This is the latest installment in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise. It’s hard to keep track of these movies, because they did a remake in 2003, a prequel, a retconned sequel to the original 1974 film, and now this pre-prequel.

The movie starts with Jed/Leatherface as a child and after a brutal murder, he is incarcerated at a psychiatric hospital for adolescents. Ten years later and a riot allows for teenage Leatherface to escape. His mother (Lili Taylor) is searching for him to reunite and a local sheriff (Stephen Dorff) searches for him to bring him to justice. Meanwhile, young Leatherface goes on a spree with a few of the other escaped mental patients.

The death sequences are incredibly gory. While I applaud the attempt at something a bit different, this doesn’t really work as a coming-of-age story for a cannibalistic, chainsaw-wielding maniac. No one was ever asking for this story to be told.

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