#245. Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 (1990)

Directed By: Jeff Burr

Starring: Kate Hodge, Ken Foree, Viggo Mortensen, R.A. Millhailoff




Tag line: "The Saw is Family"

Trivia:  As of 201,, this was the only entry in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise that was not filmed in Texas







In the opening scene of Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3, we witness the bludgeoning of a young girl by Leatherface (played by R.A. Mihailoff), then watch as he meticulously constructs a new “flesh mask” from her remains. 

It's a disturbing opening, but also one that marks a step in the right direction for the Texas Chainsaw franchise; after the comedic bent of Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Leatherface puts the series back on the grisly path laid out by Tobe Hooper and his crew over 15 years earlier. 

College students Ryan (William Butler) and Michelle (Kate Hodge) are driving cross-country from California to Florida. While traveling through Texas, they are diverted by the State Police (who are investigating a recently discovered mass grave) and end up at a small roadside gas station. 

What they don't realize is that the station is owned by Alfredo (Tom Everett), a member of the cannibalistic Sawyer family that's wanted for a string of murders they've committed throughout the State. Hoping to find a quick route out of Texas, the two instead end up as the Sawyer's prisoners, and at the mercy of the demented Leatherface!

The “mad and macabre” feeling of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is alive and well in Leatherface; in an early scene, we watch as a pair of police officers are pulling body parts from a swampy mass grave, estimated to hold the remains of as many as 40 people. The apprehension and dread that builds in this scene alone carries throughout the entire film. 

The 'new' Sawyer family (only Leatherface, played well by Mihailoff, and Grandpa, now a lifeless corpse, return) is a colorful bunch of characters. Viggo Mortensen is “Tex” Sawyer, a seemingly quiet guy whose true nature eventually makes its way to the surface. This was an early role for Mortensen, who would go on to super-stardom in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, and he is excellent in the part. 

Tinker (Joe Unger) is the head of the Sawyer clan, yet he doesn't really have any authority (in one memorable scene, he tries to “discipline” Leatherface, only to have his hand nearly burned off). This particular branch of the Sawyers also boasts a little more diversity than in the previous films: though confined to a wheelchair, Mama Sawyer (Miriam Byrd-Nethary) is not someone you want to cross, and even young Jennifer Banko, who is supposedly playing Leatherface's daughter, gets in on the “fun” by stabbing Michelle in the leg with a knife (one she keeps hidden in a skeletal “doll”).

Yet while the Sawyers may believe they're in control, their supposed “victims” are anything but meek. Horror icon Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead) makes an appearance as Benny, a survivalist who ends up stranded in Sawyer territory. Armed with an automatic rifle and a strong desire to survive, Benny proves a formidable foe for the Sawyers. Even Michelle, the film's leading lady played by Kate Hodge, isn't your run-of-the-mill victim; when she finally does escape, instead of just running off, she goes after Leatherface, leading to a dramatic showdown in the swamp.

With strong characters on both sides of the fence, and a definite return to the grim and gruesome ways of the classic original, Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 is every bit the film that I hoped Part 2 was going to be.

#240. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)

Directed By: Tobe Hooper

Starring: Dennis Hopper, Caroline Williams, Jim Siedow, Bill Moseley




Tag line: "After a decade of silence...The Bizzz is Back!"

Trivia:Jim Siedow is the only actor in this movie that was in the original.

Thirteen years after making horror history with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, director Tobe Hooper returned to the Lone Star State to continue his tale of mayhem and murder. But where the original film chilled me to the bone, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 just left me cold.

Hoping to avenge the death of his nephew, Franklin, and the brutal beating of his niece, Sally, Texas Ranger “Lefty” Enright (Dennis Hopper) has spent the better part of 13 years tracking the cannibalistic Sawyer family: Cook (Jim Siedow), Chop Top (Bill Moseley), and Bubba, also known as Leatherface (Bill Johnson). With the trail cold, Enright catches a break when local DJ Vanita Brock (Caroline Williams) receives a disturbing call from two high school students who are being chased by a mysterious pick-up truck. Having caught the entire event on tape (including what sounded like the murder of the 2 teens), Brock takes the recording to Enright, who asks her to play it on the air. Could this turn of events lead to the showdown that Enright has been waiting for?

