Leatherface - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III DVD: Review By Vamp

Well, you know my story, but I'll reiterate for those who haven't read my last two reviews. I became obsessed with Slasher movies after watching John Carpenter's "Halloween." The next slasher I picked up, was the remake of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," which was made in 2003. After that, it was my goal to find the original, and watch it. Which happened, and that's where I found the TRUE definition of what a "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" film SHOULD be. Then I bought the entire series, because I'm obsessed with making sure I have everyone of a series, about two years ago. Last Sunday, I finally watched "Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2," and was a little disappointed in the comedic angle it took. Well, that Sunday, right after watching "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2," I watched THIS movie, "Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III." I was a bit worried with what angle this one would take, even though the cover, and the sound of it, made it seem a lot less comical, but as soon as the movie started, and you got the glimpses of Leatherface putting together his mask (Which, to me, seemed to be an homage to "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)'s" opening scenes, where you hear crunching and see bodies), I was convinced that THIS particular one, would NOT be as comical as the previous installment. And, I was right in that respect. This one had it's comedy, but the comedy was dark enough to match what the series was intended to be, and the family was comical as well, but they were the correct kind of crazy. This movie was great, and I know that some disagree with that, but it's true. If you loved the first one ("The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)"), but were slightly disappointed by the second one ("The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2"), then you will DEFINITELY be pleased with this installment, however, I should let you know, that it is STILL not as good as the original one was, and nor was it as f*cked up and macabre as the original one was.

We have ourselves a new director, and this director I am very happy with because he brought the macabre back to the films... It might not be as macabre as the original movie was, as I've already stated before, but the macabre is there in this one, and it outweighs the small comedical things that happen, which really brings a great macabre, and darkly humorous tone to the movie, and that's what I really loved aobut this. Our new director, anyway, is a man named Jeff Burr, who directed movies such as 1987's "The Offspring," 1989's "Stepfather II," and 1993's "Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings." He's got some experience in the macabre and dark, and that really helps him for this movie. I'd have to say, that of the movies I've seen of his, this is the best so far. Another fun fact about this director, was that he directed three episodes of one of my favorite shows from when I was a kid, called "Big Bad Beetle Borgs." So, I can safely say, that I've had a bit of experience with this director. His choices for THIS film, were awesome. He uses some VERY interesting angles to take the macabre feel to a new level, and he also uses some pretty wicked features. What made this installment in "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" series so creepy, was that this one was filmed pretty much ALL at night. I know, I know, you're saying to yourself "Aren't they ALL filmed at night?" But what I meant, was that the majority of this film took place at night. Whereas, the first two, took place in the daytime most of the movie, and then had some minor scenes in the dark. I don't know how to explain it, but for some reason, to me, that gave it a more spooky and eerie feeling, and I liked that a lot. This one really did a good job of bringing back the spookiness that was missing from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2." The writer of this film is David J. Schow, whose done screenplays for "Critters 3" and "Critters 4," and also wrote the story for another "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" movie, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning," the most recent installment, and also the prequel to the entire series. He's had his fair share of writing stories, and he does great with this one. He takes the characters that were created and used by Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)," and he takes it all to a new angle. This story is original, in and that it uses a new storyline, and yet, it takes the same angle of the crazy family, and twists it all together in an interesting, crazy, and spooky story, that is one of the highlights of this film. Definitely a great job with the story by Schow for this one... I'm glad they chose him to do it, and not some schmuck because I don't think some schmuck could have done this the way that Schow did. The director and the writer work together GREAT on this film, and make another creepy "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" film for us to add to our shelves, and enjoy for years to come.

