Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III

A relentlessly sadistic and worryingly amusing movie, which will entertain and offend in equal measure. Read full review

They're gonna say that it used to be a good movie, but then the Motion Picture Censor Board got on their case and gave it an X rating, and they had to take a chain saw to the movie, and what came out was different. They weenied out on us. They suckered us for five bucks. They profaned the name of the most revered horror movie in film history. And what makes it worse is that the director, Jeff Burr, evidently knew what he was doing. There are a few scenes in this flick that are as scary as anything I've ever seen. [02 Feb 1990, p.12]

Splatterpunk novelist-turned-screenwriter David Schow and director Jeff Burr take the material back to its roots, re-creating the minimal plotting and alternately muddy and washed-out look of the original. In deference to contemporary tastes, Leatherface pulls as few gory punches as prevailing standards permit (Texas Chainsaw Massacre only seemed unbearably graphic) and underscores the mayhem with an abrasive speed metal soundtrack. Read full review

While this movie comes nowhere near being as good as the original, it’s much better than Part 2. In the end, though, it’s really just another generic slasher flick with nothing beyond the Leatherface connection to recommend it to discerning fans. Read full review

Chainsaw III is competent enough when establishing its premise, but thereafter violates almost every shock-movie convention. The film's visual effects are often ghastly, although there is probably less gratuitous gore here than in any Friday the 13th movie. [17 Jan 1990, p.4D]

For those who saw the first two Massacres, this will seem pretty much deja-boo! All too much of III is rehashed horror. The first installment was genuinely shocking, unrelenting, visceral terror. II was camp terror, a gothic detour that cast Dennis Hopper as a good guy (albeit nuts). III envisions itself as a return to I, but director Jeff Burr is no Tobe Hopper (director of the first installment), and even the special effects seem bloodless imitations. Read full review

There might be a lot of guts scattered around in Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, but it's a completely gutless movie, without the wit to be a comedy or the nerve to stand on its own as a straight horror picture. It just floats around at its own dull pace, trying this out and that out, as it slowly sinks. [13 Jan 1990, p.C30]

The Museum of Modern Art has committed Tobe Hooper's original Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) to its permanent collection. This spin-off, which has none of that film's brutal energy, won't be joining it. The state of Texas ought to sue the makers of Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III for defamation of character. [13 Jan 1990, p.C5]

This thoroughly unoriginal splatter flick is littered with references to Hooper's seminal work and lifts the plot directly from its predecessor. [15 Jan 1990, p.C6]

Leatherface is as tasteless as its predecessors, but it reduces fear to a business and blood to a drip. It's a slaughterhouse without any real buzz. [15 Jan 1990, p.F2]