With such a backlog of films that have been seemingly relegated to the shelf, just waiting for their release because of COVID interrupting the entire film industry, it’s easy to forget about some projects. One of those is the upcoming sequel to “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” produced by Fede Alvarez and directed by David Blue Garcia. But finally, after months of waiting, we have news about the horror film’s release.
According to THR, Legendary has sold the distribution rights to the “Texas Chainsaw” sequel to Netflix, which will release the film on the streaming service globally. Much like how Blumhouse’s “Halloween” film from 2018 treated the franchise, the new ‘Chainsaw’ film wipes the slate clean and picks up from the events of the first film. Many years after the first appearance of Leatherface, the killer and his family have disappeared. But now, the slasher returns in a film written by Chris Thomas Devlin.
The cast for the new ‘Chainsaw’ includes Elsie Fisher, Sarah Yarkin, Jacob Latimore, and Moe Dunford. Filming of the sequel began last year, but we haven’t heard anything about a premiere date or how the film would be getting released. But it’s clear now that Legendary feels the best thing to do is sell the rights off to Netflix and send it to streaming. Does this mean the film is garbage and the studio is mitigating its losses? It’s hard to say. We’ve seen that happen during the pandemic with some films getting shifted to streaming. However, we’ve also seen some of these streaming releases spawn sequels, which means that if the new ‘Chainsaw’ film is a hit, perhaps we can see even more from Leatherface in the future.
Obviously, the original “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” debuted in 1974 and was directed by the legendary filmmaker, Tobe Hooper. The film’s massive success spawned a number of sequels and prequels, including a pretty popular reboot franchise from Michael Bay from 2003. With “Halloween,” “Candyman,” and other slashers getting rebooted for a new generation, it was only a matter of time before Leatherface made his triumphant return. Now, we just wait and see when Netflix decides to release it. October is right around the corner…
