Leatherface Review (2017) Worth Watching?

It's about a group of psycho kids who escape from a mental hospital, one of whom will go on to become the notorious chainsaw wielding Leatherface.

Leatherface was directed by Alexandre Bustillo (who also directed Among The Living) and Julien Maury (who also directed Livid and Inside); and stars Stephen Dorff (from Botched, Jackals), Lili Taylor (from Eli, The Conjuring) and Sam Strike (from Monster Party).

The Origin Story of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Leatherface is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre part 8 and the 2nd origin story of Leatherface, the first being Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning . This movie starts in 1955 but the bulk of it is set in 1965. The Beginning starts in 1939 with the bulk set in 1969. So I guess that would make this a pre-prequel.

According to this timeline, Leatherface's mom gives birth to him unexpectedly while working at the slaughterhouse and tosses him in the trash out back. A haggard women dumpster diving finds him and takes him home to her seriously deranged household. This should put Leatherface at around 30 years old in The Beginning. This means he should have been 24 years old in this movie, but he looks 15-16 tops. So there's an obvious age discrepancy here. No biggie though since the age discrepancies in Texas Chainsaw 3D were downright obnoxious. So in comparison it's not so bad.

Overall, I really like Leatherface. It sports a similar style to the 2003 Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, but not nearly as cliche or predictable. It also shares the same gritty grungy style as The Beginning, but with even more crazy gore. There were a couple of scenes that were off the charts bloody that even I found a bit shocking, and rewind-worthy!

This was a strong finale to a long franchise spanning over 30 years. The characters were fun, the story was interesting, the atmosphere was thick and the gore was in your face. I honestly hope they retire this franchise now, it started strong and ended strong. Now with that being said, it's far from the best movie in the franchise, part of what makes it so good is its comparison to the many other duds in the series. But hey, it's all you can hope for from a part 8 of any horror franchise.

Worth Watching?

Definitely. Even if you haven't seen any other Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies, this one stands on its own as a fun horror flick. You don't even have to know who Leatherface is to enjoy this one.