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III
Synopsis:
A California couple and a survivalist encounter Leatherface and his family.
Release Date: January 12, 1990
MPAA Rating: R
Writer: David J. Schow
Director: Jeff Burr
Star Cast:
Kate Hodge
William Butler
Ken Foree
Tom Hudson
Viggo Mortensen
Joe Unger
R.A. Mihailoff
As you all know I am a huge Texas Chainsaw Massacre fan but I got to be honest this one never captured me. I’ve watched the original and the second one over and over again but realized I never cared for this one when my wife told me she had never seen it before. So, what you have in this one is a couple who is having marital issues driving cross country from California to Florida. Of course as they go through Texas here comes the cannibal Sawyer family. They stop at a gas station called Last Chance where they meet Tex (Viggo Mortensen) and Alfredo (Tom Everett). Tex tells Ryan (William Butler) to take a different road because it will be “faster” and “safer”. If you follow Texas Chainsaw Massacre or horror movies in general then you know that it is going to be the total opposite. When Alfredo and Tex pretend to get into a heated argument the cat and mouse chase is on.
I met the little girl (Jennifer Banko) and Leatherface (R.A. Mihailoff) at The Cult Classic Convention in Bastrop and they are two awesome people. That is one of the first best things about this movie is the actors do a great job at filling in their role. A lot of the main characters have had great acting careers up to this point. For instance Viggo Mortensen is in Lord of the Rings and Ken Foree played in the tv show Kenan and Kel. The second thing I like about this movie is the chainsaw Leatherface receives as a gift. It is all chromed out with “The Saw is Family” engraved in the blade. If you don’t watch the movie at least go look up the chainsaw it is amazing. The third thing I like about this movie is Leatherface’s daughter. It is really weird to think that Leatherface has a child but she is an awesome addition to the movie. She gives the movie something we haven’t seen yet in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise and she is stone cold just like her dad. Those three things are what stood out to me the most and kept me engaged with the movie. But of course there are some bad things as well.
They introduced some new faces in this movie but when Alfredo came out acting exactly like the hitchhiker it didn’t feel like it was paying homage to the original but copying. Don’t get me wrong Alfredo is funny in some parts but can be annoying for most of the movie. Secondly, the kill scenes were destroyed by the MPAA. The first movie didn’t have a bunch of blood and guts but they really didn’t tease you with gory kills. This movie goes to show you an awesome kill and then the camera cuts away. Now I’ve heard that they had to cut a bunch of it out to meet the R rating and I’m not totally mad at the creators but it’s so disappointing. Last but not least this movie was shot in California. It is called The TEXAS Chainsaw Massacre and there is plenty of awesome places to film in Texas!
Aside from the MPAA destroying the kill scenes in this movie it is still a fun slasher movie to watch. I would have liked to see the original family come back but this family is pretty fun to watch. I’m going to give Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III a 3 out of 5 stars. Go check it out and enjoy the awesome heavy metal soundtrack throughout the movie!
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