Review: Leatherface is Back in Creepy 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'

Following in the footsteps of recent "legacy remakes" such as "Halloween" and "Scream," the original horror classic "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" gets its own.

While it is definitely a sequel to the 1974 Tobe Hooper groundbreaking film, it is still just titled "Texas Chainsaw Massacre." But hey, losing the "The" will certainly not confuse anyone. It didn't confuse anyone with 2013's "Texas Chainsaw," which was a sequel to the 2003 remake that still used "The" in the title. Confused yet? No worries, because in all its iterations, the saga of chainsaw-wielding Leatherface is as simple as it comes: Crazy redneck family harbors a dim-witted, violent son who likes to hack people apart with lumbar yard equipment. Among other things.

And while there are a ton of "Massacre" sequels and prequels, this latest is a direct sequel to the '74 original, in which a small group of friends stumble upon the aforementioned redneck family and, well, regret it. Sally (Marilyn Burns) is the only survivor. In 2022's "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" Sally is back, but not played by the original actress (who passed away in 2014). However, unlike the newest "Halloween" films, where original final girl Jamie Lee Curtis is the focus, Sally (now played by Olwen Fouere) doesn't take front and center.

Instead, we follow four friends traveling to a small, abandoned Texas town that they've somehow purchased. (It's basically the size of a western movie set.) Two of the young adults are chefs. Dante (Jacob Latimore) and Melody (Sarah Yarkin) are the instigators of the whole affair, and with them are Dante's girlfriend Ruth (Nell Hudson) and Melody's melancholy sister-with-a-tragic-past Lila (Elsie Fisher). They arrive in Texas hoping to build some sort of Gen Z utopia while receiving a few warnings from the local cops-with-a-thick-drawl.

When they get to town (along with a busload of fellow investors and influencers), they enter a home only to find the owner still there and refusing to leave. She is played by Alice Krige ("Sleepwalkers") and, in true Krige form, she is an unnerving character with medical issues and a lumbering son wandering around upstairs making sure she's okay. When Dante and Melody insist that they bought the house along with the rest of the town, the old woman refuses to leave and then collapses. The race to get her to a hospital proves to be the catalyst for the return of Leatherface (now played by Mark Burnham). Lots of gory mayhem ensues, and a new chapter in the "Massacre" saga is born.

At a swift 83 minutes, this new "Massacre" wastes no time in getting to the slaughter. Beautifully shot, this doesn't share the look of the gritty, low-budget original, but it's pretty, nonetheless. The acting by all (especially Fisher) is good, and they all sell the nutty mayhem without making the whole affair seem ridiculous. Truth be told, while it's not consistently scary, there are quite a few surprise jumps and some effectively tense sequences.

The biggest issue with the film is the script by Chris Thomas Devlin, with a story by Fede Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues. Truth be told, the film's issues might just be the fault of the studio editing out some of the, er, meat of the story.

For example, Lila was the victim of a school shooting and has trauma as a result. Her sister isn't too kind to her and treats her like she's fragile, when she ends up being the toughest one of the bunch. But the fact that the story keeps referencing the shooting makes it seem like they could have dived a bit deeper into what exactly happened that day, rather than simply giving us a few brief images.

Similarly, Sally Hardesty's return feels like a tacked-on afterthought. The first head-scratcher is where she lives. While you can guess at the psychology behind this, it's never explained and only used as a visual call-back. She also doesn't show up until the last act, and when we've followed the younger characters around for the whole movie, we aren't necessarily interested in her revenge story – and neither is the movie, as this subplot isn't really given a lot of screen time.

That said, the film is rather entertaining. It's engaging in the way that has you yelling at the screen, trying to figure out what you'd do in the same situation and wondering why an elderly, lumbering Leatherface is so adept at getting around and popping up out of nowhere. Granted, it helps with the scare factor, but still, you do question the logic sometimes.

But honestly, who cares. I think audiences are long past the notion of taking these movies seriously. They're just brutal fun (if that can even be a thing) and swift, creepy entertainment. Leatherface is back, and many heads are going to roll – probably for a long time, too, if this is a successful entry into Netflix's oeuvre.

"Texas Chainsaw Massacre" premieres on Netflix February 18th.