First Images From ‘Leatherface’ Surface

Hot off the announcement that the Texas Chain Saw Massacre prequel Leatherface will finally be hitting DirecTV in September and VOD in October, Bloody Disgusting debuted some of the first images from the highly-anticipated film, which you can see below.

Bloody Disgusting describes the film’s plot as:

“In Leatherface, Jessica Madsen plays one of four inmates (Sam Coleman, Sam Strike, James Bloor) who escapes from a mental hospital. One of them becomes the title character and iconic slasher. The quartet kidnaps a young nurse (played by Vanessa Grasse) and takes her on a road trip from hell. Along the way, they are pursued by an equally deranged lawman (Stephen Dorff) out for revenge.”

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Family has been an important theme in the Texas Chainsaw franchise, with the original film showing a pair of siblings investigating mysterious reports of their grandfather’s grave being vandalized, only to encounter the Sawyer family and their murderous tendencies.

Leatherface‘s writer, Seth M. Sherwood, explained to Bloody Disgusting that familial themes will continue to be explored.

One of the characters in the new film is named “Ted Hardesty,” which many fans noticed as familiar, with it being the siblings from the original film’s last name.

Sherwood revealed, “Ted Hardesty is Sally’s dad. There was a later scene that went into it, but it was cut for budget reasons. I don’t know if we ever hear Ted’s last name in the movie as it is– but he’s there briefly. I mean, Grandpa Hardesty’s farm was in walking distance of the Sawyers, sooooo…”

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With the film having been shot years ago and undergoing multiple different edits, it’s hard to say if Sherwood’s reference to the original film’s protagonists survived the edit.

As you can see from the gruesome images above, directors Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo have no problem embracing disturbing violence. Leatherface has already received an R rating for “strong bloody violence, disturbing images, language and some sexuality/nudity.”

Despite the subject matter of the original film, director Tobe Hooper at one point attempted to get the film a PG rating, as there’s very little actual carnage shown to the audience. Modern day sensibilities might laugh at the concept of a PG Texas Chain Saw Massacre, but it wasn’t until 1983 that the MPAA developed the PG-13 rating, with films like Jaws making the cut for a PG rating, despite multiple gruesome deaths.

Leatherface will be available exclusively on DirecTV on September 21 and on VOD and in limited theatrical release on October 20.