Leatherface (2017) Discussion
I'm opening this discussion because, from what I've seen, no one else has yet. Also, I just finished watching the movie and I really want to get my opinion off my chest and hear what other people think about the film. Shall we begin?
Overall, this film wasn't a disaster by any means. In fact, it did have redeeming qualities. But this is probably the most frustrating and unsatisfying film in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, even if it's not the worst or even as bad as Texas Chainsaw 3D and The Next Generation (though that's more of a testament to what those films did wrong than what this film did right).
The good
To start off with some of the stuff I liked about this film - For one, it's technically well made. The cinematography looked gorgeous and, despite being filmed in Europe, they did a convincing job of the Texas landscape, more so than the California-shot Texas Chainsaw Massacre III... which looked like a California desert. The Inside directors have a real good eye for impressive visuals and atmosphere. Tonally and visually, this movie feels like the original 1974 film more than any of the other sequels (2, 3, 4, and 3D). Sure, it lacked the grainy documentary-esque nature of the first film, but it captured the surreal sun-baked look of the its portrayal of Texas and even a little bit of the madness (particularly in the opening scene).
I also liked that, although they brought back the Hartman family, this movie didn't try to argue that Sawyers aren't terrible people and that the Hartmans are the truly evil ones (like the abominable Texas Chainsaw 3D did). Instead, it showed it from multiple perspectives, showing the atrocities and insanity of the Sawyers, showing Hartman as the father, then showing Hartman as the bad guy, and then showing Hartman as the victim. Overall, Leatherface is the sympathetic protagonist because he isn't Leatherface yet, and because it's his origin movie.
Lastly, there is also some cool gore in the film, though that isn't enough to make or break it.
The rest of the film
Okay, now let's get to the real heart of the matter.... A BULLET TO THE FACE?! The supposed tragedy that was so bad that it destroyed Jed's mind and turned him into a mindless, hulking monster with no individuality was A SIMPLE BULLET TO THE CHEEK?? Come on! That explains what destroyed his face and absolutely nothing else. Surely, there's got to be more to it than THAT? After Jed killed Elizabeth, I started chanting in my head "Don't end! Don't end! Don't end!" What happened next? He started putting on Stephen Dorff's face (because... reasons), then he started putting on lipstick (because... more reasons), and then the credits came up. Come on! Really, movie? As I said earlier, this is not the worst TCM movie, but it's certainly the most unsatisfying and frustrating, especially given the promise it showed.
But I think the film's half-arsed excuse for an origin is just a symptom of the film's larger problem - Nothing is given any development or room to breath. First, we have the inmates in the asylum. We are told that we are supposed to hate Doctor Lang and that he experiments on patients in his "House of horrors"... But then we never see any of this. Aside from an electric shock and potentially blackmailing Clarice into sexual favours, we never learn what any of his misdeeds are, and we spend very little time at the Gorman House. Yet, we are supposed to root for Doctor Lang's death.
After the asylum segment, it turns into a movie about the inmates going on a killing spree while running from the law. But, once again, it's half-arsed and nothing really happens. They kill some people at a BBQ joint, they find a new hide-out, and then they get caught. That's about it. The film sets up a mystery as to which character will become the chainsaw-wielding maniac, but that doesn't get enough development to truly work either. Even the vengeful big bad sheriff (Stephen Dorff) failed to elicit any fear, sympathy, or hate from me, largely because (say it with me) THERE WASN'T ENOUGH DEVELOPMENT. Dorff's character doesn't get much screentime or get to do anything except - look at a picture of his daughter, chase the inmates, kidnap Jed, get captured by the Sawyers in the most pathetic way possible (not much of a final showdown), and then get killed off.
After that, we come to the Leatherface origin segment of the film, which was the most frustrating part of the film and will likely anger the majority of the fanbase. He gets shot in the face, which (by itself) turns Jed into Leatherface whilst somehow simultaneously making him forget who he is, turning him into a mindless child-like monster, and destroying his face. Very convenient. The film went from zero to Leatherface very quickly. So Stephen Dorff didn't torture him to the point of breaking? No explanation for why he starts wearing faces, why he doesn't seem to have any gender identity, or how he even lost his personality to begin with? I guess if the average person gets hit in the head hard enough by a deranged cop near Crystal Lake, their head will deform and they might become Jason Voorhees... Right?
You could argue that no origin for this iconic character would satisfy everyone, and you would probably be right, but this is downright lazy. Keep in mind that I am one of the few people who really enjoyed Alien: Covenant and I participated in the #WeWantLeatherface Twitter campaign, so I wasn't too close minded going into this.
