Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III

The Saw is Family (and, later, made out of solid gold) in this sequel to/remake of “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” (1974) that actually plays more like a slightly tongue-in-cheek piece of fan fiction. Our victims this time around are Michelle (Kate Hodge) and Ryan (William Butler), a young couple who should know better than to travel through the Lone Star State in this kind of movie; soon, they’ve run afoul of the demented (and bloodthirsty) Sawyer clan, consisting of Mama (Miriam Byrd-Nethery), Alfredo (Tom Everett), Tinker (Joe Unger), Tex (Viggo Mortensen) and, of course, Leatherface (R.A. Mihailoff). Luckily, the kids find an ally in a guy who survived the zombie apocalypse (Ken Foree of “Dawn of the Dead“), so a few deranged hillbilly cannibals shouldn’t be too hard to handle, right? “Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III” scored a lot of early buzz (pun intended) due to its rather bizarre teaser trailer (featuring the Lady of the Lake bestowing Leatherface with his tool/weapon of choice) and a much-publicized battle between New Line Cinema and the MPAA, which originally gave the movie an X rating due to its graphic violence; it was the last film to receive such a rating before the switchover to the new NC-17.