Texas Chainsaw 3D


Texas Chainsaw 3D is a 2013 American slasher film directed by John Luessenhop, with a screenplay by Adam Marcus, Debra Sullivan and Kirsten Elms. It is the seventh installment in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise and was presented in 3D. The film serves as a direct sequel to the 1974 film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. The film stars Alexandra Daddario, Dan Yeager, Trey Songz, Tania Raymonde, Scott Eastwood, Thom Barry, Paul Rae and Bill Moseley, with Gunnar Hansen and Marilyn Burns, who had appeared in the original 1974 film. The story centers on Heather, who discovers that she was adopted after learning of an inheritance from a long-lost grandmother. She subsequently takes a road trip with her friends to collect the inheritance, unaware that it includes her cousin, Leatherface.
Texas Chainsaw 3D was released on January 4, 2013, and grossed $47.2 million on a budget of $20 million, and received negative reviews from critics. It was also the last film both Burns and Hansen starred in before they both died in 2014 and 2015, respectively. A prequel that takes place before the original 1974 film, titled Leatherface, was released in 2017.

Plot

Following the events of the original film, the town sheriff arrives at the Sawyer house demanding for Leatherface to surrender. The family initially refuses, but eventually comply. The people of Newt, Texas, led by Mayor Burt Hartman, then arrive and burn down the farmhouse of the murderous Sawyer clan in an act of vigilante justice. The arsonists are proclaimed heroes of the community, and the entire Sawyer family is killed. However, an infant with a burn mark on her chest, is found by one of the townsmen, Gavin Miller, who promptly murders her mother, Loretta Sawyer. Gavin and his wife Arlene take the child into their care and raise her as their own daughter.
Four decades later, in 2013, Heather Miller receives a letter informing her that her grandmother, Verna Carson, has passed away. When she confronts her parents about it, she discovers that she was adopted from a family in Newt, Texas. Heather, her friends Ryan, her best friend Nikki, and Nikki's boyfriend Kenny travel to her grandmother's home to collect her inheritance. Along the way, the group picks up a hitchhiker named Darryl. Upon arriving, Heather is given a letter from Verna's lawyer that she neglects to read. As the group explores the house, they decide to stay the night. Heather and her friends leave to buy food and supplies, leaving Darryl behind to look after the house. Darryl begins stealing valuables and discovers a metal door in the wine cellar that he is unable to open, as he tries to enter he is killed by Leatherface.
While grocery shopping, Heather meets Deputy Carl and Mayor Burt Hartman. Heather and her friends return to find the house ransacked. While Kenny is preparing dinner, he goes downstairs to the cellar where Leatherface impales him on a hook, before killing him with a chainsaw. Heather finds her grandmother’s decomposing body upstairs and is attacked by Leatherface in the kitchen, but she manages to escape. Nikki and Ryan draw the attention of Leatherface, while Heather gets in the van and picks up her friends. Using his chainsaw, Leatherface cuts through one of the tires, which causes the van to crash, killing Ryan on impact. He then chases Heather to a nearby carnival, where Deputy Carl is patrolling the grounds.
While at the police department, Heather begins digging through the files on the Sawyer family, and learns of the family's murderous history and how they were killed. The sheriff and Hartman send an officer to investigate the Carson estate. Over the phone, the officer reports his findings. He finds Nikki hiding in a freezer but accidentally shoots her in the head before he himself is killed by Leatherface. Leatherface skins the flesh from the officer's cadaver and uses it to create a new flesh mask.
Enraged by the officer's findings, Hartman vows to end the remaining Sawyers. Heather leaves the station and meets with her lawyer at a bar. He tells her that Leatherface is her cousin, who survived the burning of the farmhouse. Heather escapes the bar when Burt finds her and runs into Deputy Carl in his patrol car. As they drive away, Carl reveals himself as Burt's son. He kidnaps her and takes her to the Sawyer family's old slaughterhouse, ties her up and gags her. Listening over the deceased officer's police radio, Leatherface learns of Heather's location and goes to the slaughterhouse to kill her. Before he is able to do so, he sees a Sawyer sygil birth mark on Heather's chest and removes her gag, Heather tells him that she is his long lost cousin and he releases her. Leatherface is then attacked from behind by Hartman and his friend Ollie. Heather takes the opportunity to escape. As Hartman and Ollie prepare to kill Leatherface by throwing him into a meat grinder, Heather returns having had a change of heart, kills Ollie, and tosses Leatherface his chainsaw. In the struggle, the sheriff arrives but hesitates to stop Leatherface from killing Burt. Leatherface uses his chainsaw to force Hartman to his death in a meat grinder. The sheriff let's Heather and Leatherface go. Afterwards, Leatherface and Heather return to the Carson Estate, where Heather reads the letter from Verna. It informs her that her real name is Edith Rose Sawyer, that Leatherface lives in the basement behind the metal door and that he will protect her for the rest of his life, but it also requests that she take care of him in return. Heather accepts how Leatherface's mental state drove him to commit his crimes and graciously accepts him as her only family.
In a post-credits scene, Heather's adopted parents show up at the Carson estate to visit Heather, intending on greedily splitting her assets. As they wait in front of the door, Leatherface comes through the door with his chainsaw in hand.