All in all, I have to ask - What did the heavy reshoots do to this film? It seems somewhat suspicious that this (let's be honest) unfinished film was made by the talented directors of Inside, heavily reshot, and then subsequently pushed to straight-to-V.O.D. status, only after the fans demanded it. Apparently, there was also a lot of stuff from the script and such that didn't make it into the film, including further details exploring the TCM mythology. For one, Ted (from the beginning of the film) was supposed to be the father of Sally Hardesty and there was going to be a scene exploring that, which was removed. Seth M. Sherwood even pointed out that the Hardesty house is right next to the Sawyer house in the original film. Sherwood also revealed that the film was going to explore more of why Leatherface is gender neutral, with the film showing that one of his foster families dressed him up as a girl. That was nowhere to be seen in the film (instead just we see him put on lipstick at the end with, like everything else, zero development). Apparently, there was also going to be other connections to the 1974 original film, two examples of which being an armadillo in the road at the beginning, and a John Larroquette crawl at the end, which were all removed. All and all, I hope there is enough footage for a substantial Extended Director's Cut by the time this movie makes it to DVD and Blu-Ray.
So, how did everyone else feel about it? Sign off below. Cheers.
Comments
I love the whole Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise. My Uncle Jim (Jim Siedow) was the cook in TCM1 and Drayton Sawyer in TCM2. The worse in the franchise for me is The Next Generation. My parents took me to see 1974 since we are related. That started my love for horror movies! As far as Leatherface 2017 it is another film to the franchise. I'll continue to collect any TCM related. I also collect TCM figurines, I just wish they would make a Drayton Sawyer figure.
This was almost too pretty at times.
Leatherface was decent but I don't know how a guy can go from being all helpful and nice to sawing a girls head off just because his mother told him to.
I just rewatched the 2003 remake, and I had forgotten just how how faithful it was to the vibe of the original. They even got the same cinematographer. To this day, it is probably the closest thing we have to a worthy successor to the original, though I still want to believe that we will eventually get a proper sequel in the vain of Hellbound: Hellraiser II to Hellraiser, Friday the 13th Part 2 to Friday the 13th, Bride of Frankenstein to Frankenstein, ETC.
It still had redeeming qualities IMO. As @DeadFuck said, it had great atmosphere. But what really got me was just how nonsensical and unsatisfying the actual origin is at the end. How did a bullet make him forget who he was? How did it turn him into a monster devoid of all personality, to the point of being androgynous based on the masks he wears? I can keep going, but the point is that a bullet to the cheek didn't really explain anything, other than how he got disfigured. To me, it felt more like a fan film than a canon origin story. But that's just my opinion.
EXTENDED DIRECTOR'S CUT - Yay or Nay?
On the shot to the face turning him to Leatherface being an issue. I came across a study about facial trauma and here is an excerpt from it-
"18- to 45-year-old individuals who had a facial laceration of 3 cm or greater and/or a fractured facial bone requiring operative intervention within 6 months to 2 years prior to participation in the study. Retrospective analysis of patients at Yale New Haven Hospital Emergency Department was done between May 1997 and December 1998. When compared with a control population, the study group showed a statistically significant lower satisfaction with life, more negative perception of body image, higher incidence of posttraumatic stress disorder, higher incidence of alcoholism, and an increase in depression. Also, among the study group there was a significantly higher incidence of posttrauma unemployment, marital problems, binge drinking, jail, and lower attractiveness scores. In conclusion, in this preliminary study, it appears that the result of facial scarring/trauma includes a significantly decreased satisfaction with life, an altered perception of body image, a higher incidence of posttraumatic stress disorder, a higher incidence of alcoholism, and increased posttrauma jail, unemployment, binge drinking, and marital problems. Thus, it appears that there is significant negative social and functional impact related to facial trauma and scarring."
If in 6 months a 3 cm laceration or fractured facial bone can do this to what we can assume might have been somewhat "normal" people, what do you think the impact a bullet to the face of someone like Jackson would do to his state of mind? Makes me like it even more now. The only stretch might only be how quick it took for him to get to that point but that seems like a minor issue. As severe as Jackson's state of mind was and the events surrounding , to me it's plausible he becomes Leatherface with his families guidance.
IDK if this will change anything for you but I found it interesting nonetheless. I plan to read a few more when I find them so see if there is consistency. Here is the link to read further if you want-
http://journals.lww.com/annalsplasticsurgery/Abstract/2005/05000/Quality_of_Life_and_Facial_Trauma__Psychological.10.aspx
* Bud is actually Jedidiah.
* Jackson, after seeing Bud get shot by the cop, loses it completely and then gets shot in the mouth meaning he cant verbally comunicate who he really is.
* This, along with the fairly constant questioning of whether the family will recognize him after 10 years, made me assume there was something a bit deeper in the twist. Apparently, I was wrong lol.