Not all of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is bad. I liked seeing Jim Siedow reprise his role as the Cook (when we get our first glimpse of him, he's accepting the top prize at a chili cook-off, declaring to the crowd as he spills chili all over his polyester suit that “the secret is in the meat”). and being a Bill Moseley fan, it was nice to see him added to the cast (though, if you're familiar with the original, the very presence of his character defies logic). There's also a very good scene that takes place in a radio station, with an effective “jump scare” thrown in for good measure.   Unfortunately, this is where the positives end.

Dennis Hopper is an actor I always enjoy watching, but in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, his character is pointless.  In one puzzling scene, his "Lefty", bent on revenge, enters a hardware store and purchases 3 chainsaws, which he then takes outside to test, flailing them around like a crazy man.  Meant to show how unhinged his character had become, this sequence only manages to bring the entire movie to a grinding halt. Caroline Williams, who takes on the "Damsel in Distress" role, fares a little better than Hopper, but only slightly, and watching Bill Johnson as Leatherface had me longing for Gunner Hanson to return to the role. It's not that Johnson was bad, per se, but his Leatherface was a bit too emotive, a far cry from the “controlled chaos” that Hanson brought to the part. As for the story, I admit I had high hopes once the setting switched to the abandoned amusement park, but the 40-some minutes spent there could have easily been cut in half, with nothing of substance lost. The final nail in the coffin was when the film attempted to repeat history by staging yet another 'dinner sequence', where it appears the only acting instructions that poor Caroline Williams received was to copy Marilyn Burns' screaming fit from the original film.

Where I will always hold The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in the highest regard, it's sequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, will forever be my 'go-to' film when I argue the point that, occasionally, sequels are a complete waste of time.

#43. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

DVD Synopsis: It has been called "grisly," "sick," and "perverse," as well as "raw," "unshakeable," and "the movie that redefined horror." It was attacked by churches, banned by governments, and acclaimed by only the bravest of critics. It stunned audiences worldwide and set a new standard in movie terror forever. In 1974, writer-producer-director Tobe Hooper unleashed this dark, visionary tale about a group of five young friends who face a nightmare of torment at the hands of a depraved Texas clan. Today it remains unequaled as a landmark of outlaw filmmaking and unparalleled in its impact as perhaps the most frightening motion picture ever made.









Directed in 1974 by Tobe Hooper, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is, hands down, my all-time favorite horror film.

When a cemetery in rural Texas is desecrated by grave robbers, Sally (Marilyn Burns) and her wheelchair-bound brother Franklin (Paul A. Partain) - along with their three friends Jerry (Allan Danziger), Kirk (William Vail) and Pam (Terry McMinn) - drive down there to check on the grave of their grandfather.

From there, things get downright crazy.

After picking up a deranged hitchhiker (Edwin Neal) and making a brief stop at a gas station run by a strange BBQ chef (Jim Siedow), the group visits the abandoned home that once belonged to Sally and Franklin’s grandfather.

When Kirk, Pam, and Jerry disappear without a trace into the woods surrounding this house, Sally and Franklin set out to find them, only to come face-to-face with a chainsaw-wielding maniac (Gunnar Hansen).

A film that is impossible to predict, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre does, by way of it's opening images, provide a glimpse of the insanity to follow: portions of a mangled corpse, recently exhumed by a madman, are illuminated (albeit briefly) by the flash from a Polaroid camera.

This opening is both grisly and bizarre, yet it opens the door just a crack, providing the tiniest inkling of what’s to come.

And what does follow is chaos of the highest order.

That’s why I love The Texas Chain Saw Massacre; it pushes the envelope continuously, taking us on a wild, freaked-out ride that gets wilder and freakier with each passing moment, culminating in a ‘dinner party’ finale that is absolute, bat-shit insanity.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre has quite a bit in common with another low-budget horror flick made a few years earlier; George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. Both were produced independently, cost less than $150,000 to make, and featured a cast of unknowns. In addition, both were hugely successful, grossing more than $50 million worldwide at the box office. More than this, though, Night of the Living Dead and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre were trend-setting motion pictures, and would change the face of horror for many years to come.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a masterpiece of the macabre, and I love it a little more each time I see it.