Leatherface - The Source of Evil

I've seen complaints that this film contributes very little to the origins of Leatherface, which is true. However if you go into this without that expectation you have a very solid slasher flick, which is surprisingly well shot might I add. A fun movie intended for lovers of the genre.

Leatherface (2017)

** (out of 4)

This origin film tells how a redneck from Texas would turn into the maniac known as Leatherface. We start off seeing him being put into a mental hospital where ten years later he escapes. He was thrown into the hospital and eventually chased by the cop Hal Hartman (Stephen Dorff) and soon bodies begin to pile up.

LEATHERFACE was directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, the duo that were behind the incredibly gory and controversial INSIDE. Reviews of this film have been rather mixed and I must say that I'm somewhere in the middle because a lot of people have enjoyed how different it is while others are screaming bloody murder due to its story and structure. If you're looking for gore it's certainly about as bloody as you're going to get from a mainstream picture but there are many issues here as well.

I think the biggest problem I had with the film is that it just didn't feel like a Texas CHAINSAW movie. I say that because it starts off like ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST and then we get some sort of strange NATURAL BORN KILLERS type of road picture. I know this is a origin story but lets be honest for a moment. These type of films rarely work and to me this one just doesn't cut it. I think the biggest issue is the story itself because it's just not all that fascinating seeing the future Leatherface in a mental hospital and it's even less interesting seeing him in a road picture.

Making the character a supporting one was a major mistake for a number of reasons including the fact that out of the five people on the run he's the least interesting. He's also not as interesting as the cop or his own mother (Lili Taylor) so you've got the title character falling to around seventh place in his own movie! As I said, if you're wanting violence and gore then there's plenty of that here but, again, I'm sure many fans of the original film are going to be disappointed because this stuff wasn't in the original Tobe Hooper movie. So, again, why even do a origin movie?

I personally thought the violence and gore was great but I can see why some are turned off by it. I also thought the performances were good for the most part and this is especially true of Dorff and Taylor. It was great seeing them in a movie like this and I thought they both delivered. Technically speaking the film is well-made, features some very good cinematography and the score was nice as well.

LEATHERFACE isn't a complete disaster like THE RETURN OF THE Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE but I'd say it's the next worst of the series.

In 1955 Sheriff Hartman (Stephen Dorff) is called to the scene of his daughter, Betty's, death. The Sawyer children are at the crime scene (and not for the first time as they've been present at other deaths) and while he can't charge any of them he gets revenge on the Sawyer matriarch, Verna (Lili Taylor), by taking custody of her son, Jedidiah, away under Child Endangerment. 10 years later Jedidiah has been given a new name and has been integrated into the system at mental hospital Gorman House Youth Reformery. When Verna unsuccessfully tries to contact her son, she instigates a riot by opening several facility doors. A group of four inmates consisting of hulking mute Bud (Sam Coleman), violent psychopath Ike (James Bloor) and his equally violent girlfriend Clarice (Jessica Madsen), and Bud's subdued relatively level headed friend Jackson (Sam Strike) escape with Ike taking nurse Elizabeth White (Vanessa Grasse) hostage. Learning of the escapees and that one of them is Jedidiah Sawyer, Sheriff Hartman pursues the group intent on bringing them down rather than bringing them in.

Following the relative success of Texas Chainsaw 3D, Lionsgate and millennium opted to move forward on another installment tentatively titled Texas Chainsaw 4. Following a proposed follow-up to be filmed by Texas Chainsaw 3D director John Luessenhop being scrapped, the producers instead opted for a prequel pitch by Seth M. Sherwood described as a road thriller akin to Terrence Malik's Badlands but with gore. French New Extremity directors Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo who had made a name for themselves with their films such as Inside, Livid, and Among the Living that like other members of the (Alexandre Aja, Xavier Gens, etc.) were noted for their brutal intensity and violence. Leatherface is technically speaking a better film than Texas Chainsaw 3D, and it does well capturing the period with Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo evoking an almost neo-western vibe from the film, but it's also an exercise in redundancy as much like other prequels we know exactly where it's going and the characters and story aren't engaging enough to make us forget that.