This movie's visuals are awesome, which seems to be a recurring factor in this series, at least so far, anyway. There are so many different things I could mention, but the first one that I want to mention is Leatherface. He's got a brand new look, and it's just so f*cking creepy looking, and it really runs well for the movie. He's got longer hair... MUCH longer hair, and it's all shaggy and greasy, and it just looks SO much more creepy with his mask, than the last one did. I don't know why, but this one's even more scary than the original Leatherface. He's also got a splint on one leg, which makes a squeaky noise, and it's the harbinger of Leatherface's approach. It's kind of creepy, even if it brings his presence into the known, but even though it announces his presence, it doesn't give the LOCATION away, which means that you aren't going to know when he appears. The next part of my visuals praise, will be something that Leatherface uses in the movie, and that's his chainsaw. I know, I know... "It's just a chainsaw, though." Not really! This one is one KICK ASS chainsaw, and it's got gold and chrome all over it, and it's just f*cking awesome. Plus, inscribed on the side of the blade, is "The Saw is Family," the quote in which Leatherface lives by in the series. It definitely works great for the movie, and it's kickass to watch Leatherface tear people up with it. Another visual that's worth mentioning, is Leatherface's new mother (My guess is that, when his family was killed in the first one, he migrated to another branch of the same family... But I don't know). She's in a wheelchair, and she's got a voicebox in her neck to help her speak. It's just f*cking insane, and makes the movie fun to watch just because the mother herself, is very creepy. The house in this one is also very strange. There's a little girl, whose got a room full of skeletons in which she has tea parties with. If THAT'S not f*cked up looking, then I don't know what is. She's also got a doll, which is a mini-skeleton, and VERY creepy looking. So if you were wondering if the visuals were insane, and f*cked up still, then don't be worried anymore because they definitely ARE.

The storyline of this movie was put together very well, as I've covered already a little earlier, when I was talking about the writers of the film. It's an original storyline, and it really brings the movie out into awesomeness, which is great. The problem with "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2," as you know, if you read my review, was that it tried too hard to show how crazy the family was, and in turn, it became too much of a comedy, and was VERY hard to take any kind scaredness out of it. What this film has done, is bring the macabre, and the eeriness back to the film, and made it funny-ish at the same time. The humor that this film uses, is definitely not like the last one's, but this one has humor in it, which helps show how f*cked up Leatherface's new family... Possibly even more f*cked up than his brothers and his father were. That was probably my favorite part of the story in this movie, was that the family was so crazy, and they did it being funny, but not being like comedian funny. They did it the crazy, "Oh my God I can't believe he just said/did that" kind of way." That's what the family is SUPPOSED to be like, and this film definitely does that wonderfully. With the last sequel, as you know I think, this series became a slasher series (The original was based on a true story, so when they did the sequel, it sucked the entire series into slasherdom. Not bad, but some like to say this is the point of origin when it comes to slasher films), and this one takes that away from the Freddy Kruger kind of humorous, and back into the Leatherface macabre that it's supposed to be. Each slasher has it's own feel to it, and Leatherface has always had the macabre for his movies. This movie, keeps that, and doesn't delve as deep as the original one did, but it does great, nonetheless. This story is different from the first two, and while it uses some of the aspects from the last two, it adds a lot of it's own. A couple are headed on their way to Florida from California, and are headed through the middle of nowhere in Texas. However, as they are run off the road, and attacked by crazy people along the way, the find out that they're in for more than they'd bargained for when they entered Texas to head to Florida, however, they find help in a survivalist whose familiar with this part of Texas. It was a fun story, but for some reason that I can't explain, the survivalist aspect of the one man, kind of struck me as odd. If I remember right, there wasn't that much store in Y2K in the eighties... That was back in the World War II era... Oh well... It worked good for the film, as did the story. This was definitely a great storyline, and it works wonderfully for the film, returning this series to it's origins, the macabre, once again.

