Recensioni degli utenti

Prequel to the legendary Texas Chainsaw Massacre, this is as much a violent road movie as it is a horror. I heard many negative things about the film beforehand but as always I watched it with an open mind. On the negative side I found this film to be somewhat unconvincing and unnecessary. Obviously it was made to make money but it really does not add anything worthy to the TCM series. On the plus side it was technically pretty good, having seen a few of the director' previous films it lived up to expectations. Acting and pace is good plus there is a lot of blood & violence to satisfy most gorehounds. I would certainly watch it again.

As a child, Jed Sawyer is taken from his murderous hillbilly family and put in the Gorman House Youth Reformatory, where he spends the next ten years with a new identity. When the prisoners revolt, a small group make a bid for freedom with pretty nurse Lizzy (Vanessa Grasse) and fellow inmate Jackson as their hostages.

Tobe Hooper's original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre ranks as one of the scariest films ever made, its iconic killer Leatherface its most frightening creation. With this latest film in the series, they've gone and done what Rob Zombie did with his godawful Halloween remake: give the killer a back story. In humanising the character, they have lessened his effectiveness as an object of fear. Once an emotionless, uncontrollable monster, impossible to reason with, he is now someone we can identify with and feel a level of pity for. It didn't work for Michael Myers and it doesn't work here.

The origins story-line also makes much of the film seem frustratingly unlike a Texas Chainsaw movie, at times even reminding me of a Tarantino flick (the escape from Gorman House made me think of Natural Born Killers while the BBQ stop massacre was redolent of both NBK and Pulp Fiction). Only in the film's closing moments do things actually feel like they belong to the franchise, with Lizzy trying to escape the Sawyer's charnel house, a chainsaw wielding Jed (soon to become Leatherface) hot on her heels. Directors Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury don't hold back on the brutality and blood, but even so, I can imagine many fans of the series being disappointed with the level of splatter (too much for some, not enough for others).

5.5 out of 10, rounded down to 5 for that really dumb scene in which three people (including one really fat guy) hide from the law by climbing inside the festering carcass of a steer. A really big steer. Also, minus half a point for the unbelievable necro sex scene. And another half point subtracted for Jed's sudden (and also completely unbelievable) transformation from rational human being to hulking homicidal maniac.

This movie in itself is not exactly bad. It looks alright, has some OK gore, decent acting for the most part, some slightly interesting characters. It doesn't suck. But as a origin story to one of horror's biggest icons? Eeeh, yeah. It's not great.

Actually, right off the bat the biggest problem with this movie strikes me. When you're making an origin story to such a famous character, you should make sure that the story you make up and make into a movie is really awesome. Unfortunately, it's not. We see Leatherface's family and stuff, and it's just meh. The opening scene is just not very interesting. What follows though, isn't bad. They have some kind of story to tell here, not relying too much on TCM- lore, and I thought it was somewhat entertaining.

You wouldn't have to cut a lot here to make this movie totally unrecognizable as a Leaterface origin-story, though. That's a shame. And it's also pretty tame, I'm sorry to say. Actually really tame. Like I said initially, the origin story to such a gruesome character should really be a lot more horrific, gruesome and ghastly. It's not. It's pretty watered down. I think the die hard fans of Leatherface will be disappointed with this. But who knows, I may be wrong.

When the directors of 2007's gore-spectacle 'Inside' (Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury) took over the reins of a supposed prequel to 1974's Tobe Hooper classic 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre', expectations had indeed sky-rocketed. But what we get isn't even worthy of being called a tribute to the TCM franchise, let alone be regarded as its worthy canon prequel.

The screenplay offers very little in terms of the surprises it throws at the viewers (and TCM fans), thereby ending up strictly ho-hum. We see a bunch of eccentrics creating a riot at a mental health facility and escaping, with tidbits of the Sawyer family thrown in to engage the viewer. In fact, the makers are trying to sell this movie around the mystery of which character amongst the the leads ultimately evolves into 'Leatherface'. Well, much to our dismay, even this stretch appears annoyingly contrived (and to be honest, the poster kinda spoils it already!).

