Review: Leatherface

(imdb.com)

Family drama is a treasure trove of material. So many movies feature it in some form; financial issues, relationships and lies and deceit all culminate into endless tales that can be used to compel audiences. Perhaps none other has capitalized on this more than the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. With cannibalism, inbred behavior and crazed mental stability, the Sawyers are an outlandish enigma of interwoven insanity. But, when your family is as messed up as Leatherface's, why would anyone ever think the material would stop churning out?


Featuring a pretty stellar cast and a core that feels reminiscent of Texas Chainsaw Massacre II, this origin story follows what is presumably the first major stint and escape from a mental institution for the titular killer and his cohort of chosen family. The star of the movie is undoubtedly Lili Taylor (The Conjuring) who plays the struggling and disturbed matriarch of the family, Verna. Flanked by a cast of young stars, including Sam Strike (M.I. High) as Jedidiah, the inmate and eldest son, crazed patients Ike, played by James Bloor (DCI Banks), Clarice, played by Jessica Madsen, and Bud, played by Sam Coleman, Leatherface makes out well with its determined psychopathic characters.


The film does suffer from a lack of overall clarity. The time cuts throughout seem spliced together with little follow through and the established twist only comes together through gathered context, rather than established storytelling. There are also some parts that seem relatively nonsensical and over-the-top, but this is, of course, a movie in a franchise known for its insanity. Unfortunately, when insanity become clutter, it's hard to make it past.


Despite its flaws, Leatherface does succeed on a number of levels. It's young and driven cast is entertaining enough. Additionally, this movie is nostalgia galore; there plenty of inspired scenes that haven't been brought out of horror convention storage for years. The asylum escape, plenty of cheap gore and the birth of an icon all provide enough to keep audience attention. This movie makes the most of its low-brow entertainment, while also portraying its characters as something deeper than other movies have gone. Is this a disservice to the original? Maybe, but it also makes the depraved Sawyers compellingly bad people, regardless of what injustices have been acted against them.


Leatherface isn't the greatest horror film of the modern era, or even this year. But it is a thrilling romp reminiscent of movies like The Hills Have Eyes remake. It's cheap, crazy fun. The cast is all committed - Taylor is especially - and there's a lot to love about this old-fashioned inbred-led cannibal film. 6 out 0f 10.