Kate Hodge, known for her roles in movies such as "Love Kills," where she plays Jill Shanaham, "Rapid Fire," where she plays Karla Withers, "Desire," where she plays Lauren Allen, "The Hidden II," where she plays Juliet Beck, and "Enough About Me," where she plays Paula Conine, and she's had NUMEROUS TV appearances and roles, like playing Celesta, Goddess of Death, in an episode of "Xena: Warrior Princess," Annie Price in "Level Nine," Jane Pentowski in "Manhattan, AZ," Attorney Prescott in an episode of "Law & Order," Kaye Kent in an episode of "Boston Legal," and Abby Stockton in an episode of "Fringe," stars in this movie as our heroine, Michelle. Michelle is traveling from California to Florida, so she can drop her car off at her father's house and take a vacation to London for quite a while, so that she can think about things and what she wants to do with her life. She is traveling with her boyfriend, Ryan (Played by William Butler of "Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood"), whom she wants to spend the time with, which is why she is driving, instead of taking a plane to Florida from California. However, Ryan knows that this will be the last of their time together, and he's not very happy, meaning he's making everything difficult for them. While they're in Texas, they reach the middle of nowhere, where they stop at the "Last Chance" gas station, to gas up for the rest of their journey. There, they run into a crazy man, who attacks them after being beat up by a man named Tex, who caught the man trying to peep on Michelle while she's using the bathroom. The man gets a shotgun, and Tex holds him off as he tells Ryan and Michelle to get in their car and leave. So they do. But on their way down the road, the are attacked by a man with a chainsaw, and the man starts to tear up the car. They barely escape the man (Whom we know is Leatherface), and continue on down the road. However, a man walks in front of the car, as another car is passing, and they swerve to miss the man, whom they recognize to be Tex, and flip over and crash. However, their terror isn't NEARLY over. The other car, who also crashed and flipped, was driven by a man named Benny, who comes and saves them. They find out a lot about Benny, but mostly that he knows his way around these parts, and is able to save them. Michelle is in the woods, when the chainsaw maniac returns. Her and her boyfriend, Ryan, are running through the woods from him, when Ryan's foot gets caught in a bear trap, and he's killed by the chainsaw maniac. She's led to a house, where there's a little girl who stabs her in the leg, and helps her father, whom we find out is Tex, to knock her out, and strap her into a chair. From here on out, Michelle seems to be on her own as she is faced with Leatherface, the chainsaw maniac, and his entirer demented family. Escaping will be much harder than she thinks, and the torture that she is to be exposed to is devastatingly horrific. However, little does she know, help is on the way. Kate Hodge does a great job with this role. She's not the best at it, but she still does great. She gets the proper emotions and such down, which really help to bring the character into slight fruition, and not drag the movie down into the ground or anything. She carries herself throughout the whole movie, and that's really all that matters. She's not insanely awesome, but she's good at any rate. You REALLY feel for the character, too, as she's going through all this. You get that feeling like "God, I want to save her!" Kate Hodge was DEFINITELY a great casting choice for this role.

Ken Foree, known for his roles in movies such as "Dawn of the Dead," the original, where he played Peter, "Dawn of the Dead," the remake, where he played The Televangelist, "Rob Zombie's Halloween," where he played Big Joe Grizzly, "Ghost House Underground's Brotherhood of Blood," where he played Stanis, and "The Devil's Rejects," where he played Charlie Altamont, he's also had roles in such TV shows as "Kenan & Kel," where he played Roger Rockmore, "The X-Files," where he played Vincent Parmelly, "Babylon 5," where he played P.F.C. Large, and "General Hospital," where he played a character called Kris, for an unknown amount of episodes, stars in this movie as Benny, the movie's hero, and seeming savior. Benny lives in Texas, and he's what you'd call a survivalist. He's been prepared for the end of the world for a very long time, and leads a group of people in a campsite in the hills, who train to survive the end of the world, and he runs this every weekend, and has done so for two years (I think he said two, anyway). One night, as he is headed to the campground as usual, he finds another car on the road, and they swerve to miss someone, so he swerves, and they go off the side of the road, rolling down the hill. As he swerves, his truck is flipped, and totaled, but he doesn't care about the truck. As soon as he knows he's not delusional or hurt, he goes and checks on the other car, and finds two people, a man and a woman. The woman was unconscious, and the man was badly banged up. The man is spluttering something about having to keep going because there is a maniac loose with a chainsaw, but Benny just thinks he's delusional, and continues to tell him just to relax. He gives them the proper medicine. Soon, the woman wakes up, and he gives her medicine, but she starts to talk about the chainsaw man, too, and now Benny gets worried. How can two people have the same delusion? However, Ryan, the man, shows him the car, and sure enough, Benny sees the slashes in the car. Soon, the woman has Benny go and check on a man that was up on the road, called Tex. Benny goes, but soon he hears the distinct sound of a chainsaw, and arrives too late to find that a man with a chainsaw had chased the couple into the woods. Now Benny is worried. Soon, he finds out that there is a whole family of them, and he gets all of his guns, and prepares to hunt this family down and stop them. It makes for a fun ride to see Benny sneaking around, trying to save Michelle, and bring down the family at the same time. He traces them to a house, and here, he realizes, is where everything will go down. Ken Foree has been in a couple of movies that I've seen, and he does pretty good in both. The same can be said of this. He does great, of course, but like Kate Hodge, he doesn't do incredibly. He gets the role down wonderfully, and really makes you believe that he's a true survivalist, which works for the movie. His manor is that of a professional, ready for anything that might come his way. He just gets the role down great. You feel for him because he's got such a great big task ahead of him, too, and you're happy he's not just some jerk, or whack job. He did great, just not as awesome as he COULD have done. Ken Foree, though, was DEFINITELY a great casting choice for the movie.

