LEATHERFACE (2017) ** ½

Remember Mary Harron’s wonderful indie cult classic I Shot Andy Warhol?  Remember Lili Taylor’s mesmerizing performance as the man-hating, SCUM Manifesto-writing, Andy Warhol-shooting Valerie Solanas?  Remember Stephen Dorff’s heartbreaking turn as the enigmatic transgender superstar Candy Darling?  They were so terrific together that I have spent the last 21 years wondering what it would take to team up those two titans of indie cinema again. 

As it turns out all it took was… Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 8?!?!   

What’s odd about Leatherface is that it’s the second film in the Texas Chainsaw series to be called Leatherface (after Leatherface, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3).  Last time I remember something like that happening was when the fourth Rambo movie came out and they called it Rambo, just like Rambo:  First Blood Part 2.  This also happens to be the second prequel in the series.  In fact, two out of the last three installments have been origin tales if you can believe it.   

Not that a die-hard TCM fans (that’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre fans, not Turner Classic Movie fans) would complain as long as it delivered on the gore.  Oh boy, it sure does.  There’s plenty of red stuff and squishy body parts to go around.  I just wish it felt more like an honest-to-God Chainsaw movie. 

You can’t blame directors Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury (the team that did the amazing Inside) for trying something new.  Even though this is yet another prequel, it focuses more on how Leatherface became Leatherface rather than the usual sawing and slashing.  That means if you came looking for the usual Chainsaw thrills, you might be a tad disappointed.  With the exception of the opening birthday party scene and the last five minutes or so, this prequel is skimpy when it comes to sawing.  There is not a single meat hook in sight.  Sigh. 

This entry is more of a pastiche of other movies than a logical expansion of the Chainsaw series.  I probably missed some of the references, but there were scenes that copied/stole from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Natural Born Killers, Necromantik, Of Mice and Men (yes, Of Mice and Men), The Revenant, and Hannibal.  Okay, so maybe Bustillo and Maury weren’t trying for something new after all. 

The plot is all over the place.  Dorff plays a sheriff whose daughter is killed by the infamous Sawyer clan.  He doesn’t have any proof that will hold up in court, but he makes sure that the demented matriarch (Taylor) will feel his wrath when he sends her kids to child protective services.  Years later, Ms. Sawyer turns up at the nuthouse where her younglings are stashed and instigates a massive riot, which allows her kids to escape.  While the kids try to make their way home, the sheriff sets out to make their life a living hell. 

So, as you can see, it doesn’t really sound like any Chainsaw movie you or I ever saw (no pun intended).  Don’t get me wrong.  It’s not bad.  Dorff in particular is excellent.  There’s just a couple of goofy plot devices (like trying to make Leatherface’s true identity a mystery throughout the picture, which doesn’t work at all) and lame stalling tactics that get in the way of the fun.  Still, it’s almost worth watching just for the gore alone.  It’s just that when you hear the Inside guys are directing a TCM flick, you have a certain amount of expectations.  I can’t say those expectations were met, but I can say that this is the best Texas Chainsaw Massacre prequel AND the best Texas Chainsaw film that has the word Leatherface in the title, so that in itself is a minor victory.