Teenaged Leatherface and his pals escape from a mental institution and take a nurse with them against her will. A sheriff is following in hot pursuit.

Another prequel but this time with two actors of name who I actually like (Stephen Dorff and Lili Taylor). And kudos to them for signing up to a TCM franchise film. Maybe they love the original. Or they’re broke.

But, stop me if you’ve heard this one before, it’s still terrible. It’s also another film that thinks that explicit violence and gore will make up for any other elements that should be present and correct (like, erm, a decent plot, suspense, any hint of intelligence whatsoever). But what makes this even worse is that there’s almost a sense of showiness and narcissism about proceedings, as if this film was made for people who are just as extroverted because they like these kind of horror films. The kind of people who don’t watch films made before the year 2000. The kind of people who have never seen the original TCM.

Can a decent TCM prequel be made. Yes. Could decent sequels be made? Yes. We just need filmmakers with imagination, ingenuity and who understand horror and how to scare the bejesus out of an audience. It’s not rocket science.

1 out of 5 stars