This latest Chainsaw movies begins with scenes from the original (1974) seamlessly combined with new footage that shows new characters and deranged family members. Gunnar Hansen (the original Leatherface) has a cameo, as does Bill Mosley (TEXAS CHAINSAW II). The African-American sheriff shows up to investigate the kidnapping and murders an demands that the Sawyer family give up Leatherface. A bunch of local yahoos show up and there's a shoot out. It reminded me of the end of the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, with the hunters killing all the zombies. Everyone in the family is killed and the house burned to the ground. Even the chainsaw is burned. but a woman with a baby is discovered by one of the rednecks. He takes the baby and kills the woman, then gives the child to his wife, who has also wanted a baby.
Years later we see that this child has grown into Heather (Alexandra Daddario of the PERCY JACKSON movies), a young woman who works at the meat counter in a grocery store. She gets a notice in the mail that her grandmother died and learns she was adopted. Her "adoptive" parents tell her she came from a "shit heap" and that she shouldn't pursue it. They're assholes. So she drives to Texas in a van with a group of her friends. Along the way they pick up a hitcher, who you know is going to be a problem later on.
They arrive at the grandmother's property and are given a quick tour by the lawyer. The place is hers if she wants it but she can't sell it. And there's a letter from her grandmother, Vera. She decides to take it. While Heather and her friends go into town for food, the hitcher stays behind and starts looting the place. He comes across a hidden door which leads down into the basement--and there's another hidden room, sort of like an apartment, down there. This is where Leatherface has been living the past few decades. He's literally mince-meat. The first friend to die also discovers the basement--and then Leatherface comes up and attacks her. She's knocked unconscious, though she later escapes for a horrible fate, and is rescued by the police. She goes through a file in the sheriff's office and discovers that her family was killed by the current Mayor and his cronies, who are as bad, if not worse, than Leatherface's family. She takes off and calls the lawyer, who explains that Leatherface is her cousin, Jedidiah Sawyer. And for her family--her real family--is important. So she helps him--and gets some justice.
At first I wasn't sure about this movie, though after the first half I was enjoying it and by the end thought it was an extremely logical sequel to the original film, though it ignores the previous three sequels, as if they never happened. Recommended. This TEXAS CHAINSAW movie is far better than you'd think it would be.
This latest Chainsaw movies begins with scenes from the original (1974) seamlessly combined with new footage that shows new characters and deranged family members. Gunnar Hansen (the original Leatherface) has a cameo, as does Bill Mosley (TEXAS CHAINSAW II). The African-American sheriff shows up to investigate the kidnapping and murders an demands that the Sawyer family give up Leatherface. A bunch of local yahoos show up and there's a shoot out. It reminded me of the end of the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, with the hunters killing all the zombies. Everyone in the family is killed and the house burned to the ground. Even the chainsaw is burned. but a woman with a baby is discovered by one of the rednecks. He takes the baby and kills the woman, then gives the child to his wife, who has also wanted a baby.
