The FrightFest in London just concluded the world premiere of Leatherface, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre prequel directed by French filmmakers Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury. Releasing exclusively on DirecTV September 21, with a limited theatrical run and full VOD release on October 20, the story is a prequel to the prequel, telling the origins of the masked killer known as Leatherface.

Through several incarnations of the franchise, Leatherface has been a heavy-set, white male presumably from Texas. Yet, Bustillo and Maury had internally discussed another option:

“Yeah, we thought about making Leatherface a female,” they told the FrightFest audience.

Update (spoiler): I caught up with Maury who explained the above quote. Lost a bit in translation, Maury told us he was responding to a question surrounding the film’s overarching mystery – which one of these teens are going to become Leatherface? Maury and Bustillo had discussed what if the female patient or nurse ended up becoming the masked killer? “We loved that idea that the audience could think that even her [Jessica Madsen’s character] could be the boogeyman in the end in people’s mind,” Maury told me this morning. “And it wasn’t a so crazy idea to have regarding the passion Leatherface had for dresses and makeup in the previous movies…”

In all honesty, I’d love to not only see a female take on Leatherface but also Freddy Krueger. It would have been quite interesting to see the female perspective from behind the custom-tailored masks made of human flesh. Think about it and discuss below…

Photo Credit: Cosplayer Megan Golden