The movie does have good elements to it. The cinematography is well done and convinces us the Bulgarian filming locations are in fact 1960s East Texas and unlike the Platinum Dunes films I actually felt like Leatherface took place in a different decade. Stephen Dorff is really good as antagonist Sheriff Hartman who plays the hellbent lawman archetype with seething intensity and hatred for the Sawyer family, in many ways it's reminiscent of Dennis Hopper's Lefty from Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 except played straight but still good. I also liked Lili Taylor as Sawyer matriarch Verna Sawyer-Carson who conveys this almost Betty Crockerish image that barely contains the intense violence and hatred beneath the surface.

Unfortunately the principal cast whom we spend the most time with are the least interesting. Bud, Ike, Clarice, Jackson, and Elizabeth aren't all that interesting and it feels like we're focusing on the wrong people story wise. Stephen Dorff is arguably the driving force behind the story as he's Hellbent on taking down this group because he knows his daughter is dead because of them, and while his character does engage in shady or brutal acts, he's not more evil than the group we're following who we see kill without hesitation or remorse. The story isn't unworkable and all the pieces are in place, btu the movie wants us to sympathize with the group of escaped psychopaths rather than be scared by them and it just leaves the movie lacking in much of anchor point for investment. This probably explains why certain actions the hostage character Elizabeth does seem so outright perplexing because there are several opportunities where she can make a run for safety from the unstable group but just doesn't and the relationship between her and Jackson isn't strong enough to buy give credibility to her uncertainty as to whether or not she should leave. Eventually the movie leads right back to where we knew it started and because it played with the uncertainty of who is Leatherface the character's descent feels like it's on fast forward when it should've been a slow rot.

Leatherface is just kind of "meh" it's not unique enough like Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, it's not bad enough to be funny like Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Next Generation or Texas Chainsaw 3D, and instead is content to settle for competent mediocrity. It has some good performances and a nice look, but it's in service of a movie that's just "there".

Went in with low expectations, and got what was expected. Gore, action and a somewhat alright climax? I love the franchise so much, especially the very first 2. The remake and prequel were excellent too, and I'm glad they didnt continue the storyline after texas chainsaw 3D. They nailed it with the practical effects and the deaths scenes. Satisfying for a gore lover, after all these toned down sequels in general lately. All 3 main characters go from one dimensional to "I'm gonna do whatever it takes to escape" and actually become.. smart? Wait... there are smart characters in a slasher?!! Yup, but the problem is once half of these characters are developed, they're either instantly killed off or vanish rate off the radar. The movie itself feels like it doesn't know what it wants to be. For a fan, you'll be satisfied with the deaths and action it had but you might be disappointed with the choice of pacing and direction. But there's one scene that just bothers me... you'll find out when you see it.

This movie in itself is not exactly bad. It looks alright, has some OK gore, decent acting for the most part, some slightly interesting characters. It doesn't suck. But as a origin story to one of horror's biggest icons? Eeeh, yeah. It's not great.

Actually, right off the bat the biggest problem with this movie strikes me. When you're making an origin story to such a famous character, you should make sure that the story you make up and make into a movie is really awesome. Unfortunately, it's not. We see Leatherface's family and stuff, and it's just meh. The opening scene is just not very interesting. What follows though, isn't bad. They have some kind of story to tell here, not relying too much on TCM- lore, and I thought it was somewhat entertaining.

You wouldn't have to cut a lot here to make this movie totally unrecognizable as a Leaterface origin-story, though. That's a shame. And it's also pretty tame, I'm sorry to say. Actually really tame. Like I said initially, the origin story to such a gruesome character should really be a lot more horrific, gruesome and ghastly. It's not. It's pretty watered down. I think the die hard fans of Leatherface will be disappointed with this. But who knows, I may be wrong.