Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III

Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III is an American horror film directed by Jeff Burr and written by David J. Schow. It was produced by Robert Engelman and New Line Cinema and was released theatrically in the United States on January 12th, 1990. The movie is the third film in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, but has no tangible connection to the previous films and is often regarded as a quasi-remake or re-imagining. The film follows a young couple, Ryan and Michelle, who are traveling cross-country on their way to Florida when they come upon a mechanic and a gas station attendant who are of morally questionable character. After witnessing an altercation between the two, leading one to shoot other with a shotgun, they take off, only to find themselves in even greater trouble when they run into the chainsaw-wielding psychopath Leatherface and his bizarre, cannibalistic family. They meet a survivalist named Benny who is on his own mission of revenge against the depraved Sawyer family.

Notes & Trivia

 * The tagline for this film is, "There's Roadkill All Over Texas". Another tagline is, "He puts the teeth in terror".


 * Filming on Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III began in August of 1989 and concluded in September.


 * Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III was released to home video (VHS format) on September 17th, 1996 by New Line Home Video. It was re-released on August 5th, 1997. It was first released to DVD on September 30th, 2003 by New Line Cinema. It was re-released with both R-rated and unrated versions on June 1st, 2004.


 * The film grossed $2,692,087 over its opening weekend, averaging $2,431 per screening across 1,107 theaters. It ranked at #11 for top-grossing films on the January 12th-14th, weekend. It's total domestic gross during its run is $5,765,562.


 * Director Jeff Burr was nominated at the 1990 International Fantasy Film Award for the category of Best Film.


 * Caroline Williams, who played Vantia "Stretch" Brock in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 makes an uncredited cameo appearance in this film as a woman in a cemetery.


 * The unrated DVD of the film contains an extra four minutes that was considered too explicit by the MPAA for a theatrical release. The MPAA originally gave the film an X-rating - one of the last remaining non-pornographic films to receive such a rating.


 * At the time of its release, Viggo Mortensen was a relatively unknown actor. He later grew no small degree of notoriety in his career for his portrayal of the heroic Aragorn from Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film franchise. In the horror genre, Viggo has also played Lucifer in the 1995 film The Prophecy as well as Sam Loomis in the 1998 remake of Psycho.


 * Ken Foree is no stranger to the horror genre either. He is best known for playing the part of Peter Washington in George Romero's 1978 zombie holocaust classic Dawn of the Dead. He also made a cameo appearance in the 2004 remake directed by Zack Snyder. Foree's other film credits include The Devil's Rejects, Halloween, Brotherhood of Blood and The Haunted World of El Superbeasto.