Leatherface Kills

"Texas Chainsaw Massacre", the latest installment in the Southern-based slasher franchise offers up a slew of new victims for the slab, but isn't too sharp when it comes to originality

Nearly 50 years ago, Leatherface and his family of psychopathic cannibals made their silver screen debut in 1974. Since then, the burly horror icon has starred in seven more films of wildly varying quality and a level of continuity that's ironically been butchered beyond belief. The latest crack at restoring the series to its former glory is "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", not to be confused with the original "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" or 2003's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". Released straight to Netflix on February 18th, the film is a gloriously gory endeavor that was initially slated for a theatrical release last year before quietly being shuttled off to streaming. Backed by one of the more popular names in modern horror with Fede Álvarez and directed by David Blue Garcia, can this entry renew some of the buzz and pull this franchise out of its slump?

The story sees a group of young, idealistic millennials buying up properties in the ghost town of Harlow, TX. Led by Dante (Jacob Latimore) and Melody (Sarah Yarkin), they plan to auction off the buildings to other young entrepreneurs in hopes of revitalizing and gentrifying the small community. Unbeknownst to them, one of the town's residents is an infamous serial killer whose long-dormant past is about to be reawakened with a vengeance. Dante's girlfriend Ruth (Nell Hudson) and Melody's sister Lila (Elsie Fisher), who's already dealing with some trauma of her own, are also along for the misadventure. The film also features Mark Burnham, Moe Dunford and Olwen Fouéré as Sally Hardesty, the original survivor from 1974. The role was previously played by Marilyn Burns, but she sadly passed away in 2014.

Well, the film certainly delivers on the "massacre" part of its moniker. The Texas part? No so much. Filmed in Bulgaria (just as 2017's "Leatherface"), there's a bit of deep-fried authenticity missing from the settings. While the outdoor shots are filmed rather well, the town where most of the film unfolds feels like a set and that's likely due to budgetary constraints. Most of the money was surely pumped into the fantastic carnage, achieved with a solid mix of practical and digital effects. Aside from that, the film doesn't have much else to offer. The story is weak and the characters all make hilariously stupid choices from beginning to end. It takes a stab at some social commentary, but doesn't bother fleshing it out. The movie's structure also bares more than a few resemblances to Blumhouse's "Halloween" revival. Overall, this isn't the worst "Texas Chainsaw" flick and at 81 minutes with credits, it doesn't wear out its welcome. However, if the brutality isn't enough for you, you might want to avoid this like a desolate Texas back road. For what it's worth, this is probably the second best legacy horror sequel where the heroine from the original returns to kill the main villain decades later, ignores all of the other sequels and is directed by a man named David. C+