‘Leatherface’ Red Band Trailer Teases the Bloody Origins of ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’

Like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, the latest installment in the franchise is yet another prequel exploring the blood-soaked origins of the iconic horror movie villain. As you can see in the first, long overdue trailer for Leatherface, this one features a scene in which the eponymous character’s mother (Lili Taylor) presents the famous weapon of choice to her son on his birthday before he even has a chance to enjoy some cake. You aren’t going to find a scene like that in the previous prequel, that’s for sure.

Leatherface originally went into pre-production back in 2014 with French filmmaking duo Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo (Inside) at the helm. Since then, news of the prequel has been sporadic, and although filming was completed in the summer of 2015, it’s taken two years for the first trailer to drop. As the gruesome red band preview (via Bloody-Disgusting) shows, Leatherface reimagines the origin story of the titular villain, taking us back in time to when his killer urges first took hold. There’s definitely some striking imagery in this first trailer, including shots of young Leatherface wearing a giant cow head and sewing his first mask made of human skin, along with several sequences of bloody violence.

Here’s the official synopsis for the prequel, which also stars Stephen Dorff as the sheriff:

In Texas, years before the events of the Texas Chain Saw Massacre, in the early days of the infamous Sawyer family, the youngest child is sentenced to a mental hospital after a suspicious incident leaves the sheriffs’ daughter dead. Years later, he kidnaps a young nurse and escapes with 3 other inmates. Pursued by authorities including the deranged sheriff out to avenge his daughter’s death, the teen goes on a violent road trip from hell, molding him into the monster known now as Leatherface.

Maury and Bustillo have an interesting track record; in addition to Inside, the duo directed the fantasy-horror flick Livide (which was strangely picked up by the Weinsteins and never released in the US outside of film festival screenings) and Among the Living, which contained shades of Tobe Hooper’s original Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Their films are always visually engaging, if nothing else, which guarantees I’ll watch whatever they make — even if it is another Texas Chain Saw prequel.

From what I hear, post-production on Leatherface was somewhat bumpy, but it’s finally seeing the light of day in select theaters and on VOD on October 20.