Review: Leatherface Gets Canceled in Netflix's TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE

I was actually pretty excited about Netflix’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie, which serves as a directed sequel to Tobe Hooper’s original 1973 film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. That original movie messed me up when I first saw it. I’ll never forget how that movie made me feel, which was extremely uncomfortable, and it kind of broke my mind a little because I had never seen anything like that before!

Before I go on, I do get into spoiler territory.

When it comes to this sequel, the filmmakers definitely brought the bloody brutality of the franchise back. This film was filled with hardcore blood and gore, but it’s just more of the same. While the franchise is known for that, I was also hoping that there would be a good story to tell, but the story for this sequel was laughable.

To me, this movie felt like comedy! I don’t think that’s what they were going for, but I couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. I couldn’t take anything in this movie seriously and I’m not sure what exactly the filmmakers were trying to do. The movie was directed by David Blue Garcia and produced by Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead, Don’t Breathe).

This is just one of those films that is filled with so many stupid-ass characters making the worst possible decisions over the course of the film. It was so over-the-top, it was almost like the film was trying to be a parody of itself, especially when it gets to the third act and Leatherface is in full-on chainsaw murder mode.

At one point, he’s on a bus full of millennials and they all start pulling out their phones to record what Leatherface is doing and then one kid tells him he’s going to get canceled, and at that point, Leatherface unleashes the fury.

In the film, "Melody (Sarah Yarkin), her teenage sister Lila (Elsie Fisher), and their friends Dante (Jacob Latimore) and Ruth (Nell Hudson), head to the remote town of Harlow, Texas to start an idealistic new business venture. But their dream soon turns into a waking nightmare when they accidentally disrupt the home of Leatherface, the deranged serial killer whose blood-soaked legacy continues to haunt the area's residents -- including Sally Hardesty (Olwen Fouéré), the sole survivor of his infamous 1973 massacre who's hell-bent on seeking revenge."

It’s been said that this sequel “returns to the roots of the Hooper and Kim Henkel creation that was considered one of the scariest films of its era, even though most of the splatter was implied and not shown.” It’s explained that the film “seeks to pick up where the Hooper and Kim Henkel film initially left off, bringing the most notorious horror franchise back to life in the same bold and provocative manner that it was first introduced to the world.”

Well, I’m not so sure they succeeded in that. The movie actually started off decent, but as it went on, the stupider it got. At one point they even bring back Sally Hardesty (Olwen Fouéré) from the original, who will once again come face to face with the monster that almost killed her in the first film. The way they handled her was a complete disservice to the character! Not only did they have her come off as a complete idiot, and I’m going to get into some SPOILER stuff here….

They kill her off! Leatherface sticks his chainsaw into her gut and lifts her over his head as he shreds her insides to mush. But, that didn’t initially kill her! Nope, she managed to stay alive long enough after that to help save the main character of the film from being killed. There’s no way in hell anyone would have survived what Leatherface did to her! It was so stupid when they revealed she wasn’t really dead. That was definitely the biggest eye-roll of the movie.

It sucks, because I wanted this movie to be good! There is another great story to tell with Leatherface, but this movie did not tell that story. It just took things into stupid town. However, it did offer some good unintended laughs. I mean, the whole movie was really just an excuse to brutally murder a bunch of millennials.

I will say that actresses Sarah Yarkin and Elsie Fisher both gave great performances. They really did the best they could with the material they were given to work with.

If you watched it over the weekend, let us know what you thought!