Texas Chainsaw Massacre still scares crowds 38 years later

Derrick Walton
Blue & White Flash / Staff Writer

Horror film buffs beware, Leatherface is back in “Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D,” the 7th film in the series.

The movie is directed by John Luessenhop, who also directed the 2010 movie “Takers” which featured Matt Dillon, Chris Brown and T.I.  If you are familiar with the previous movies, Leatherface does what he does best and wreaks havoc on the characters in the film.

The first “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” movie, directed by Tobe Hooper, was released in 1974.  The original movie chronicled five friends who plan a visit to their grandfather’s house but are terrorized by a chainsaw carrying killer dubbed Leatherface and his family instead.  Twelve years later, the sequel continued with the release of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2” in 1986. Four other films have since been released prior to the current “Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D.”

The current movie focuses on Heather, a girl who finds out that she was adopted shortly after learning of an inheritance from her biological grandmother.  The action begins with the events after the original film.  The mayor of Newt, Texas along with others, burn down the house of the Sawyer family. The entire family is pronounced dead except for a baby girl, Edith Sawyer, found by Gavin Miller.  Gavin and his wife Arlene decide to adopt the infant. They raise Edith as Heather Miller.   Heather travels to Newt, along with her boyfriend Ryan and their two friends Nikki and Kenny, to claim her inheritance.  They run into a hitchhiker named Darryl along the way. Heather eventually finds out about her ancestry and joins her cousin Leatherface, in his vendetta against the people of Newt.

Heather is played by Alexandra Daddario, who is most known for her role as Annabeth in “Percy Jackson & the Olympian: Lightning Thief,” and her re-occurring role as Rachel in the NBC sitcom “Parenthood.”   Actor, producer and art director Dan Yeager portrays Leatherface.   Trey Songz, Tania Raymonde and Keram Malicki-Sanchez  co-star in the movie which grossed over $28 million its opening weekend and over $80 million to date total.  It is still in theaters for those who have not had the chance to see the movie and wonder why this story line is still making movie-goers scream 38 years later.