What we're subjected to for most part, is literally a lunatic couple shotgun-killing their way to notoriety on their supposed escape (even the big chainsaw-kill comes in too late) with a helpless nurse named Lizzy (Vanessa Grasse) who has unnecessarily been dragged along with them while also being accompanied by a duo of brothers (the somewhat compassionate Jackson and the bulky Bud). Lizzy is the character we're supposed to root for, but sadly this does not work. We know as little about her as we know about the rest of the zany troupe.

The directors who're known to stage horrifically-exciting set- pieces, resort to cheap tricks here (like a partial necro scene) in order to augment the shock-value. The shot of a woman's derriere walking into a barn surrounded by badlands (during one of the opening segments, clearly reminding us of previous TCM films including the Michael Bay funded remake) had just about raised my hopes a teeny weeny bit before everything came crashing down.

With no real thunderbolts in store for fans or non-fans, this prequel falls head first into a pit of quick-sand, the real difference-maker in the story being the weapons (shotguns, knives) that the characters possess and not their personalities. You're bound to forget this movie as soon as the credits roll.

Verdict: Terrible!

Leatherface (2017)

** (out of 4)

This origin film tells how a redneck from Texas would turn into the maniac known as Leatherface. We start off seeing him being put into a mental hospital where ten years later he escapes. He was thrown into the hospital and eventually chased by the cop Hal Hartman (Stephen Dorff) and soon bodies begin to pile up.

LEATHERFACE was directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, the duo that were behind the incredibly gory and controversial INSIDE. Reviews of this film have been rather mixed and I must say that I'm somewhere in the middle because a lot of people have enjoyed how different it is while others are screaming bloody murder due to its story and structure. If you're looking for gore it's certainly about as bloody as you're going to get from a mainstream picture but there are many issues here as well.

I think the biggest problem I had with the film is that it just didn't feel like a Texas CHAINSAW movie. I say that because it starts off like ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST and then we get some sort of strange NATURAL BORN KILLERS type of road picture. I know this is a origin story but lets be honest for a moment. These type of films rarely work and to me this one just doesn't cut it. I think the biggest issue is the story itself because it's just not all that fascinating seeing the future Leatherface in a mental hospital and it's even less interesting seeing him in a road picture.

Making the character a supporting one was a major mistake for a number of reasons including the fact that out of the five people on the run he's the least interesting. He's also not as interesting as the cop or his own mother (Lili Taylor) so you've got the title character falling to around seventh place in his own movie! As I said, if you're wanting violence and gore then there's plenty of that here but, again, I'm sure many fans of the original film are going to be disappointed because this stuff wasn't in the original Tobe Hooper movie. So, again, why even do a origin movie?

I personally thought the violence and gore was great but I can see why some are turned off by it. I also thought the performances were good for the most part and this is especially true of Dorff and Taylor. It was great seeing them in a movie like this and I thought they both delivered. Technically speaking the film is well-made, features some very good cinematography and the score was nice as well.

LEATHERFACE isn't a complete disaster like THE RETURN OF THE Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE but I'd say it's the next worst of the series.

In 1955, in Texas, the teenage daughter of Sheriff Hartman (Stephen Dorf), Betty (Lorina Kamburova) and her boyfriend Ted (Julian Kostov) are driving along a lonely road kissing each other when Ted almost hit something on the road. He stops his truck and Betty realizes that is a child is asking for help. She follows him and is trapped in a derelict barn and killed by the dysfunctional Sawyer family under the command of the matriarch Verna (Lili Taylor). When Sheriff Hartman learns that he beloved daughter was killed, he sends the boy Jed Sawyer to a mental institution called the Gorman House Youth Reformatory as avenge. Ten years later, the idealistic nurse Elizabeth "Lizzie" White (Vanessa Grasse) is hired by the Gorman House and soon she befriends the teenagers Bud (Sam Coleman) and Jackson (Sam Strike). But Verna comes to the institution with a lawyer bringing an injunction expecting to see her son Jed that had his name changed. However the director Doctor Lang (Christopher Adamson) rejects the document and Verna leaves the security doors open to let the patients to escape. There is a havoc in the mental institution and the violent Ike (James Bloor) and his girlfriend Clarice (Jessica Madsen) steal a car and bring Bud and Jackson and decide to abduct Lizzie as hostage. Hartman learns what happened in the Gorman House and hunts the escapees down with his men, following the crime spree left by Ile and Clarice.

