{"id":6585,"date":"2024-10-25T10:59:19","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T14:59:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=6585"},"modified":"2024-10-25T10:59:19","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T14:59:19","slug":"leatherface-the-texas-chainsaw-massacre-iii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/10\/25\/leatherface-the-texas-chainsaw-massacre-iii\/","title":{"rendered":"Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III<\/strong> (1990)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New Line\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 86 minutes (Unrated Version)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No MPAA Rating (graphic bloody violence and gore, disturbing images, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Jeff Burr\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: David J. Schow\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Jim Manzie and Pat Regan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: James L. Carter\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 12, 1990 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Kate Hodge, Ken Foree, William Butler, Viggo Mortensen, Toni Hudson, Joe Unger, Tom Everett, R.A. Mihailoff, Jennifer Banko, Miriam Byrd-Nethery, Duane Whitaker.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $5.7M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0The only distinguishing aspect of Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III<\/strong> for me is that it\u2019s the first installment of the franchise I saw at the movies. I saw it opening weekend on a Sunday afternoon on a double bill with (of all things) Ski Patrol. It\u2019s unusual for two brand new movies to show on a double feature on their opening weekend. It doesn\u2019t say anything good about the quality of the films. There\u2019s nothing particularly striking about either movie other than the fact that they\u2019re both very mediocre. What I found amusing was the father who brought his young children to see the PG-rated Ski Patrol. I had to wonder whether or not they would stay for the second feature. For the record, they didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I was looking forward to seeing Leatherface<\/strong>, a movie that was supposed to have been released the previous November, but ran into the usual problems with the MPAA. They slapped an X rating on the movie which, as we all know, spells box office poison. The studio cut the more graphic scenes and it hit theaters two months later with an R rating and an 81-minute running time. I think the studio should have retained the gory footage and released their movie with a \u201cNo One Under 17 Admitted\u201d policy like its immediate predecessor, but nobody in the studio system ever asks my opinion on these things.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Anyway, New Line unleashed the unrated version on DVD in 2003. The additional scenes don\u2019t really make the movie itself any better. Leatherface<\/strong> is an okay movie, but there really isn\u2019t anything truly memorable about it. It\u2019s a very routine slasher flick with a few dashes of weirdness, but we\u2019ve seen it all before. It\u2019s closer in spirit to the claustrophobic 1974 original than the OTT 1986 sequel.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The movie opens with a scene of Leatherface (Mihailoff) practicing his unusual trade on a young woman while her sister Sara (Hudson, School Spirit) watches from a nearby window. This scene is important because Leatherface makes himself a new skin mask from her face. We then jump right into the main \u201cstory\u201d of Leatherface<\/strong>, a term I use loosely since there\u2019s not really much of a story here.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Two young people, Michelle (Hodge, Rapid Fire) and Ryan (Butler, Friday the 13th<\/sup> Part VII: The New Blood), driving across Texas find themselves at the creepy rundown Last Chance Station where hitchhiking cowboy Tex (Mortensen, the Lord of the Rings trilogy) shows them a route that will take them to an actual town. The station owner Alfredo (Everett, Best of the Best) is a creepy pervert who spies on Michelle when she uses the ladies room. The couple flees during an altercation between Tex and Alfredo. \u00a0They take the route recommended by the stranger. Naturally, they end up lost in the middle of nowhere (at night, of course) and face-to-face with the hulking Leatherface.<\/p>\n

\u00a0They also meet up with a survivalist named Benny (Foree, Dawn of the Dead) who tries to help them get away from the chainsaw-wielding psychopath. There\u2019s also a tow truck driver named Tinker (Unger, Road House) who doesn\u2019t exactly provide courteous roadside service. Eventually, Ryan gets captured (in a bear trap) and Michelle finds a house where she can ask for help. Okay, what does she NOT understand about a situation like this? She\u2019s not likely to receive any assistance from the occupants of that house. Take a wild guess who lives there? If you said the Sawyer family, you\u2019d be 200% correct! Yes, apparently there are a few more nuts on this family tree.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Remember when I talked about certain rules applying to this situation in my review of the first movie? Remember what I said about everybody being related to each other in a remote area like this? This time around, Leatherface is under the control of three brothers and an elderly mother (Byrd-Nethery). There\u2019s also a little girl (Banko) living in the house.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Eventually, Leatherface<\/strong> becomes a rehash of the first movie with Michelle becoming the guest of honor\/main course at the family dinner. The only stand-out aspect of this installment is that Leatherface wields a golden chainsaw with \u201cThe Saw is Family\u201d engraved on the blade.<\/p>\n

\u00a0To be honest, I didn\u2019t even remember the golden chainsaw until I rewatched this movie last week. What I do remember is the trailer for Leatherface<\/strong>. It played like a homage to Excalibur with Leatherface receiving a chainsaw from a hand in a lake. I wish the whole movie had been that clever. No, what we have here is a horror movie that\u2019s a little bit weird, but mostly formulaic and unmemorable. It\u2019s one of Viggo Mortensen\u2019s first roles. He shows just a little bit of early promise, but it\u2019s still early in his career. Who would have guessed that he\u2019d go on to star in one of the greatest sci-fi\/fantasy epics of all time? Young Banko makes a pretty good evil child and Foree is always fun to have around.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Leatherface<\/strong> is a relatively weak horror movie, but I can\u2019t find it within myself to criticize it too harshly. I feel the same way about this movie as I do about certain entries in the Friday the 13th<\/sup> and Freddy Krueger franchises. It may not be the best installment, but it features a well-known and loved mad slasher, so it can\u2019t be all that bad. Okay, that\u2019s not entirely true, look at Friday the 13th<\/sup> Part VIII and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. Better yet, don\u2019t look at those, they both suck! Leatherface<\/strong> doesn\u2019t actually suck, but it does leave something to be desired, namely copious amounts of gore! If a movie has the word \u201cchainsaw\u201d in the title, I want the filmmakers to follow through on that tacit promise of a total bloodbath. It\u2019s another case where the final product fails to live up to its fullest potential. Still, it makes for a reasonably entertaining horror movie if you watch it on a double bill with something. Might I suggest Ski Patrol?\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New Line\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 86 minutes (Unrated Version)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No MPAA Rating (graphic bloody violence and gore, disturbing images, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Jeff Burr\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: David J. Schow\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Jim Manzie and Pat Regan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: James L. Carter\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 12, 1990 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Kate Hodge, Ken Foree, William Butler, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7154,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-horror","category-sequels-remakes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Leatherface-The-Texas-Chain.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6585"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7156,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6585\/revisions\/7156"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}