Next up, as you probably know, in my review, is Leatherface and his entire crazy family. His family is quite large in this one, and includes Tex (Played by Viggo Mortensen of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy), Leatherface "Junior" Sawyer, of course (Played by R.A. Mihailoff of "Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings"), Tinker (Played by Joe Unger of "A Nightmare on Elm Street), Alfredo (Played by Tom Everett of "The Island"), Mama Sawyer (Played by Miriam Byrd-Nethery of "Stepfather II"), and Leatherface's Daughter (Oh my God, what?!) (Played by Jennifer Banko of "Barb Wire"). The first of the family that you meet is Alfredo, who runs the "Last Chance" gas station, where Michelle and Ryan stop to gas up as they prepare to drive into the middle of nowhere. He's seen as probably the stupidest (IQ wise, I mean) of the whole family. He's the pervert, too, and spies on Michelle as she is on the toilet in his gas station. However, as he is spying, his brother, Tex, attacks him, and pulls him off. We find it's only a sham, though, as Alfredo freaks out, and gets the shot gun, Tex pretends to be good, and tells them to go off, and take the short cut road that leads to his house. On the way there, Leatherface appears, and attacks the car as they drive by. He doesn't quite get the chance to kill them, though and they escape. However, they appear at the house, where Leatherface's Daughter ambushes Michelle and attacks her. Tex then knocks Michelle out, and has her hands nailed into a chair, so that she can't escape. Meanwhile, Tinker, who is a major technology nut, tries to ambush and kill Benny, whom they found while trying to get at Michelle and Ryan. Soon, the whole family is there at the house, and Mama Sawyer shows up. Something happened to her, and now she has to have a special voice box to talk through in her neck. We find out what we already suspected: This entire family is completely nuts, and they're all cannibalistic. They persist in torturing the people, and eating them because it's what they enjoy. Their party is soon cut short, though, as Benny shows up, and is ready to kick some ass. They're in more than they imagined they would be, and even more than they THOUGHT they'd be. All of the actors that play these f*cked up characters do a great job, and are the high point in acting for the film. They each are great at their own form of crazy, and it really works for the family, which is one of my favorite things about this film. They really do a great job of capturing each individual character's insane qualities, and making each of them seem like such a nut-job, and making them CREEPY nut-jobs, instead of the overly hysterical nut-jobs that were featured in "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" (Which isn't bad, just different, in my opinion, than it should have been). They were all definitely great casting choices for each of their individual parts in this movie.

All in all, this edition to "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" series was a great, and welcome, one, and improved from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2," by going back to the creepy and macabre, instead of making the creepy aspect TOO hysterical. It doesn't reach the macabre and creepy level that "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)" did, but it did a damn good job of creating it's own sense of creepy and macabre. The director for this film is one that I've had experience with since I was little, practically, and he does a great job with this movie, and really returns the series to it's horrific roots. He chooses some excellent angles, which really complement the eerie feeling of this film, and make it relatively spooky to watch, which is great, since you don't get too many spooky movies anymore, and it's always fun to watch a film that IS, in fact, relatively spooky to watch. The writer of this film ALSO does a good job to create a story for the movie that adds the crazy, spooky family, but makes them so intensely frightening and freaky, it really works well for the series. The visuals of this movie are as intense, gruesome, and macabre as ever, and they really bring a feeling of shock for the film, which the viewers can experience and enjoy. They go great with the storyline, too, which is done greatly, as I said, and really creates some awesome scenes and stuff to watch. Just an awesome and creepy story. The acting ties the movie together. While some of the actors aren't at their best, they do a great job at what they do, and create convincing, believable, and realistic characters, which you can even feel for in some instances, though I'm not sure how much you'd relate to them, in their individual situations. It really was a great movie, as I said, and if you were a bit disappointed with "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2," after being amazed by "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)," then you'll DEFINITELY be happy with "Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III" because, as I've said quite a bit, it returns the series to the spooky and the macabre. It really was a good movie, believe me, and it's my favorite in the series besides the remake and the original. It's worth the watch, and the buy, believe me.

