The new film, set today, will see the authorities and some angry townspeople ambushing the Sawyer home – where Jeb Stuart is accused of carrying out his butchering.
Hooper, the local by-the-book sheriff, had agreed to give Leatherface/Jeb Sawyer a fair trial and grant him a good lawyer…. But that’s before local mayor Burt Hartman, an imposing town tough-guy, arrives with a mob to see that the murderer/s don’t even make it past their front door. Though they both want justice, Hooper and Burt have different methods. Things escalate when Burt’s mob start tying ropes to trees, prepping for a hanging, and ultimately throw a flaming cocktail into the Sawyer home… burning the place, and it’s residents (including Jeb’s father, Drayton, played by Bill Moseley), to the ground.
Goodbye Sawyers… goodbye Leatherface?
You can guess what happens next : The Chainsaw killings start up again (there’s a fun sequence at a carnival where our villain starts chopping away at the attendees) and Hooper is forced to believe that Jeb Stuart somehow survived the fire and is back for revenge. But is it Jeb? And if not, who is it? and why have they surfaced?
To entice the young ones, there’s a young heroine in the film, Heather who – Halloween H20 should maybe get a ’special thanks’ in the credits – learns she has a disturbing connection to the murderous Sawyer. Heather’s a bit of a hornbag but possibly more disturbing is her taste for things of a darker nature (not just referring to her boyfriend either) – like her art pieces which border on revolting. Still, there’s good in this family member and enough intelligence and determination to find out what’s really going on.
All the 3D jumps and scares are weaved into the script – the ‘teeth that come flying at the audience’ when Leatherface smashes one of the youngster’s mouths with a meat hammer. They’re fun moments but what’s most impressive about the story here is that it’s a really intriguing mystery movie, it’s not as cut-and-dry as the previous Chainsaw movies, and will have you both thinking… and freaking.
