Leatherface (2017):

Guess Who? The Worst Game of Clue Ever Played.

Lets start by showing y’all the trailers shall we?

🎥 Trailers & Promotion — The First Red Flag

Even before the movie dropped, things were off. The trailer hyped up this “who will become Leatherface?” gimmick like it was some horror mystery game. Posters showed a big, hulking guy in a mask, teasing fans that this must be the origin of the iconic chainsaw killer. Except — nope. That was a bait-and-switch. Instead, the actual Leatherface ends up being a scrawny, conventionally attractive kid who looks more like he should be in a CW drama than in the Sawyer family farmhouse. Marketing misled fans, and the film never recovered from that letdown.


—

🔄 Non-Spoiler Plot Overview

The story takes place years before the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. We follow a group of troubled teens in a mental institution who break out during a violent escape. They’re on the run with a kidnapped nurse, crossing rural Texas and leaving bodies behind. Among these teens? One of them is destined to become Leatherface. The gimmick is the guessing game: is it the violent bruiser? the unhinged girl? the quiet brooder?

That mystery hook could’ve been fun… but it falls apart fast. The film wants to be clever, but it just drags, and you spend more time asking “why should I care?” instead of actually caring.


—

👥 Character Rundown

Jed Sawyer / Future Leatherface (Sam Strike): The “twist” is that the scrawny hot guy becomes Leatherface. It doesn’t feel earned. Instead of a descent into madness, it feels like the writers just picked a name out of a hat.

Lizzy (Vanessa Grasse): The kidnapped nurse. She’s the closest thing to a sympathetic character, but she’s stuck babysitting lunatics and bad writing.

Clarence / “Bud” (Sam Coleman): The big bruiser who should’ve been Leatherface. He had the size, presence, and menace. Fans were convinced it’d be him. Nope. Mislead.

Ike & Clarice (James Bloor & Jessica Madsen): A psychotic Bonnie-and-Clyde duo who chew scenery and rack up body count. They’re basically filler chaos.

Sheriff Hartman (Stephen Dorff): A lawman obsessed with taking down the Sawyers. He exists to remind us of the family’s looming presence but ends up cartoonishly evil.



—

🕑 Pacing & Flow

The movie feels less like a Texas Chainsaw Massacre entry and more like a generic crime road trip. Instead of sweaty, claustrophobic horror, we get wide-open roads, filler kills, and endless bickering between characters. By the time the mask shows up, it feels tacked on, like the filmmakers remembered at the last second, “oh right, this is supposed to be a Leatherface movie.”


—

✅ Pros

Some brutal gore (when it’s not cheap CGI).

The concept of showing young Leatherface could’ve been cool if done right.

Sheriff Hartman’s vendetta at least ties back to the franchise lore.



—

❌ Cons

The “mystery Leatherface” gimmick is laughable and kills suspense.

Misleading trailers hyped the wrong character.

Tone is wrong: feels like a road trip crime flick, not backwoods horror.

Weak, unconvincing Leatherface origin — Jed’s transformation makes no sense.

Way too much focus on unlikable side characters.

😬 Final Thoughts

Leatherface (2017) is a prequel nobody asked for that sabotaged itself with a gimmick. Instead of showing a believable descent into madness, it plays coy with a cheap guessing game and undercuts the terror of the character. When your biggest twist is “surprise, the hot guy did it!” you’ve missed the point of Leatherface entirely.


—

⭐ Rating: 2/10




—

⚠️ Spoiler Warning! Full Spoilers Below

The film opens with young Jed Sawyer being forced to kill as a twisted “birthday gift.” He refuses, showing early signs of compassion. Skip ahead, Jed is in an asylum with other violent teens. A breakout happens, and the group escapes with a kidnapped nurse, Lizzy.

For most of the runtime, we follow this group’s chaotic road trip. Murders happen, cops chase them, but it never really feels like Chainsaw. It’s more Natural Born Killers with a Texas filter.

The twist: Jed, the attractive, quiet one who seemed the most “normal,” gets his face mutilated in a final confrontation. This trauma “turns” him into Leatherface. Yep, that’s the whole reveal — hot guy = Leatherface. Meanwhile, Bud (the bulky, intimidating one) gets killed off early, despite being the obvious choice.

By the end, Jed dons a crude stitched mask, revs up the chainsaw, and embraces his family’s legacy. But the buildup feels unearned, like the movie wanted to be edgy by surprising fans, only to pick the least convincing option possible.