Throughout the past few decades, a number of classic horror franchises have sprung up and shaped the genre. The likes of Freddy Krueger and Jason Vorhees have been sending chills down the spines of moviegoers for decades now, paving the way for the wide array of horror films we have today. Among those iconic movies is the The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise when the first film released in 1974, introducing fans to the twisted world of Leatherface and everything that came with him. While several new films have been released throughout the past few decades, it looks like Netflix will be rebooting the franchise and dialing the clock back to produce a sequel to the original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre film.
Back in the 1970’s, moviegoers met one of the most iconic faces of the horror genre in Leatherface. Earning his nickname by turning human flesh into his own personal mask, the character quickly caught the world’s eye as Texas Chainsaw Massacre cemented its place in Hollywood history. The subsequent films in the franchise did not live up to the hype that the first had created however, with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 earning a meager 47% on Rotten Tomatoes. It looks like Leatherface will be getting the opportunity to redeem his legacy as Netflix picked up the rights to the upcoming installment of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise from Legendary Pictures. Instead of picking up where the franchise left off however, the new project will instead be set a few years after the events of the 1974 original film and attempt to breathe new life into the franchise. The cast includes Elsie Fisher, Sarah Yarkin, Jacob Latimore and Moe Dunford, but a potential release date is still up in the air.
While horror films of today employ rather graphic yet impressive imagery to achieve their goal of scaring audiences as much as possible, they owe much of their success to the aforementioned characters and films. Leatherface and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre brought viewers into a world of terror unlike anything they had ever seen before, and now it is essentially the status quo for the genre. In the era of reboots, it is of no surprise this was Netflix’s choice when it comes to horror. Fans of the legendary franchise can look forward to further updates about the upcoming reboot of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
