User:LancedSoul/sandbox/Leatherface

Note: This sandbox is focusing on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies.

=Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III=

Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III is a 1990 American slasher film directed by Jeff Burr. The film is the third installment of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series, and it stars Kate Hodge, William Butler, Ken Foree, Tom Hudson, Viggo Mortensen, Joe Unger, and R.A. Mihailoff as Leatherface. New Line released it on January 12, 1990.

Plot
Driving through Texas, young yuppie couple Michelle (Kate Hodge) and Ryan (William Butler) stop at the Last Chance Gas Station, but after they witness the owner attacking a hitchhiker named Tex (Viggo Mortensen), they panic and flee. In their hasty departure, they get lost and soon find themselves pursued by the chainsaw-toting maniac known as Leatherface (R.A. Mihailoff). While running, the couple bump into survivalist Benny (Ken Foree), who they team up with in an effort to escape.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The story is mostly a rehash of what happened in the first two films.
 * 2) The music is pretty forgettable.
 * 3) While some of the kills are brutal, most of them are delivered in a way where it ends up being ridiculous.
 * 4) Michelle and the other characters are very forgettable.

Reception
Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III received mostly negative reviews upon its initial release. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 19% based on 16 reviews with an average rating of 4.06/10. On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 30 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "Generally unfavorable reviews".

=The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning=

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning is a 2006 American slasher film and a prequel to the 2003 film. The sixth installment in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, it was written by Sheldon Turner from a story by Turner and David J. Schow, directed by Jonathan Liebesman and co-produced by Kim Henkel and Tobe Hooper (co-creators of the original 1974 film). The film's story takes place four years before its predecessor. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning was released in North America on October 6, 2006.

The next installment, Texas Chainsaw 3D, was released in 2013.

Plot
Chrissie (Jordana Brewster) and her friends (Matthew Bomer, Taylor Handley, Diora Baird) set out on a road trip for a final fling before one is shipped off to Vietnam. Along the way, bikers (Lee Tergesen, Cyia Batten) harass the foursome and cause an accident that throws Chrissie from the vehicle. The lawman who arrives on the scene kills one of the bikers and brings Chrissie's friends to the Hewitt homestead, where young Leatherface (Andrew Bryniarski) is learning the tools of terror.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Several anachronisms here and there, for instance, though the film is set in 1969, the soundtrack features songs that were not released until after 1969. Free's hit song "All Right Now" plays on the radio while introducing Chrissy, Dean, Bailey and Eric. The song was not actually released until the summer of 1970.
 * 2) The writing is pretty mixed, as the stuff surrounding the Hewitts is well written, while the stuff surrounding Chrissie and her friends are pretty weak.
 * 3) Bad pacing and despite the film being only 91 minutes long, it would've feels much longer than that.
 * 4) Chrissie is a pretty generic final girl protagonist.
 * 5) The other characters are literally just there to be killed.
 * 6) The acting from Chrissie and the other characters is pretty bland.
 * 7) Obvious plot turns and twist.

Good Qualities

 * 1) John Larroqutte once again returns as the narrator.
 * 2) Steve Jablonsky delivers another memorable and creepy score.
 * 3) The atmosphere is still pretty eerie.
 * 4) The kills and gore effects by Greg Nicotero and co. are a major step-up from any of the previous films.

Reception
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning received negative reviews. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 13% approval rating based on 87 reviews and an average rating of 3.60/10. The site's consensus states: "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning is full of blood and gore, but not enough scares or a coherent story to make for a successful horror film.". Metacritic reports a 30 out of 100 rating, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".

=Leatherface=

Leatherface is a 2017 American horror film directed by Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, written by Seth M. Sherwood, and starring Stephen Dorff, Vanessa Grasse, Sam Strike, and Lili Taylor. It is the eighth installment in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, and works as a prequel to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), explaining the origin of the series' lead character.

Plot
A violent teen and three others kidnap a young nurse while escaping from a Texas mental institution. Pursued by a vengeful sheriff, the disturbed young man embarks on a murderous rampage that shapes him into a legendary killer known as Leatherface.

Why It Sucks

 * 1) Like 2006's Black X-Mas and Rob Zombie's Halloween series, the film gives Leatherface way too much backstory, taking away the killer’s mysterious, psychotic nature.
 * 2) Ike and Clarice are flat out despicable and unlikeable.
 * 3) Hartman is just a generic antagonist.
 * 4) The writing is all over the place, and the overall plot for the most part doesn't even feel like a Texas Chainsaw Massacre film.
 * 5) The other characters are either forgettable, or just in the movie to be killed.
 * 6) Even for a Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie, there are some bits that are too disturbing and too mean spirited.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) John Frizzell delivers another pretty decent and creepy score.

Reception
Leatherface received generally mixed-to-negative reviews from moviegoers, fans and critics alike. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Leatherface received an approval rating of 30% based on 44 reviews, and an average rating of 4.05/10. Its consensus reads, "Leatherface may wear the skin of a Texas Chainsaw Massacre prequel, but it proves gutless as an origin story and finds little invention in the horror tropes it's cannibalizing.". On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 40 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews.".