by: -RoG-

The third installment of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series was doomed from the start, and in many people's minds, it was a weak horror movie at best. This is not the fault of director Jeff Burr, however... no, no, no. He had the best interests of horror fans in mind and intended to bring the Texas Chainsaw Massacre back to its roots by focusing on what people cared about most: Leatherface! He is no longer the bumbling clown-like character that was portrayed in part 2; now he actually sticks up for himself, and if somebody screws with him, he'll make 'em pay. Unfortunately, the producers and the MPAA had problems with it and decided to make more cuts to the film than Leatherface's chainsaw could ever do to another human being. As a result, what people saw was a truly bastardized version of Burr's vision.

One of the best things about Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III is that the chainsaw is actually used quite extensively to kill people. Many people often forget that despite the title, the original film has very little bodily damage done by a chainsaw shown in it (other than Leatherface cutting himself by accident). That's not the case with part 3 at all though. He uses the chainsaw extensively for killing and to celebrate this, they made a gigantic new chainsaw for Leatherface...

Just look at that beast! Halfway into the film, his brother Tex (played by Viggo Mortensen no less) gives him this giant new chainsaw as a gift with the words "The Saw Is Family" engraved into the side of it. Word is that the chainsaw in the movie weighed a whopping 80 pounds!

With all this in mind, it may surprise you to discover what my favorite moment in the movie is. It's actually something that's far more lighthearted than you would expect from a Texas Chainsaw Massacre flick.

Later in the film, when Benny (the one and only Ken Foree of George Romero's Dawn of the Dead) peers into one of the windows, he sees Leatherface sitting at his workbench. Turns out, ol' Leatherface is a fan of electronic toys. He somehow got his hands on an old Speak 'n Spell and is trying to learn with it. Unfortunately, he's stuck on the very first item in the "Alphabet Soup" activity game which requires you to type in the name of whatever object pops up on the LED screen:

When a clown face appears on the screen as the first item to identify, Leatherface types in "F-O-O-D" on the keyboard, but the program tells him, "Nope! Try again!" This obviously confuses him, since he was brought up to believe that people are indeed food. So, Leatherface tries typing in "F-O-O-D" again on the screen, perhaps thinking he typed it in wrong or there was a glitch with the program...

"Nope! Try again!"

After several attempts at typing in "F-O-O-D", he finally gets fed up with the program, lets out a grunt and slams his fist down on the table. Defeated, poor ol' Leatherface picks up his chainsaw and returns to the dining room, frustrated that the stupid image identification activity program got the better of him. Aww, don't beat yourself up over it too much buddy... if it were up to us, we'd make that program congratulate you for typing in the correct answer! FOOD!

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