THIS CONCLUDES PART III, "LEATHERFACE: THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE III," IN MY REVIEW SERIES FOR "THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE" SERIES. STAY TUNED FOR PART IV, "THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE NEXT GENERATION!!!!!"

As compared to the version of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" that I bought, this movie has a ton of Special Features, which include:

-Rated and Unrated Versions of the Film.

-Widescreen Version of the Film.

-Dolby Digital EX 5.1 Surround Sound.

-DTS ES 6.1 Surround Sound.

-Stereo Surround Sound.

-English Subtitles and Closed Captions.

-Filmmaker Commentary.

-The Saw is Family: Making of "Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III" Doc*mentary.

-We Know What To Do With Them Parts - Deleted Scenes.

-Alternate Ending.

-Theatrical Trailers.

-DVD-Rom Content.

There's a lot of features, as I said, on this one, and it makes it a great and worthwhile buy, especially if you liked the film as well as I did. This is the version of the film that you should get... Especially since, I think, this is the only version available TO get.

The Picture Quality of this movie is just perfect. The scenes aren't too dark, so you can clearly see what is going on in the different scenes, which is great so that you don't miss anything, which can happen with some movies. It's not too bright either, so the colors aren't really distorted or anything, and you're able to make out everything without getting annoyed by the weird colors that you don't remember from the VHS version of the movie. Definitely a worthwhile buy if you're looking for some great Picture Quality to view a good movie, like this, "Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III," in.

The Sound Quality of this movie is just as good as the Picture Quality of the movie is. It's Sound Quality is phenomenal, and you don't have to adjust your volume very high so that you can hear the talking, and then have to turn it all the way down again when the action hits and the entire movie is blasting your windows to oblivion since it's so loud. I hate it when movies are like that, and this one isn't, so you needn't be worried. Especially since, some people, I know, like to keep their volume where it is and not have to adjust it all the time, and then have to f*ck around with it to get back to the setting that they had. It can get VERY annoying... Believe me... I know. This is the version to get if you want a version of "Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III" that has great sound. Definitely, as I said, worth the buy.

The packaging of this movie is definitely an eye-catcher. The cover of this movie is enough to distract someone whose never seen or heard of the movie before as they walk by, and see it from the corner of their eyes sitting on a shelf. It's got a picture of Leatherface holding up his chainsaw, the chrome plated one that he gets in the movie, and you see the inscription that reads: "The Saw is Family." It's an awesome picture, since they shadow Leatherface's face, and you can't see it very well, which creates a very spooky feeling for the case. The back of the cover has a collage of pictures and stills from the movie, beneath the very detailed description of the movie. The back is really the selling point of the DVD for a person whose never heard of or seen the movie before, since it tells what the movie is about, and can capture their attention. The back of this DVD cover does a great job at that. It's definitely a version of "Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III" to buy if you're looking for one that'll look good on your shelf with all of your other DVDs, and your entire "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" collection, if you have one. Definitely, as I've said a lot already, worth the buy.

So, if you're looking for a great version of "Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III" that has great Special Features that'll keep you interested for a long time. It's perfect, since this is a good movie, and you'd want stuff about the film so you can learn more. The Picture Quality and the Sound Quality are DEFINITELY great, and really help the movie experience for you. It's not too dark, and not too bright, it's also not too loud, or not too quiet, and it really works for the feel of the movie, delivering it perfectly. The packaging of this movie is also done very well, and the cover of the movie would DEFINITELY catch the attention of a person walking by it in the store whose never seen it or never heard of it before. The back cover of the movie would definitely do a great job of selling it to the person whose never heard of it or never seen it before. So if you're looking for a good version of "Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III," that would fit in your collection very well, then get THIS version because A) It's worth the money, B) It's a great version, and C) It's the only version of "Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III" that there is available to buy. It's definitely a great buy, and as I've said a lot, it's DEFINITELY worth it!!!!!