DVD Review: Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III

LEATHERFACE: TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE III
1990
Rated R
"There's roadkill all over Texas."

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre isn't my favorite movie, but it's one of the few I consider to be perfect. The movie's scope and execution is so pure that I can't help standing in awe every time I watch it, so much so that just writing about it here makes me want to go watch it again. That being the case, I had it in mind to review all four of the original Texas Chainsaw movies during 31 Days Of Fright. Sadly, being a family man and having a full time job, I just couldn't find the time to pull off a six hour marathon of screams, saws, cannibalism, and cross-dressing, and for some strange reason my wife didn't think it would make a good family movie-night event. Go figure.

Still, I hadn't yet seen the third installment in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre "series" - I put it in quotation marks because, for the life of me, I can't seem to find the logical chain of events that connects the third and fourth films to the first two - and I had shelled out four hard-earned dollars to buy it, so I decided to give it its own review, shorn of prequels and sequels. Considering its position within a "series," this might not be appropriate, but watching it as a standalone movie might actually have put it in the best possible light.

Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III - despite the claims of its theatrical trailer - isn't where the real terror begins. That's not to say it isn't scary. The movie definitely has its share of chills and jumps, but few movies can compare to the sheer horror of the first film. I'm sorry to have to say it, but this movie is not among them.

If the filmmakers had just called the movie Leatherface, and left off the subtitle, I would have said that this was the first (and least) remake of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. The plot is basically the same, though there are decidedly fewer victims lined up at the get-go, and the film adds nothing - apart from a rather flashy new chainsaw - to the mythology of Leatherface and his twisted family. I'm not saying it's a bad movie, but it's a step backwards. Though decidedly nowhere near as good as the first, at least The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 had the virtue of going to new places and trying new things. This one is basically just more of the same, only not as well done.

It was neat to see Viggo Mortensen (The Lord of the Rings) as the sadistic ladies man "Tex," and Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead) in the stereotype-shattering role of a gun-wielding survivalist. Sadly, Ken's is the only character here who manages to dodge the stereotype bullet. I won't spoil the ending (though, if you watch it on DVD, the menu spoils it for you), but despite the "Don't mess with Texas" slogans that bookend the movie, it seems like this is exactly what the filmmakers were trying to do. As I ejected the disc, I couldn't help feeling that the writer and/or the director were taking great pains to lump an entire state in with Leatherface and his creepy relatives; as if all of Texas was one big, inbred family working to cover up a great cannibalistic conspiracy. Much like a kiss from Leatherface, it left a bad taste in my mouth.

In the end, I didn't dislike the movie. I just felt that it seemed like a very thinly veiled attack on an entire state, and that it didn't hold up very well as a successor to the Texas Chainsaw dynasty. Taken on its own, it's okay, but if you're looking for some real scares, go back to the original. The saw may be family, but this member of the family is showing some recessive traits.



6/10

-GABE

Theatrical Trailer:

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