Review Tuesday: Leatherface (2017)

 

 

Leatherface

(2017)

The origin story of Jedediah "Leatherface" Sawyer. 

My least favorite of all of the horror movie franchises might be THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. I remember watching the original film back in high school with one of my best friends and thing what a pile of steaming crap that movie was. Poorly made. Terrible acting. Nothing seemed to be able to kill Last Girl. It was just a disappointment. There have been subsequent revivals, and they were a mixed bag that on some occasions made watchable by having a hot chick in it for Last Girl. When I heard about LEATHERFACE years ago, and how it was strangely expensive to view on streaming services, I had no desire to see it. Of course, until recently when Mrs. Bax0jayz found it on AMAZON to view for FREE. Okay, here we go...

 

The movie starts off with the Sawyer family throwing a birthday party for the youngest son Jedediah. As a special treat they captured a neighbor whom they have accused of stealing one of their pigs for Jed to commit his first chainsaw murder on. He wasn't able to do it. 

 

WAIT!

 

He's a member of a family of sadistic sociopaths. He actually has a conscience? Interesting. They took an unexpected turn with the character development. Okay!  

 

Then...

 

In the next scene he helps to lure a girl into a trap that leads to her brutal murder. Okay. So he's not squeamish anymore? Oh, the girl was the daughter of the sheriff? The sheriff teaches the Sawyer family a lesson by taking all of the minors in the household into protective services. Time skips ten years and the viewer is introduced to an asylum for violent minors. You don't know which one is Jed, but you know he must be in this place. You also wonder if any of the other Sawyer children might also be in there. There are some very violent youngsters in this facility and the story-telling seems to lead you towards certain young men likely being Jed. It's all misdirection.

 

In the end, I didn't like this movie. It was your typical gore-porn. The writing was was inconsistent bordering on shabby. The Leatherface development wasn't very good at and his emergence was some serious SMH. This movie tries to do that current thing that the writers try to make you feel bad for the violent psychopaths. Nope!  Oh, and the mother, Verna (played by Lili Taylor) ruins every scene she's in. The actress is fine, but she's written so poorly. I would say the only saving grace in this movie is Vanessa Grasse as Nurse Lizzy. She's so good looking that she distracts from how bad the movie is. Otherwise the movie is an overall disappointment.