By the time that Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III hit theaters, this film franchise had gone through THREE different distributors. This time around, New Line Cinema acquired the rights in hopes that they could assure the public that we would see a return to the deadly serious and terrifying nature of the bad boy that started it all back in 1974. Side note: can you believe that for a short period of time, New Line owned Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, AND The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Had they managed to obtain Halloween they would've arguably had a monopoly in the realm of slasher pictures. Back to the subject at hand though. Due to the very mixed reception for its predecessor, Leatherface seemingly ignores the second film and everything that happened afterwards. Instead, the opening crawl tells us that the character of Leatherface has been on the run since the horrific killings back in the 1970s and that our final girl from the first film died in a health care facility (boo). The plot revolves around a young couple who find themselves being stalked and terrorized by the titular villain and his new family of crazies. I would say that there are deeper and more fascinating plot elements that are being left out in my review, but that would be a lie. It's kind of standard stuff, though not without some charm.
The very first thing you're likely to notice is the presence of a young Viggo Mortensen as "Tex", one of the newest members of the Sawyer clan. The handsome youngster is seemingly the most "normal" of everyone in this crew of antagonists, but he is the furthest thing from sympathetic. Hell at this point in the series, the most sympathetic villain we've been witnesses to is TCM2's iteration of Leatherface, and he was still killing people and peeling their skin off of their faces. Mortensen and his costars are perfectly adequate in their roles, but personality-wise there isn't anything wholly memorable about them. True his brother "Tink" sports a prosthesis for a hand and there's a little girl who is implied to be the product of a rape that involved Leatherface (ugh), but I'd be lying if I said that I didn't miss the zaniness of someone like Chop Top or even Drayton Sawyer. On the opposite side of the spectrum, I did enjoy Kate Hodge's performance as Michelle (a.k.a. TCM3's final girl). While she lacks the spunkiness of the previous flick's protagonist, she still comes across as a bit of a bad ass during the final twenty minutes or so. It all pales in comparison though to the excellence that is the character of Benny (played here by genre great Ken Foree). The Dawn of the Dead veteran is always a joy to watch, and I'm sure that he was glad to know that he wouldn't end up as mincemeat within the first act.
Outside of the performers, however, is where my legitimate complaints about Leatherface: TCM3 begin. For starters, I just didn't find it to be particularly scary. The first Texas Chainsaw Massacre might seem ancient for a lot of modern audiences, but its power and entire vibe is something that is incredibly difficult to recreate. I'm not certain that I would be content with this franchise just going further and further off the rails ala a series like Child's Play, but the entire aesthetic of TCM3 just feels so very off and I can't quite explain why. Perhaps it was due to discovering that most of it was shot in California (and you can tell) or perhaps it was discovering that this movie went through absolute hell trying to get an acceptable cut released to cinemas. Then again, I can still enjoy a film no matter how sloppy or torn apart the finished product may be (Exorcist III). I also don't feel as if this picture added much to the entire mythos or TCM universe in terms of useful information or character development. Most of it feels wholly unnecessary, and although one of the coolest revelations comes in the form of a striking golden chainsaw with "The Saw is Family" engraved on it, it doesn't get much use and comes from a phrase uttered in Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. Which doesn't exist now according to this film.
Ah fuck it.
Perhaps I'll track down the "unrated" cut of Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III at some point in the future. But for now? I just don't think it makes for a worthy watch. Yes the kills are decent, the acting isn't too shabby, and it does have a pretty swell list of thrash metal bands on the soundtrack (Laaz Rockit and Death Angel!), but you shouldn't be a hurry to track this one down unless you're a diehard fan. If you've got the cash to spend, then you can track down the film fairly easily on DVD and Blu-Ray.
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