Leatherface: Blu-Ray Review
Arriving this week on Blu-ray is “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” prequel, “Leatherface” which gives us a new origin story to the iconic horror figure. Yes, were given a different origin story back in 2006 with “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning”. Most horror fans would like to forget that installment even exists, myself included. So how does this new version compare? Well, it is an improvement but that doesn’t mean it’s all that great either.
“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” franchise has definitely varied in quality from each installment, but different people have different favorites. Most will agree that nothing beats the original, but I am a big fan of the campy sequel released by Cannon in 1986. I also enjoyed the first remake and had some fun with “Texas Chainsaw 3D”. “Leatherface” is a mixed bag. Directors Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo get quite a bit of the film right. The tone, much of the cast. You can put Lili Taylor and Stephen Dorff in almost any genre film and it will add something. They also bring on the gore and it’s glorious. My main gripe with “Leatherface” is the unnecessary twist about the identity of the future horror icon which to me was a total eye-roller.
“Leatherface” is somewhere in the middle when it comes to comparing it to the other films in the franchise. It’s not as good as the first two films, but it’s much better than “The Next Generation” and “The Beginning”. I even liked it more than the 3rd film which was also called “Leatherface”. If you are a fan of the series, I am sure there is enough here to make you want to include it in your collection.
Special Features:
- Behind the Mask: the Making of LEATHERFACE
- Six deleted scenes
- Play feature with alternate ending –Lionsgate
By: Marc Ferman