"Leatherface" is a horror film that explains the origin of Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise. The film is underrated maybe because its release timing more than forty years after the release of the original "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1974). But the storyline, screenplay, direction, performances and makeup are remarkable. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Availale

I really don't understand why there are so many negative reviews. It had a good story - wondering who leather face would be, plenty of blood and gore and the typical cop trying to get his revenge. Stephen Dorff was great in his role, as was everyone else. This film kept me entertained from start to finish and was exactly what I hoped it would be. Definitely worth a watch!

Starting out in 1954, the story follows the Sawyer family, a rural Texas band of miscreants and murderers. When a cop's daughter is killed by one of the family, the child culprit is taken away and put into a home for disturbed youth. Cut to ten years later, and new nurse Lizzy (Vanessa Grasse) is assigned to the disturbed teens ward. When the Sawyer family matriarch Verna (Lili Taylor) causes a riot during a visit, several of the inmates escape, taking Lizzy with them as a hostage. One of the escaped mental patients will grow up to become Leatherface, the mask-wearing, chainsaw-wielding terror of the earlier films, but which one will it be: volatile Ike (James Bloor), hulking idiot Bud (Sam Coleman), or troubled nice guy Jackson (Sam Strike)? Also starring Stephen Dorff as a violent cop, and Jessica Marsden as another homicidal escaped inmate.

There's a lot wrong here, from the easy-to-guess "mystery" of who will become Leatherface (a transformation that doesn't take place until the movie's final 10 minutes, so be forewarned), to the many anachronisms for a story supposedly taking place in 1964. The production values are low, and you don't have to look at the minor cast credits or crew listings to guess that this was made on the cheap in Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, to be specific). There's some bloody gore, but not presented in any original or at least humorous way. The acting is all barely serviceable, with Dorff turning in another loathsome jerk role, and Taylor seriously slumming as the killer family boss. This is the eighth movie in the series, although most of them are unrelated, with perpetual reboots, prequels or just dismissal of previous films the norm.

Having enjoyed Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo's previous works (Inside, Livid n Among the Living) n having seen all the seven parts of TCM, i was looking forward to this.

Well, i wasn't disappointed.

Surprisingly i got more than i bargained for.

The direction, cinematography n acting is very good.

I liked the sun soaked settings n the road movie style.

The film is suspenseful, tensed n at times brutal, the film will keep u guessing who's Leatherface, which is something very very new.

The movie succeeded in paying homage to: 1)There is a psychotic couple on the run who kills people mercilessly a la Natural Born Killers.

2)There is a bonding between two boys in which one fella takes care of the other deranged fella a la Of Mice and Men.

3)There is a cop who is hell bent on revenge from a deranged family a la Devil's Rejects.

4)This is indeed a befitting prequel a la Hannibal Rising, explaining the story how a young boy descended into madness n became Leatherface.

5)It does have shades of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.

6)There is a scene which is similar from the Revenant n another brutal scene from another film.... wont say the name or it will spoil the movie a bit.

The previous prequel showed him as a mentally n deformed face fellow who just kills but this prequel showed a proper descent into madness n the trauma at a young age which does make for a proper elucidation about the origin.

While the 1974 original will forever be a classic without showing on screen violence, this film does have some very brutal violence but not the kind of gore which is there in the remake n its prequel.

Surprisingly good star cast n solid acting by Dorff n Taylor.

Honestly though I was stoked about this, knowing that the last movies have been total garbage, I didn't lose hope.

This definitely has the original TCM vibe in it. The colours, cinematography. While it lacks the gore, it's still a solid movie showing how it all started. Probably the biggest flaw is that it lacks the silent tension the original had.

