लेदरफेस

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.

Prequel to the legendary Texas Chainsaw Massacre, this is as much a violent road movie as it is a horror. I heard many negative things about the film beforehand but as always I watched it with an open mind. On the negative side I found this film to be somewhat unconvincing and unnecessary. Obviously it was made to make money but it really does not add anything worthy to the TCM series. On the plus side it was technically pretty good, having seen a few of the director' previous films it lived up to expectations. Acting and pace is good plus there is a lot of blood & violence to satisfy most gorehounds. I would certainly watch it again.

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.

When the directors of 2007's gore-spectacle 'Inside' (Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury) took over the reins of a supposed prequel to 1974's Tobe Hooper classic 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre', expectations had indeed sky-rocketed. But what we get isn't even worthy of being called a tribute to the TCM franchise, let alone be regarded as its worthy canon prequel.

The screenplay offers very little in terms of the surprises it throws at the viewers (and TCM fans), thereby ending up strictly ho-hum. We see a bunch of eccentrics creating a riot at a mental health facility and escaping, with tidbits of the Sawyer family thrown in to engage the viewer. In fact, the makers are trying to sell this movie around the mystery of which character amongst the the leads ultimately evolves into 'Leatherface'. Well, much to our dismay, even this stretch appears annoyingly contrived (and to be honest, the poster kinda spoils it already!).

What we're subjected to for most part, is literally a lunatic couple shotgun-killing their way to notoriety on their supposed escape (even the big chainsaw-kill comes in too late) with a helpless nurse named Lizzy (Vanessa Grasse) who has unnecessarily been dragged along with them while also being accompanied by a duo of brothers (the somewhat compassionate Jackson and the bulky Bud). Lizzy is the character we're supposed to root for, but sadly this does not work. We know as little about her as we know about the rest of the zany troupe.

The directors who're known to stage horrifically-exciting set- pieces, resort to cheap tricks here (like a partial necro scene) in order to augment the shock-value. The shot of a woman's derriere walking into a barn surrounded by badlands (during one of the opening segments, clearly reminding us of previous TCM films including the Michael Bay funded remake) had just about raised my hopes a teeny weeny bit before everything came crashing down.

With no real thunderbolts in store for fans or non-fans, this prequel falls head first into a pit of quick-sand, the real difference-maker in the story being the weapons (shotguns, knives) that the characters possess and not their personalities. You're bound to forget this movie as soon as the credits roll.

Verdict: Terrible!

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.