The Sawyer family may not hold the same level of prestige in the horror genre as, say, Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, or even Chucky, the pint-sized Devil Doll who’s gearing up for a triumphant return in October, but make no mistake, that cannibalistic clan is the stuff of nightmares.
First introduced via Tobe Hooper’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre many moons ago, later this year directors Julian Maury and Alexandre Bustillo will be peeling back the many layers of the Sawyer family to uncover Leatherface, a horror prequel that’s set to deliver a jump-scare or three in October. The flick had its world premiere this week at FrightFest and so far, the reactions seem to be quite positive, which is definitely exciting to hear.
But what’s perhaps generating more buzz is a little tidbit that the directors dropped during the film’s screening. And that’s because they revealed that at one point, they were going to make the titular killer female. “Yeah, we thought about making Leatherface a female,” Maury and Bustillo told the FrightFest audience.
From what we understand, the idea never got very far, which doesn’t surprise us, and while we aren’t necessarily against having something like this happen, it’s doubtful that it would have worked out very well for the movie, given the shape that it’s taken. You know, being a prequel/origin story and all. Still, we may see the franchise head in this direction at some point in the future and if that does indeed happen, we’d certainly be on board with it.
Leatherface has been slated for a premiere via DirecTV on September 21st, before Lionsgate launches Julian Maury and Alexandre Bustillo’s nightmarish prequel into select theaters one month later. By that stage, the big screen will be teeming with spooky delights ranging from Saw sequel Jigsaw to The Snowman, while new seasons of The Walking Dead and Stranger Things are pegged for a similar window as well.