THE RATING


THE LAIR EXPERTS

Matt: As always, once New Line gets ahold of a horror property, they screw it up ('Jason Goes To Hell', 'Freddy's Dead', 'Scream 4', to name a few). I am on director Jeff Burr's side on this one-- they wouldn't let him do ANYTHING with this movie! First off, they filmed in California, the script was terrible and he was the 10th choice to direct, a recipe for disaster if you ask me. On top of that, there was ZERO continuity and too many questions left unanswered. Where did the new family come from? Why did Leatherface have a brace on his leg? What happened since the end of Part 2? This was simply a mess from the word go, and the fact that New Line executives had their hands all over every aspect of the film ruined it. The most controversial film ever made??? Hardly. The acting was mostly horrible, although performances by Ken Foree and a young Viggo Mortensen at least lent it a little bit of credibility. Add to that the impressive work of KNB Effects and stunt coordinator Kane Hodder, and it at least gave me some hope. However, it just didn't work. Kate Hodge (Michelle) was easily forgettable, as was R.A. Mihailoff (Leatherface), who was even more of a disaster than Bill Johnson in Part 2. The film started out promising, with Leatherface working with flesh and making masks, but that was the high point for him. I did get my hopes up when the new shiny chainsaw was introduced, but that quickly fell apart when no one was killed with it! The blood and gore that SHOULD have been in the film were very well done, and would have raised my rating considerably, but thanks to the MPAA, it never happened. The musical score of Jam Manzie was creepy but cliche, and the heavy metal soundtrack was not used properly and didn't fit. The 11 visits to the MPAA really killed this film (no pun intended). Hey New Line, why not take a page from Part 2 and release it unrated? You ever think of that? Apparently not, because a lot of the original negatives were destroyed and cannot be recovered. I feel bad for Jeff Burr and all the others who worked so hard to shine up this piece of crap. The whole film was destined to fail, and in the end, it did. 3 out of 10.

A.J.: Call me crazy, but I actually enjoyed this movie. Yeah, it’s not great, but for a Part 3 and following a horrendous Part 2, it’s really not that bad. The acting was improved (which isn’t saying much) but the scares and the atmosphere were definitely better. Leatherface hunting people in the woods was a nice touch and it actually felt like I was watching a horror movie. The family was disappointing, but then again, the entire family aspect of these movies is a part that I am not a big fan of anyway. There were plenty of “what the hell is going on” moments in the film, such as when the shiny chainsaw is in the swamp waving back and forth on its own. However, this is a film that I could watch again and is at least worthy of the 'TexasChainsaw Massacre' title. Not the best in the series, but a half-decent third installment nonetheless. A solid 6.5 rating from me.


THE FANS

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