New Line was doing so well with Freddy that they thought that they could do the same with Leatherface, not realizing that while he’s the most out front member of the Sawyer Family, there is an entire brood to tell the stories about.

The final film to get an X before NC-17 was created, I will say that this movie brings the gore, even after the battle between the MPAA and New Line. I mean, the movie starts off with Leatherface taking off a woman’s face, so know what you’re getting into. Yet this was submitted eleven times for a review and most of the gore was lost; this was after the original script by David J. Schow (who also wrote the scripts for The Crow, Critters 3 and 4 and many other movies) had a naked man being literally sliced into two pieces. I assume the MPAA had more issues with seeing a nude man than the gore.

Director Jeff Burr got fired early in the film’s production, but when no one else wanted the job, he was back on. He’s already made another sequel, Stepfather II: Make Room for Daddy, and would also made Puppet Master 4 and 5 as well as Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings. He started his career with From A Whisper To a Scream and also directed The Werewolf Reborn!, Frankenstein & the Werewolf Reborn! and Mil Mascaras vs. the Aztec Mummy.

The original trailer for this might be better than the actual movie — that’s Kane Hodder as Leatherface! — but you can’t deny a movie that has Ken Foree and Viggo Mortensen in the cast. And hey — Caroline Williams shows up in a cameo as Stretch, now a reporter.

This starts off going for it, as Leatherface kills a woman and skins her face for a mask while her sister Sara (Toni Hudson, Denise in Just One of the Guys) watches. We then meet Michelle (Kate Hodge), Ryan (William Butler) and Benny (Foree), who will be menaced by this film’s version of the Sawyer family, which includes Edward “Tex” Sawyer (Viggo Mortensen), Tinker “Tink” Sawyer (Jow Unger), “Mama” Anne Sawyer (Miriam Byrd-Nethery), Alfredo Sawyer (Tom Everett) and a little girl (Jennifer Banko).

Before long, Leatherface has killed Sara — after murdering her entire family — and caught Ryan in a bear trap. Michelle is taken into the Sawyer home and saved only when Benny shoots like ten thousand bullets into it, but hey, we still have Leatherface with a golden chainsaw that has “The saw is family written on it.

Burr wanted to shoot the film in Texas using 16 mm film just like the original, but New Line turned him down, as they had already built the house in California. I mean, they also shot that trailer before they had a script or a director, so all they cared about was money. That same house was used in Alice Cooper’s “House Of Fire” video. They also wanted Peter Jackson to direct.

Benny and Leatherface both died in the original cut, but New Line shot  a new ending with editor Michael N. Knue in which both characters survive after test screenings replied well to Foree’s character. Burr was shocked when he saw this in the movies, as he was never told there was a new ending.

This was also shot so close to a Six Flags that you can hear screaming all over the movie even when it may not need it.

This was cut to pieces — and not like how the Sawyers want to slice things up — to avoid an X rating. That’s why it had to be exciting to see Jeff Burr’s work print of this at CFF.

Speaking of the fest, you can watch so many of films by buying a pass on their website. I’ll be posting reviews and articles over the next few days, as well as updating my Letterboxd list of watches.