A horror icon is unleashed in the latest trailer for Leatherface

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE is certainly near the top of the list of all-time horror greats, but as a franchise, it hasn't been quite so fortunate. Perhaps too much time elapsed between the release of the first installment and its sequel, but the franchise has never been able to successfully dive back into the well which made THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE so iconic. That's not to say that it hasn't been attempted however, in fact, that's about all that they seem able to do, with a remake, a prequel, and the "direct sequel" which was TEXAS CHAINSAW 3D trying and failing to recapture past glories. We're set to re-examine the chainsaw wielding killer with the upcoming LEATHERFACE, which will likely commit the cardinal sin of over-explaining his origins. To quote Patton Oswalt, "I don't give a shit where the stuff I love comes from, I just love the stuff I love!"

Needless to say, I can't muster much enthusiasm for LEATHERFACE, but here's the latest trailer if you're still hungry for more chainsaw mayhem.

Well, it struck me a little better than the previous trailer did, and the opening sequence did contain a note of creepiness, but I won't be expecting the finished product to rank all that high in the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE franchise. What's LEATHERFACE all about? Well, let's see. Before the events of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, in the early days of the Sawyer family, "the youngest child is sentenced to a mental hospital after a suspicious incident leaves the sheriffs' daughter dead. Ten years later, he kidnaps a young nurse and escapes with 3 other inmates. Pursued by authorities including the deranged sheriff out to avenge his daughter’s death, the young Sawyer teen goes on a violent road trip from hell, molding him into the monster known now as Leatherface."

LEATHERFACE will be released on DirectTV on September 21, 2017, before opening wider on VOD and limited-release in theaters on October 20, 2017.