A prequel to 2003’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, this movie reminds me that when a franchise has run out of ideas, they always go backward. Back to the well or, in this instance, back in time for a prequel.

Back in 1939, a woman gave birth in a slaughterhouse and died, at which point the manager threw her infant into a dumpster, where it was rescued by Luda Mae Hewitt, who raised the baby as her son Thomas.

Fast forward to 1969,, and Thomas works in the same slaughterhouseunderr the exact manage. When the plants are shut down by the health department, he refuses to leave. So when the manager pushes him, he gets killed by a chainsaw and his adopted brother Charlie  (R. Lee Ermey) kills the arresting officer that comes to their home — Sheriff Hoyt — and takes on his identity.

Thomas eventually becomes Leatherface — are you surprised? — but not before wiping out an entirely different set of teens years before the original movie, including Jordana Brewster from The Fast and the Furious series.

This comes from the days when Platinum Dunes were the Blumhouse of the 2000s, reinventing horror film series like The Amityville Horror, The Hitcher, Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street to varying degrees of box office success. Director Jonathan Liebesman was also behind their reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

At this point, even a fan of the character like me — I dressed as Leatherface for more Halloweens than I can count on a severed hand — checked out.

The Arrow Video release of this film has a 4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) of both the Theatrical Version and the Uncut Version. Extras include a new audio commentary on the Uncut Version with Dread Central co-founder Steve “Uncle Creepy” Barton and co-host of The Spooky Picture Show podcast Chris MacGibbon and an audio commentary on the Uncut Version with director Jonathan Liebesman and producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller; interviews with Lew Temple; special effects makeup artist Jake Garber and special effects makeup technician Kevin Wasner and director of photography Lukas Ettlin; a making-of doc; deleted and extended scenes with optional commentary from director Jonathan Liebesman and producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller and a trailer, all inside a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Aaron Lea with a double-sided foldout poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Aaron Lea and an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Michael Gingold.

You can get it from MVD.