Cast

In January 2007, Platinum Dunes executives Bradley Fuller and Andrew Form stated that the company would not be producing the third film in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot franchise. In October 2009, it was announced that Twisted Pictures and Lionsgate Films were attempting to purchase the rights to the franchise from New Line Cinema, with Twisted Pictures producing and Lionsgate distributing. According to Variety writer Michael Fleming, the plan was to create a contemporary film in 3-D, with Stephen Susco writing the script. The contract, with rights-holders Bob Kuhn and Kim Henkel, would be for multiple films. In May 2011, Lions Gate announced that it would be partnering with Nu Image to produce the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and that John Luessenhop would direct the film. Mazzocone will act as producer, with production having been set to begin in June 2011. Mazzocone also announced that the story would pick up where Tobe Hooper's original film ends. Adam Marcus and Debra Sullivan were brought in to write the script; Kirsten Elms and Luessenhop worked on rewrites and script polishing. Neither Twisted Pictures nor Nu Image had a credit on the finished film, which had to be re-cut before release, as it received an NC-17 rating due to excessive gore during its initial submission to the MPAA.

Reception

Critical reviews

The film was panned for plot-holes and inconsistencies with the original film. On Rotten Tomatoes, Texas Chainsaw 3D has an approval rating of 19% based on 79 reviews, with an average rating of 3.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "As an ugly and cynical attempt to rebrand Leatherface as horror anti-hero, Texas Chainsaw 3D is a bold move for the franchise." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 31 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". On CinemaScore, audiences gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale, with 63% of moviegoers being under the age of 25.
IGN editor Eric Goldman wrote, "A few fun 3D-aided jump-scares aside, Texas Chainsaw 3D is a generic and laughable attempt to follow the original."

Box office

On its opening night, Texas Chainsaw took first place, earning approximately $10,200,000 at the North American box office. The film ultimately took first place for the entire weekend, making $21,744,470. As of March 2013, the film has made $39,093,317 worldwide.

Home media

On May 14, 2013, the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray/Blu-ray 3D, which includes an UltraViolet digital copy of the film along with multiple commentaries and featurettes, an alternate opening and the trailer.

Merchandise

In March 2015 Hollywood Collectibles released a 20-inch Leatherface action figure, based on Dan Yeager portrayed figure.

Sequel

In January 2013, it was revealed that due to the film's financial success, Millennium Films began planning a sequel film to be called Texas Chainsaw 4 which was expected to begin filming later in 2013 in the state of Louisiana. Millennium Films Chairman Avi Lerner stated that the project was brought to him by Christa Campbell and Lati Grobman and that Millennium had signed on to produce, with Lionsgate distributing the finished product. Executive producer Mark Burg clarified that the sequel was prematurely announced and had not been authorised, "The rights are controlled by Carl and Main Line Pictures, no matter what Millennium says. Millennium simply sold the foreign rights and they will not tell us when a sequel is ready to be made. The script was developed by Carl, myself and writer/director John Luessenhop. Maybe they're looking for something to sell at Berlin, but they have no right to announce this sequel." Ultimately, a prequel titled Leatherface was released by Lionsgate and Millennium Films in October 2017, from a pitch by writer Seth M. Sherwood focusing on the origin of the eponymous killer. Because of the time it took to release it, the studios lost the rights to make future Texas Chainsaw Massacre films.