Just like their murderous stars, you can’t keep a venerable horror franchise dead for long. In fact, it’s only been five years since chainsaw-enthusiast Leatherface appeared on screen in 2017’s Leatherface, which served as a prequel to the original 1974 film. Now he’s back, and ready to slaughter the real enemy: social media influencers.
I’m not sure pitting a serial killer against Tiktokers is the greatest idea for a Texas Chainsaw Massacre sequel, but when I read the official synopsis — “Influencers looking to breathe new life into a Texas ghost town encounter Leatherface, an infamous killer who wears a mask of human skin” — I definitely wanted somebody to die. And, as per the movie’s first trailer, they most certainly do.
As you can tell, this new Texas Chainsaw Massacre is going the route of the 2018 Halloween movie, which serves as a sequel to the very first film, while ignoring all the other movies in the franchise that were made over the last half-century. Also exactly like Halloween and Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode, the new Massacre stars the first film’s final girl, Sally Hardesty (originally played by Marilyn Burns, who passed away in 2014; Olwen Fouéré stars in the role here), who’s been waiting 48 years for a rematch with the killer. Which means that the maniac behind the mask is quite a bit older as well, and almost certainly 70 years old at minimum. It should be easy for a bunch of reasonably fit 20-somethings to escape his clutches as long as, say, they don’t get on a bus with a gross man carrying a chainsaw and then decide to film him with their phones instead of popping out the emergency exits. But what are the chances of that happening?
Directed by David Blue Garcia from a story by the Evil Dead reboot’s Fede Álvarez andRodo Sayagues, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre premieres February 18 on Netflix.
Editor’s Note: Release dates within this article are based in the U.S., but will be updated with local Australian dates as soon as we know more.