31 days of horror movies: Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III
By Wade Wainio
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Jeff Burr’s Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III has no business being as good as it is. The movie (currently streaming on Tubi) sort of happens separately from the previous two. For example: Recall how in Part II, Leatherface was basically killed. This story basically sidesteps all that and even has the audacity to introduce a slew of new Sawyer family members, with no explanation of where they came from or where exactly they’ve been!
Hell, there isn’t even any mention of the Hitchhiker/Nubbins (Edwin Neal), The Cook (Jim Siedow), or Chop Top (Bill Moseley)! Nevertheless, it’s no great detriment that this movie offers a heaping helping of new violent lunatics.
Also, despite Leatherface (R.A. Mihailoff) being in the title, it’s undeniable that some of these new family members all but totally outshine that masked wonder. For me, chief among these memorable antagonists is a freaky fella named “Alfredo” Sawyer (Tom Everett), who brings what I will call that special “alfredo sauce” into the mix. Yes, Alfredo has all the charm of a bucket of rabid skunks, which is pretty much what you want in a movie like this.
“Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III” offers little new…yet still works?!
Yes, I say that here, and I don’t apologize. Sure, there are a few differences here and there between this movie and the others, but you will basically know what you’re getting when you bite into this tasty poisoned apple. A young couple is basically lost, then, when they ask for directions, have a run-in with weirdos — Alfredo and “Tex” Sawyer (Viggo Mortensen) — and this new, yet reasonably predictable tale of sinister onslaught and woe begins. However, this movie does have a monster truck and, perhaps, a fancier chainsaw!
As the two main good guy characters, Michelle (Kate Hodge) and Ryan (William Butler) near their destination, you know it’s going to be hell, and they’ll be put there by the family of Leatherface. As the family prepares to murder them, you’ll get that same old “Texas Chainsaw” feeling, as if you fell into an Ed Gein-approved body pit of horror. Everywhere the Sawyer family goes will become a bloody junkyard-graveyard hybrid, and poor Leatherface, despite engaging in violence, is only doing what his family tells him to do. Fortunately, Michelle and Ryan have some help, giving them more of a fighting chance…
Benny!
As any Texas Chainsaw Massacre installment makes clear, anyone willing to head into rural Texas might soon end up compelled to flee. So, if you want to be able to fight your way out, you could do worse than have someone like Benny (Ken Foree) as an ally. Benny is essentially the John Rambo of Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III. He wasn’t born yesterday, knows how to fight, and recognizes the scarce odds of a search party coming to the rescue. Benny is also really tough to kill!
Stray, mutilated bits of goodness
There are other members of the Sawyer family worth mentioning. There is Tinker (Joe Unger), an unnamed little girl (Jennifer Banko), and “Mama” Anne Sawyer (Miriam Byrd-Nethery), who all contribute their own bits of mania. There is also a cute little scene of Leatherface using a Speak & Spell-like toy to communicate, suggesting again that, if he had been raised in a normal household, he might have just remained a childlike and gentle soul rather than a chainsaw-wielding maniac who wears other people’s severed faces for a mask.
Another thing I like about Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III is that it never noticeably drags, even momentarily. That is something quite rare, even in plenty of movies I actually like. Now, I hate to sound like a short attention span-having numbskull, but if you can have a movie that doesn’t drag yet isn’t so rapid-fast that you miss everything in a blink, you’ve really got something!
So yes, I know this movie is hiding away in a huge stack of other horror options, but it’s worth revisiting on occasion. Unlike the Sawyers themselves, it is worth coming into contact with this movie. It is a toxic glop that ignites upon impact, but, unless you’re one of those “too-good-for-bad-horror” movie critic snobs, it’s the kind of napalm you’ll want to take a dip in every once in a while.
Next. 20 series cancelled too soon. dark
What are your thoughts on Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III? Let us know in the comments!