However still more effective movie than the Beginning, 3D. Recommend!

In 1955 Sheriff Hartman (Stephen Dorff) is called to the scene of his daughter, Betty's, death. The Sawyer children are at the crime scene (and not for the first time as they've been present at other deaths) and while he can't charge any of them he gets revenge on the Sawyer matriarch, Verna (Lili Taylor), by taking custody of her son, Jedidiah, away under Child Endangerment. 10 years later Jedidiah has been given a new name and has been integrated into the system at mental hospital Gorman House Youth Reformery. When Verna unsuccessfully tries to contact her son, she instigates a riot by opening several facility doors. A group of four inmates consisting of hulking mute Bud (Sam Coleman), violent psychopath Ike (James Bloor) and his equally violent girlfriend Clarice (Jessica Madsen), and Bud's subdued relatively level headed friend Jackson (Sam Strike) escape with Ike taking nurse Elizabeth White (Vanessa Grasse) hostage. Learning of the escapees and that one of them is Jedidiah Sawyer, Sheriff Hartman pursues the group intent on bringing them down rather than bringing them in.

Following the relative success of Texas Chainsaw 3D, Lionsgate and millennium opted to move forward on another installment tentatively titled Texas Chainsaw 4. Following a proposed follow-up to be filmed by Texas Chainsaw 3D director John Luessenhop being scrapped, the producers instead opted for a prequel pitch by Seth M. Sherwood described as a road thriller akin to Terrence Malik's Badlands but with gore. French New Extremity directors Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo who had made a name for themselves with their films such as Inside, Livid, and Among the Living that like other members of the (Alexandre Aja, Xavier Gens, etc.) were noted for their brutal intensity and violence. Leatherface is technically speaking a better film than Texas Chainsaw 3D, and it does well capturing the period with Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo evoking an almost neo-western vibe from the film, but it's also an exercise in redundancy as much like other prequels we know exactly where it's going and the characters and story aren't engaging enough to make us forget that.

The movie does have good elements to it. The cinematography is well done and convinces us the Bulgarian filming locations are in fact 1960s East Texas and unlike the Platinum Dunes films I actually felt like Leatherface took place in a different decade. Stephen Dorff is really good as antagonist Sheriff Hartman who plays the hellbent lawman archetype with seething intensity and hatred for the Sawyer family, in many ways it's reminiscent of Dennis Hopper's Lefty from Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 except played straight but still good. I also liked Lili Taylor as Sawyer matriarch Verna Sawyer-Carson who conveys this almost Betty Crockerish image that barely contains the intense violence and hatred beneath the surface.

Unfortunately the principal cast whom we spend the most time with are the least interesting. Bud, Ike, Clarice, Jackson, and Elizabeth aren't all that interesting and it feels like we're focusing on the wrong people story wise. Stephen Dorff is arguably the driving force behind the story as he's Hellbent on taking down this group because he knows his daughter is dead because of them, and while his character does engage in shady or brutal acts, he's not more evil than the group we're following who we see kill without hesitation or remorse. The story isn't unworkable and all the pieces are in place, btu the movie wants us to sympathize with the group of escaped psychopaths rather than be scared by them and it just leaves the movie lacking in much of anchor point for investment. This probably explains why certain actions the hostage character Elizabeth does seem so outright perplexing because there are several opportunities where she can make a run for safety from the unstable group but just doesn't and the relationship between her and Jackson isn't strong enough to buy give credibility to her uncertainty as to whether or not she should leave. Eventually the movie leads right back to where we knew it started and because it played with the uncertainty of who is Leatherface the character's descent feels like it's on fast forward when it should've been a slow rot.

Leatherface is just kind of "meh" it's not unique enough like Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, it's not bad enough to be funny like Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Next Generation or Texas Chainsaw 3D, and instead is content to settle for competent mediocrity. It has some good performances and a nice look, but it's in service of a movie that's just "there".

The only good thing about this movie is that it is exceptionally fast paced. The many bad things include

• Zero subtlety

• Generic and by the numbers story

• terrible acting

• no actual scares

• not much of a point overall.

