- Directed by: Jeff Burr
- Written by: Kim Henkel, Tobe Hooper, David J. Schow
- Stars: Kate Hodge, Ken Foree, R.A. Mihailoff, Viggo Mortensen
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 25 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY7n9IKerag
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
Leatherface is back with a new family, tormenting a young couple and a survivalist. This sequel moves even further away from the grit and grind of the original movie. It’s more in the direction of a standard 80s/90s slasher film. With the stakes a little bit on the low side with such a small pool of people.
We both thought it was pretty good, not a strong thumbs up but it’s there from both of us.
Spoilery Synopsis
We get a voiceover recapping the events of the first film. Sally survived but died in an institution. One of the cannibal family, W.E. Sawyer, also survived but was executed. Leatherface was assumed to be an alternate personality of W.E. Sawyer, so his case was closed. If that’s not the case, then Leatherface remains at large… Credits roll.
Michelle and Ryan are driving through Texas on the way to Florida. They hear a news report about the discovery of a mass grave nearby. The two have to stop at the roadblock as the police clear out the 40 or 50 bodies there.
The next day, they stop at the Last Chance gas station. The attendant, Alfredo, is an extreme weirdo, but the other guy, Tex, is more helpful, but still a little creepy. Tex suggests a shortcut off the highway, a road that’s not even on the map. Tex catches Alfredo doing a poopy-peeky with Michelle and starts a fight. Alfredo shoots out their rear window and then shoots Tex.
Night falls, and someone in a truck starts chasing the couple on the isolated country road. They get run off the road and stop to yell at each other for a while as they change the tire.
Suddenly, Leatherface shows up with his chainsaw, but they drive off and avoid him. Instead, they nearly hit another driver, Benny, on the road, and they both crash. Ryan tells them that they’re being hunted, but Benny doesn’t really believe it. He gives them pain medication that makes them sleepy.
Another man shows up to help, Tinker, and he’s weird. Benny notices a chainsaw in the back of Tinker’s truck and gets suspicious. Turns out, Tinker’s not here to help, and neither is Leatherface, who gets distracted by a girl in the woods and runs off.
The girl finds Benny and explains that she’s been with the baddies for a week; she was also ambushed on the road. They split up, and she soon dies. Leatherface finds Ryan and Michelle, and he gets his foot caught in a trap, so Leatherface has his way with him.
Michelle runs to a nearby house and lets herself in. Inside, she finds a little girl who’s playing with corpses. Tex is there as well, and he’s not as dead as we were led to believe. He nails her hands to a chair. They feed her blood to Grandpa, who is clearly dead. Mama shows up, and she’s not nice either. Tinker drags in Ryan, so now they’ve got fresh meat.
Meanwhile, Benny follows Alfredo through woods, and the lunatic gas station man is disposing of bodies in the swamp (isn’t this the Texas desert?).
As Leatherface gets ready to slice up Michelle, Benny reaches the house and starts shooting excessively. Mama gets shot, as does what was left of Grandpa. Benny and Tex fight, and that goes badly for Tex. Benny, Leatherface, and the brand new saw go into the swamp and fight some more. Turns out, the saw swims better than Benny.
Leatherface comes after Michelle, who beats him to death with a rock. In the morning, Michelle makes it back to the road, which is back in the desert again. Benny drives up in Alfredo’s truck, except Alfredo is there as well. Michelle shoots him and then help Benny into the truck. “There’s roadkill all over Texas,” she quips.
We see that Leatherface has survived.
Brian’s Commentary
After the previous films’ focus on the whole family, this one switches to Junior’s new family, a whole different bunch of killer kooks. Does this take place in the desert, the swamp, or a forest? All three at varying ties.
It was fine. Not on the same level as the previous two, but not terrible either.
Kevin’s Commentary
Trivia says that the original script was even more brutal with such explicit scenes that the producers made them tone it down. Even then they still had a hard time toning it down enough to get an MPAA rating, sending it to them 11 times and cutting a little more every time.
That was strange, as Brian pointed out, how it was desert, then forest, then swampland, then desert again at the end.
Which probably hurt the final product. Ending up with a movie that’s pretty good but lackluster without much new to see. It’s more along the lines of 80s and 90s slasher movies, cleaned up from how grimy the original movie was.
I’d call it middling overall, liked more than disliked.
Be the first to comment on "1990 Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III"