Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)

Two friends must deliver a car from coast to coast, but as they pass through the great southern state of Texas, things begin to get a little out of the ordinary. First, they are lured off the main highway to a deserted Texas road. And then here, they are stalked by the menacing Leatherface and his deranged family. Their only chance of escape, is a survivalist with enough fire power to blast Leatherface and the rest of the grizzly predators to hell. An excellent piece, definitely worth watching!!!

Fmovies: If you watch this as a remake and not a sequel, and then you'll understand it, because that is what it really was meant to be according to all involved as well as Tobe Hooper, who was on board for a while as an adviser. Otherwise, the storyline from TCM part 2 to this one won't make sense.

I saw this when it was first released in the theater and didn't think too highly of it, but then I saw the uncut, unrated version recently and it improved more than 100%.

It's spooky, atmospheric, relentlessly frightening, with a very good job by R A Mihailoff as Leatherface, whose brutal and monstrous characterization of Leatherface seems to be the basis for the current Leatherface character by Andrew Briniarski. There's no cowering to others in the family, transvestite behavior, or silly screaming as in other versions. Also this one has a great chainsaw, plenty of great character actors doing what they do best, as great characters.

The film would have been better had the squeamish producers left in the X-rated violent scenes as they were originally. Would have been top notch if the (hideously deformed) Leatherface unmasking had remained, a bit that was eventually used to a degree in the 2003 version. Could have been a 10 had someone like Savini been involved. As it is, still superb.

This is a very good movie that was made in a time that didn't make very good movies, sorry that's just the way I see it. This was full of memorable lines. The hitchhiker in this movie would kick the crap out of the original's. Leatherface was something of a joke in this movie however, but that was the movie's only real weakness, and the rest of the family more than made up for it. This needs to be on DVD, because technology is your friend ya know.

Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III fmovies. "Leatherface:Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3" is the nastiest installment of the series.There is plenty of violence,gore and ghoulish humour to satisfy many horror fans.The production design by Mick Strawn is simply striking and the acting is fairly convincing.The opening sequence,a grisly excavation of a mass grave in the woods,is unsettling enough to set a proper mood,but the ending is silly and disappointing.As for the characters Alfredo(Tom Everett)simply steals the show-in my opinion he is a variation on the first film's Hitchhiker character.And of course there is Leatherface(R.A.Mihailoff),who has a big shiny new saw.All in all if you liked the first two TCM movies give this one a look-I think that it's worth your time,just avoid "The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre"(1994)like the plague!

I'm actually really surprised at all the positive reviews for this film here, considering its horrible reputation.

Made on a shoestring budget with no-name actors (at least at the time, obviously Viggo went on to A-list-ish status) obviously there is nothing new or original here about this outing, as can be said of most sequels. Hooper's 1974 film said and did everything that needed to be said and done (the documentary style,iconic villain, the creation of the"slasher-film template", the unrelenting suspense, the post-Vietnam worldview, the subtle political underpinnings about consumerism, greed,and the decay of the nuclear family, etc....). That film is an unparalleled masterpiece, and even Hooper's own follow up really didn't hold a candle or need to exist(although it was crazy, offbeat, quality cult film making on its own terms)so a third entry would seem a complete waste of time.

So why even pay part III any attention? My adoration for it relies solely because of the first half of the film, which is very well-done and far superior to the second half. For starters, the acting is fine across the board: Kate Hodge and William Butler, as the film's yuppie protagonists, are natural and serviceable in their roles, nothing award-winning or show-stopping, but subtle and absorbing enough to not take viewers out of the film, like many of its lesser ilk (slasher films in this era typically had bottom-of-the-barrel talent).

The cinematography is also imaginative and stylized (i.e. the entire "gas station peepshow sequence" is fantastically shot and executed; the angle of our heroine through the cracked mirror, the claustrophobic lighting, the POV's from the peephole). And note Kate Hodge's reactions during this scene: she genuinely seems creeped out and uncomfortable, and her reactions of fear and confusion in the scenes that follow are equally convincing. It's an underrated performance, in a film with uniformly underrated performances.

The film's pacing in this first half is also impressive- from the deceptively mundane car conversation that opens the film to the bizarre "body pit" sequence which was so absurd, awkward, yet somehow plausibly creepy, indeed, it bordered on parody, (but then, this film as a whole can be seen almost as a parody), to the armadillo murder scene, then the gas station sequence: all these sequences are knowing winks to the first film, but because the film modernizes them, it benefits as it places the viewers in the "now" instead of the "then" (the original's documentary feel is one of the film's greatest strengths, but years later, it does give one the feeling of watching historical news/documentary footage of something that already occurred-again,part of the film's raw, unnerving power, to be sure). But this film is set in 1990, so a documentary approach just wouldn't work, not to mention it would be derivative, redundant, and just simply out-of-place. So it's a credit to Burr and cinematographer James L. Carter, who later proved himself a real talent with more mainstream gigs, that they remained faithful to the mood of the original while taking some new chances.

And how about that "truck-chase/changing the tire" sequence? I LIVE for scenes like this and sadly, modern horror films just don't take us here anymore: the ominous, yet minimalist soundtrack, slow-burn pacing, effective use of that lantern light, and again, Kate Hodge seems genuinely freaked o

I loved the cast of this movie. The action is great and it is actually very interesting. It is not your ordinary cheesy chop 'em up movie. The actors make it great! This movie is just as scary as the first, but it has better actors!