And a chainsaw is seldom seen. Snore.

The problem with many horror movie franchises is that due to lack of new ideas brought by their authors (who tend to solely exploit the trademarks and fundamentals of the original work instead of contributing something of their own) sequels/prequels lack originality, are too derivative, formulaic and overall subpar. None of these applies to the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre prequel entitled "Leatherface".

"Leatherface", directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury ("À l'intérieur") is an example of a very well done prequel – to a certain extent reminiscent of the original work of Tobe Hooper, containing multiple references thereto as well (like the grandfather slamming a victim with a hammer and killing him with a single hit, as the granddaddy is in his prime here), but nevertheless original, self-reliant and solid piece of work.

The biggest achievement of the directors is a successful mixture of genres: a horror movie, a rural shotgun crime film and a mystery. An "asylum horror movie" could also be added to these as a sub-genre, however I have intentionally omitted it as the scenes taking place in the asylum were my least favorite (somewhat derivative, similar to Rob Zombie's "Halloween" prequel and other asylum horrors). The events taking place after the asylum part are much more interesting and exciting. The diner shootout (reminiscent of Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers") is classic on its own terms. Then comes the mystery (big twist) part that I am not going to elaborate on (in order not to spoil anything). And, finally, the kid-to-monster metamorphosis (both, physical and moral) was done immaculately.

A few words about the cast: it was good! The characters felt real, there was no overacting (or just bad acting) that we often see in horror films. Lili Taylor, Jessica Madsen and Sam Strike did a great job.

Visual and special effects are topnotch. The movie is ultraviolent – just the way a full-fledged Texas Chainsaw Massacre film should be. The ability to create amazing violent scenes on screen was demonstrated by Bustillo and Maury in their prior work (primarily, in "À l'intérieur"). The imagery (rural landscape, Sawyers' house, killing weapons, etc) is spot on and consistent with the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

The only way in which "Leatherface" is not fully consistent with its predecessor is that the latter is a dark comedy, while the prequel somewhat lacks the comic and the whole "Grand Guignol" elements of the original. This is only a minor issue though and does not affect the quality of the film in any way, especially if we consider that the film is already a mixture of various genres (as described above).

In a nutshell, "Leatherface" is one of the best installments in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise and is a great horror movie on its own terms. Definitely recommended to all horror fans.

I cant say that i had that much expectations from this movie, let alone hoped for a good story. If you thought the remake from 2013 (Texas Chainsaw) was dull and cringe, this one no is difference.

For more than half of the movie, I questioned myself why is called Leatherface, the action never calling for the well known killer nor his reputation. If you had no knowledge of him, one would assume is just another movie about a mentally ill killer, scaring off some teenagers and hunting them down.

The acting is not bad but could be a lot better, the plot is probably the biggest downside of this prequel, having too many stupid scenes. Not that many references to Leatherface at all, apart from the beginning and the ending. A foreseable ending was also a big downside, which made me to set a 6 out of 10 just as a pityful note because I like the TCM as a series.

Only watch this if you have time to spare on a rainy day.

Stop making more TTM movies... everytime they get worse and worse.

The last 10-15 minutes looked more like Wrong Turn movies than TTM.

I can't say much more then it is just a bad movie that never should have been made.

I just finished watching 'Leatherface' hoping it would be be a great prelude to the original 1974's 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. I was not disappointed in the least. With an approximate running time of 1hr and 24 minutes, it managed to fit all of the main characters into the film. I believe the gore hounds will be a bit disappointed. There is not an abundance of explicit violence. By that I mean the bloody scenes are not dwelled upon, which in my opinion is a plus. We even get to see how Leatherface achieves his deformed looks, as well as his muteness. Please don't listen to the naysayers, or the so called 'professional' movie critics. This is a great film as a prequel. I hope they do not attempt to remake the original again. This 'Leatherface', as well as the original from 1974 should stand as they are, and if another TCM movie is made, it should continue from when Sally Hardesty escapes in 1974. Watch this movie. It has action, gore and suspense. Again, you won't be disappointed .