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Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III

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Leatherface
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III
Leatherface - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III
Credits
Title: Leatherface
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III
Director: Jeff Burr
Writers: David J. Schow
Producers: Robert Engelman
Michael De Luca
Composer: Jim Manzie
Patrick Regan
Cinematography: James L. Carter
Editors: Brent A. Schoenfeld
Production
Distributed by: New Line Cinema
Released: January 12th, 1990
Rating: R
Running time: 81 min.
Country: USA
Language: English
Gross: $5,765,562 [1]
Navigation
Previous: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
Next: Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation

Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III is an American horror film directed by Jeff Burr and written by David J. Schow. It was produced by Robert Engelman and New Line Cinema and was released theatrically in the United States on January 12th, 1990. The movie is the third film in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, but has no tangible connection to the previous films and is often regarded as a quasi-remake or re-imagining. The film follows a young couple, Ryan and Michelle, who are traveling cross-country on their way to Florida when they come upon a mechanic and a gas station attendant who are of morally questionable character. After witnessing an altercation between the two, leading one to shoot other with a shotgun, they take off, only to find themselves in even greater trouble when they run into the chainsaw-wielding psychopath Leatherface and his bizarre, cannibalistic family. They meet a survivalist named Benny who is on his own mission of revenge against the depraved Sawyer family.

Plot[]

Leatherface bludgeons a young woman, Gina, to death with a sledgehammer and cuts off her face to make it into a mask while Gina's sister Sara watches from a nearby window. Sometime later, a couple traveling through Texas, Michelle Shatnell and Ryan McArthur, reach the Last Chance Gas Station, where they meet a hitchhiker named Tex and the station's owner, Alfredo. A fight soon breaks out between Tex and Alfredo when Tex finds Alfredo spying on Michelle as she uses the station restroom. As Michelle and Ryan flee in their car, they witness Alfredo apparently killing Tex with a shotgun. When Ryan and Michelle become lost, the driver of a large truck throws a dead coyote at their windshield. As Ryan changes the car's flat tire, Leatherface ambushes them, but they manage to drive off unscathed.

Afterwards, Michelle, Ryan, and another driver, a survivalist named Benny, crash when a bloodied Tex leaps in front of the car. Michelle, Ryan, and Benny decide to find Tex. On the way, Benny discovers a hook-handed man named Tinker, who offers his assistance in setting down road flares. Benny soon realizes Tinker's real intentions after he finds a damaged chainsaw in the back of his truck. He flees and encounters Leatherface, but is saved by Sara, who had earlier escaped from Leatherface. Benny learns that Sara's entire family was killed, and that Leatherface and his family are watching the roads. Benny hears Michelle and Ryan calling for him and leaves Sara; Leatherface kills her with his chainsaw a short time later. Leatherface then attacks Michelle and Ryan, capturing the latter when he gets caught in a bear trap.

Escaping, Michelle locates a house and is captured by Tex, who brings her into the kitchen and introduces her to the already deceased and decomposed "Grandpa". Tinker then drags in the badly injured Ryan, whom he and Tex suspend upside-down with a pair of meat hooks. When Leatherface returns home, Tex equips him a large golden chainsaw.

Outside the house, Benny finds and attempts to interrogate Alfredo, but is unsuccessful, eventually knocking Alfredo into the bog and leaving him to drown. As the family prepares for dinner in the kitchen, the little girl kills Ryan with a sledgehammer-swinging device. Leatherface prepares to kill Michelle as well, but Benny opens fire on the house with an automatic rifle. In the process, Mama Sawyer is killed, Tinker and Tex are injured, and Michelle escapes.

Michelle flees to the woods, pursued by Leatherface, while Benny fights and eventually burns Tex alive. Benny rushes to Michelle's aid, but is apparently killed by Leatherface. As dawn breaks, Michelle reaches the main road and rests on an abandoned tire, before Alfredo's pickup truck, driven by a surviving Benny, stops in front of her. As Benny helps her into the truck, Alfredo appears and attacks him from behind with a sledgehammer. Benny avoids Alfredo's attacks, and Michelle shoots Alfredo in the chest with a shotgun before the pair drive away, unaware that Leatherface is revving his chainsaw some distance away.

