Review: Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013)


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

🎥 Trailers:

The marketing pitched this as the direct continuation of Tobe Hooper’s 1974 classic — Leatherface roaring back into relevance, a dusty mansion inheritance, and Alexandra Daddario screaming her lungs out while the chainsaw revs. It promised legacy. It promised brutality. And it promised to erase the other sequels. Bold move.


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🔦 Non-Spoiler Plot Rundown
The film opens immediately after the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Cops and locals surround the Sawyer farmhouse, determined to wipe them out once and for all. Things go sideways fast — shotguns blast, Molotovs ignite, and the whole clan burns to death… except for one infant, secretly whisked away from the wreckage.

That infant grows up to be Heather Miller (Alexandra Daddario), who years later discovers through a will that she has inherited a massive estate in Texas. Excited (and confused), she takes a road trip with friends to check it out. The house is gothic, sprawling, and way too good to be true. Spoiler-free version: it comes with a basement. And in that basement? Leatherface — older, angrier, but very much alive.

From here, the movie mixes Heather’s identity crisis with small-town corruption and slasher carnage. It’s a strange hybrid of gothic soap opera and gory homecoming tale.


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👥 Character Rundown

Heather Miller (Alexandra Daddario)
Our lead and the surprise Sawyer cousin. Daddario’s wide-eyed charisma works, even when the script throws nonsense her way. She plays Heather as both sympathetic and increasingly hardened.

Leatherface (Dan Yeager)
He’s aged, but he’s not weakened. This version of Leatherface isn’t a goofy brute; he’s a hulking, loyal monster, still terrifying in his brutality but shaded with a strange, tragic devotion to family.

Mayor Burt Hartman (Paul Rae)
Here’s where things get weird. Hartman led the original mob that wiped out the Sawyers. He’s obsessed with keeping that “victory” intact, but instead of feeling righteous, he becomes the movie’s real villain — corrupt, cruel, and sadistic. His fixation on exterminating every last Sawyer makes him as dangerous as the family he destroyed.

Carl (Scott Eastwood)
Hartman’s deputy son. Torn between duty and morality, though the movie doesn’t give him much depth. Still, he becomes a pivotal piece once Heather’s truth comes out.

Heather’s Friends
Disposable fodder. They exist to make dumb decisions, wander into dark basements, and pad the kill count. You won’t remember their names after the credits roll.



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⚖️ Pros

Darker cinematography and tone — dripping with gothic atmosphere.

Alexandra Daddario carries the film with her intensity.

Leatherface feels dangerous again.

The opening continuation directly from the original is wild and gutsy.


❌ Cons

Continuity? A mess. Heather should be pushing 40, not mid-20s.

The cousin twist is awkward.

“Do your thing, cuz.” is an all-time bad line.

CGI blood looks cheap, especially in the finale.



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⭐ Final Thoughts & Rating
Here’s the thing: I get why people hate this movie. I do. The continuity gymnastics, the terrible cousin line, the reliance on weak CGI — it’s all there. But personally? I actually like this movie. The dark tone works, Leatherface feels menacing again, and Alexandra Daddario grounds the insanity. It’s flawed, but I’d rewatch it over some of the other sequels any day.

Rating: 8/10


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⚠️ Spoiler Warning
The saw’s revving. From here on out, everything’s spoilers.


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💥 Spoiler Breakdown (Full Detail)

The movie opens strong: a montage recap of the 1974 film, followed by a direct continuation. Sally Hardesty escapes, the cops close in, and the townsfolk gather. Mayor Burt Hartman leads a lynch mob determined to wipe out the Sawyers. The farmhouse goes up in flames, the family gets riddled with bullets, and it seems like Leatherface’s reign is over. Except one baby — Heather — is saved and secretly adopted by outsiders. It’s a grim, bloody prologue that tries to tie this directly to the Hooper original.

Jump to present day: Heather, now in her early 20s (don’t ask about the math), learns that her biological grandmother has died and left her an estate. She and her friends hit the road, and immediately we get stock horror beats: dumb decisions, snooping in the creepy mansion, ignoring locked doors. When one friend sneaks into the basement, Leatherface awakens — older, scarred, but every bit the hulking brute. Cue the chainsaw.

Bodies start dropping. Leatherface massacres Heather’s friends in creative fashion — impalements, dismemberments, that roaring saw slicing through meat. Unfortunately, the gore is undercut by CGI blood splatter that looks more like PlayStation cutscenes than practical effects.

The film pivots once Heather learns the truth: she is a Sawyer. Leatherface isn’t just a monster — he’s her cousin. Her grandmother’s letter explicitly asked Heather to care for him as family. It’s an absurd twist, but the movie leans into it.

Meanwhile, Mayor Hartman resurfaces. He’s still obsessed with exterminating the Sawyers. His corruption is revealed as he captures Heather, abuses his authority, and plans to cover up Leatherface’s survival. Hartman isn’t fighting for justice — he’s waging a personal vendetta, one that makes him as sadistic as the monster he’s trying to bury.

The climax is bonkers: Leatherface is captured at the slaughterhouse, Heather is chained, and Hartman prepares to end it all. But Heather embraces her bloodline and makes the most infamous decision of the film — she throws Leatherface his chainsaw, delivering the cringiest line in horror history:

> “Do your thing, cuz.”



With that, Leatherface goes to town, mowing through Hartman’s men with gleeful brutality. Hartman himself ends up dragged into a meat grinder — an oddly satisfying but cartoonish death.

The ending: Heather inherits the mansion, fully embracing her Sawyer legacy. Instead of killing Leatherface or running away, she chooses to live in the estate with him, honoring her grandmother’s wish. The movie closes on this strange, gothic image of Heather and Leatherface as family — the final girl transformed into caretaker of the monster.


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🔪 Franchise Comparison

The Original (1974) – Pure, raw nightmare fuel. No sequels have matched its documentary-style grit and terror.

Part 2 (1986) – Went gonzo comedy with Dennis Hopper wielding dual chainsaws. Cult classic, but divisive.

The ’90s Sequels – Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III and The Next Generation are… let’s just say they exist. Both were messy, over-the-top, and largely forgettable (unless you count Matthew McConaughey’s robotic leg).

The 2003 Remake + 2006 Prequel – Slicker, gorier, with Michael Bay sheen. They had their fans, but they felt more like torture-porn than gothic horror.

Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013) – Lands in an odd spot. It’s infamous for continuity issues and bad lines, but at least it tries something bold. It connects directly to the original, gives Leatherface a darker, more tragic edge, and leans into moody cinematography. Compared to the absolute chaos of some sequels, this one feels strangely… focused.


And that’s why, despite its flaws, I kind of respect it. It’s not perfect, but it’s memorable. And that’s more than I can say for half this franchise.