Oh dear oh dear. Many people were excitedly waiting on this one given it was coming from the directors of the brilliant Inside, but now that its here it seems their slide has continued because that films greatness has never been echoed (particularly after the terrible Among The Living). Leatherface lacks any ember of dread, menace, tension, or thrills and an attempt to have us connect with just one character (the nurse) fails badly. I just didn't see the point of this film, I at least expected to get some kind of simmering, disturbing, sweats on the level of (say) Girl Next Door but there was none of that. The movie has an entirely overproduced mainstream feel to it (completely unlike the original) and while it has some punctuating gore (I guess they thought it was shocking) its done so matter-of-fact it has no impact whatsoever leaving this viewer sighing an unaffected meh. The inclusion of a cheap necro scene was both pointless and silly (another failed attempt to shock) and while I often love Stephen Dorff acting his attempts in this stinker made me cringe. The huge leap in the development of the character who becomes Leatherface also felt forced. One minute hes offering some kind of negotiable humanity and the next hes a brainless loon for the rest of his days apparently. I wont be watching this again, which speaks volumes given I've seen the original at least 6 times. Featherlace.
Review of Leatherface
