Leatherface

Leatherface ... falls squarely in the tradition of a series that's failed, movie after movie, to recapture the raw, reptilian power of its first entry.

Sadly, the makers of Leatherface didn't put enough thought into a sleepy story that could easily be titled 'I Was a Teenage Leatherface.'

Like the film's punishingly gory set pieces, the storytelling itself is meaty.

The best horror movies leave the most frightening elements to an audience's imagination. Leatherface is not one of those movies.

"Leatherface" is the best "Chainsaw" movie that doesn't have "Directed by Tobe Hooper" in the credits.

Some things should just be left alone.

Manages to bring in the extremely unpleasant, unrelenting energy of the New French Extremity horror movement into the United States mostly intact.

For all the buildup for the big reveal, the ending of Leatherface makes little sense and isn't terribly satisfying, for hardcore fans or otherwise.

Most egregiously, it attempts to chart a rational evolution of an incomprehensible monster.

What's best is that beneath the horror are questions of identity. The origins of the character are changed, just a touch. The core remains the same. The saw's still family.