Cast[]

Actor Role
Kate Hodge Michelle Shatnell
Ken Foree Benny
Viggo Mortensen Eddie "Tex" Sawyer
R.A. Mihailoff Leatherface, Junior Sawyer
William Butler Ryan McArthur
Joe Unger Tinker Sawyer
Tom Everett Alfredo Sawyer
Miriam Byrd-Nethery Mama Sawyer
Jennifer Banko Babi Sawyer
David Cloud Scott
Beth DePatie Gina
Toni Hudson Sara
Dwayne Whitaker Kim
Michael Shamus Wiles Checkpoint officer
Ron Brooks TV newsman
Caroline Williams Reporter

Appearances[]

Featured characters

  • Michelle Shatnell
  • Ryan McArthur

Supporting characters

  • Benny

Villains

Minor characters

  • Gina
  • Kim
  • Sara
  • Scott

Organizations

Animals

  • Armadillos
  • Coyotes

Locations

Items

Vehicles

Miscellaneous

Notes & Trivia[]

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  • The tagline for this film is, "There's Roadkill All Over Texas". Another tagline is, "He puts the teeth in terror".
  • Filming on Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III began in August of 1989 and concluded in September.
  • The film grossed $2,692,087 over its opening weekend, averaging $2,431 per screening across 1,107 theaters. It ranked at #11 for top-grossing films on the January 12th-14th, weekend. It's total domestic gross during its run is $5,765,562. [2][3]
  • This is the final theatrically released film to receive an X-rating by the Motion Picture Association of America. All films of similar content following the release of Leatherface received an NC-17 rating.
  • Director Jeff Burr was nominated at the 1990 International Fantasy Film Award for the category of Best Film.
  • Gina is the first character seen in this film.
  • This is actress Kate Hodge's first work in film. She will go on to play a werewolf character named Randi Wallace in the TV series She-Wolf of London.
  • Caroline Williams, who played Vantia "Stretch" Brock in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 makes an uncredited cameo appearance in this film as a woman in a cemetery.
  • The unrated DVD of the film contains an extra four minutes that was considered too explicit by the MPAA for a theatrical release. The MPAA originally gave the film an X-rating and is one of the last remaining non-pornographic films to receive such a rating.
  • At the time of its release, Viggo Mortensen was a relatively unknown actor. He later grew no small degree of notoriety in his career for his portrayal of the heroic Aragorn from Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film franchise. In the horror genre, Viggo has also played Lucifer in the 1995 film The Prophecy as well as Sam Loomis in the 1998 remake of Psycho.
  • Ken Foree is no stranger to the horror genre either. He is best known for playing the part of Peter Washington in George Romero's 1978 zombie holocaust classic Dawn of the Dead. He also made a cameo appearance in the 2004 remake directed by Zack Snyder. Foree's other film credits include The Devil's Rejects, Halloween, Brotherhood of Blood and The Haunted World of El Superbeasto.

Narration[]

On August 18th, 1973, Sally Hardesty, her invalid brother Franklin, and their friends fell afoul of a bizarre, cannibalistic clan of serial predators. Ms. Hardesty was the sole survivor of that night of terror. She died in a private health care facility in 1977.

A single member of the murderous "family" lived to see trial. The prosecution recorded his name as W.E. Sawyer. He died in the gas chamber in 1981.

The jurors concluded that "Leatherface", presumed to be an unapprehended killer, was in fact an alternate personality of Sawyer's, activated whenever he donned a crude mask made of human flesh.

If there was no Leatherface in reality, then Sally Hardesty may at last rest in peace... if there actually was a Leatherface, he remains at large, and the so-called "Texas Chainsaw Massacre"...

...was only the beginning.

Body Count[]

In chronological order[]

  • Gina - Bludgeoned with mallet by Leatherface and dragged away.
  • Sara - Eviscerated by Leatherface with chainsaw.
  • Ryan McArthur - Bludgeoned with sledgehammer by little girl.
  • Anne Sawyer - Shot to death by Benny.
  • Tinker Sawyer - Fingers and ear shot off by Benny. Fate unknown.
  • Eddie "Tex" Sawyer - Burned alive.
  • Alfredo Sawyer - Shot by Michelle with shotgun.

By killer[]

By weapon[]

Recommendations[]

Texas Chainsaw Massacre series[]

See also[]

External Links[]

References[]

  1. ↑ Box Office Mojo; Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)
  2. ↑ Box Office Mojo; Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)
  3. ↑ IMDB; Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990); Box Office & Business
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Film Series
This article relates to the films within the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise. This template will categorize articles that include it into the Texas Chainsaw Massacre/Films category.
Original Series
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre • The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 • Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III • Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation
Remake Series
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre • The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
Reboot Series
Texas Chainsaw 3D • Leatherface
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