Witness the beginning of your end. Evocative words for a movie poster, and it’s rather apt for one depicting the origin tale behind the Sawyer family and its chainsaw-wielding maniac. The old and horrifying Texan tale is no stranger to the big screen, but Millennium Films’ upcoming feature is taking the story back its dark beginnings with Leatherface.
Picking up the infamous chainsaw and mask will be Sam Strike, the British actor best known for his appearance on BBC’s soap drama, Eastenders. Once Millennium locked down the actor earlier in the year, progress on the prequel has been ramping up ever since, with Vanessa Grasse and Stephen Dorff also on board for the scarefest. The pair are set to play the young and innocent (first victim?) Lizzy and a lawman hellbent on unravelling the unspeakable evil haunting the Texas state. Beyond that, Leatherface will also star Lili Taylor as Verne Sawyer, Sam Coleman as Bud, Sam Strike as Jackson, James Bloor as Ike and Jessica Madsen as Clarice.
Due to release next year, the studio’s bold and subversive take on the spine-chilling story is arriving only three years after the middling Texas Chainsaw 3D, and it remains to be seen whether Leatherface can exorcise the ghosts of poor box office performances and deliver a truly engaging horror story. Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo are behind the lens, with an ensemble of executive producers that includes Avi Lerner, Trevor Short, Boaz Davidson, John Thompson, Mark Gill and Beth Bruckner O’Brien.
Leatherface will tell the untold story of the horrifying maniac when Millennium’s prequel arrives at some point in 2016.
A prequel to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre which will explore the origins of the horror icon in the 1970s, the story will begin with the Leatherface character in his teenage years. He resides in a mental institution until he joins a pack of fellow patients who all break out and go on the run from the authorities. The film will mark the eighth overall entry in the franchise, which currently includes, in addition to Tobe Hooper’s original, three sequels, a remake, a prequel to the remake and a modern-day “direct sequel.”