Leatherface

R

Released Oct 20, 2017

1 hr. 30 min.

Horror

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List

27%

44 Reviews

Tomatometer

23%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

A violent teen and three others kidnap a young nurse while escaping from a Texas mental institution. Pursued by a vengeful sheriff, the disturbed young man embarks on a murderous rampage that shapes him into a legendary killer known as Leatherface.

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Critics Consensus

Leatherface may wear the skin of a Texas Chainsaw Massacre prequel, but it proves gutless as an origin story and finds little invention in the horror tropes it's cannibalizing.

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Gabriel S

Leatherface, from 2017, lives up to its simplistic premise, building up from the success of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre's franchise: the backstory to the infamous Leatherface. In this movie, we start with some quick background to Jedediah Sawyer's miserable childhood, the youngest children to a horrible family of sadistic farmers. The opening scene sets the stage for Leatherface's arc: an incomprehensible human being traumatized by his childhood. The second part of the opening sets the obvious ending too. Now we meet the secondary character, the love interest Lizzy. Lizzy is a new nurse at a mental institution where the Jedediah is locked in. We watch the cliché "newcomer gets bullied by old-timers and then saved by the seemingly nice person that's not part of this mess." And the second cliché: facility has room for some shady methods. Then we get to a point where I think the movie is delusional: Verna, Jedediah's mother, wants to see her son, which she has not seen since he was taken away, apparently. I wonder if that had happened at some point, but, well, plot convenience, the same convenience that sets this story forward — yes, up until this point, we are still in the setup. After a plot point that sets us to Act 2, we are now following a group, and we start wondering: who is Jedediah in this mess? Believe it or not, this is the main arc of the story's Second Act. Act 2 also brings the question of what are they actually planning overall? The master plan is just plain stupid, and the explanation "yeah, but they are mentally ill" does not cut it. This arc ends with the midpoint's plot twist, a clever-wannabe twist that dismisses everything that we've been watching so far. Acts 3 and 4 spiral into fast-paced disjointed scenes that culminate into the boring climax. And the ending seals this movie with its mediocre rating. The characters are the generic plank you'd expect out of this mess of a movie. Jackson is the nice guy fighting his ill condition with a good heart. He seems to be the reasonable person. Solid performance by Sam Strike here. Lizzy is the naïve nurse that wants to save everybody. She is dismissible. Bud is a huge kid with some disturbing angriness within. He is slow in all senses but seems to have a good heart too. Then there are Clarice and Ike, the psychopaths. They are like Bonnie and Clyde. Apart from Sam Strike, everyone else's acting performance are meh. Well, there's not really much more to say for Leatherface (2017). Nothing else stands out in this movie, other than a list of bad decisions that would be too boring to add to this review. Bottom line, Leatherface tries to leverage the weird cult success of Texas Chainsaw Massacre but it fails. The main reason is because the story itself is just trying to be clever, a "gotcha", "who is Jedediah?", for no reason. As a predecessor to everything Leatherface became, this story adds no real background to it. When we get to the ending, we feel Leatherface's motives are not really strong; he is just a pawn in this whole mess. But with a lack of a recurring character to latch itself onto, Leatherface (2017) was doomed from the start.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

04/01/24

Full Review

Tristen M

Leatherface is a very solid prequel to the original 1974 film. It's gritty, gruesome and very disturbing in most places, and it's all the hallmarks of what makes a TCM film good. 10/10

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/10/24

Full Review

Josh u

This movie honestly makes no sense. I honestly don't get how Jackson became Leatherface, from the Texas Chainsaw Massacare (1974) movie. They are different apart from each other. This movie would've made more sense, if this was a sequel from movies, The Texas Chainsaw Massacare 2003 and 2006 Remakes. It doesn't show, how a normal kid became a mentally disabled man.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/06/24

Full Review

Geo3 F

I don't know why people rate it so bad, I mean I seen worse films that this one. There is not much to say about this film than you already know, what I will say is though you probably know how its gonna end, its thrilling entertaining way to get there.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

12/02/23

Full Review

David P

I believe my half star says it all

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

10/08/23

Full Review

Emilliano Jr S

An unnecessary messy prequel.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

09/23/23

Full Review

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Julien Maury

Director

Alexandre Bustillo

Director

Sam Strike

Jackson

Stephen Dorff

Texas Ranger Hal Hartman

James Bloor

Ike

Sam Coleman

Bud

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Only the Brave Is a Powerful Tribute

Leatherface: Trailer 1

2:07

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A.A. Dowd

AV Club

Leatherface ... falls squarely in the tradition of a series that's failed, movie after movie, to recapture the raw, reptilian power of its first entry.

Rated: D

Oct 23, 2017

Full Review

Simon Abrams

RogerEbert.com

Sadly, the makers of Leatherface didn't put enough thought into a sleepy story that could easily be titled 'I Was a Teenage Leatherface.'

Rated: 1/4

Oct 20, 2017

Full Review

John Semley

Globe and Mail

Like the film's punishingly gory set pieces, the storytelling itself is meaty.

Rated: 3/4

Oct 20, 2017

Full Review

Tim Brayton

Alternate Ending

Manages to bring in the extremely unpleasant, unrelenting energy of the New French Extremity horror movement into the United States mostly intact.

Rated: 2/5

Jun 1, 2022

Full Review

Joey Keogh

Wicked Horror

For all the buildup for the big reveal, the ending of Leatherface makes little sense and isn't terribly satisfying, for hardcore fans or otherwise.

Rated: 4/10

Oct 4, 2019

Full Review

Josh Goller

Spectrum Culture

Most egregiously, it attempts to chart a rational evolution of an incomprehensible monster.

Rated: 2.5/5

Jul 20, 2019

Full Review

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Synopsis

A violent teen and three others kidnap a young nurse while escaping from a Texas mental institution. Pursued by a vengeful sheriff, the disturbed young man embarks on a murderous rampage that shapes him into a legendary killer known as Leatherface.

Director: Julien Maury, Alexandre Bustillo
Executive Producer: Boaz Davidson, Mark Gill, Tobe Hooper, Avi Lerner, Beth Bruckner O'Brien, Trevor Short
Screenwriter: Seth M. Sherwood
Distributor: Lionsgate Films
Production Co: Mainline Pictures Inc., Millennium Films, Campbell Grobman Films, Lionsgate Films
Rating: R (Language|Disturbing Images|Some Sexuality/Nudity|Strong Bloody Violence)
Genre: Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 20, 2017, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 20, 2017

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