LEATHERFACE Blu-ray Review

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In 1955, the early days of the Sawyer Family is similar to how they are in plenty of other movies.  Jeddah Sawyer was sent to a mental institution for an incident with the sheriff’s daughter.  After being locked away for nearly a decade, Jedidiah forces a young nurse and a few other inmates to escape.  The idea is a road trip and things may not turn out exactly the way that they want.
 
Directors Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury have teamed up before to make some unknowns.  This is their first time at the mainstream and they have picked a tough genre.  Plus, TEXAS CHAINSAW is a series with some solid lore but most of it hasn’t been explored yet.  This is their interpretation of the beginning of the most evil bastard in Texas.
 
 

VIDEO QUALITY:

The video is a 1080p AVC presentation that splits time in brighter, outdoor scenes and the darker, scarier scenes.  First off, there is a yellow tone to the movie to give this digitally captured film an older feel of 1955 due to the original being set in the ‘70s.  This gives some sharp images and some nice textures to the skin as well as clothing in the film. There is a definite sense of the forgotten area of Texas where the Sawyers live.  The blacks are dark and very inky in pretty much any scenes with a shadow.  One of the screenshots that I took has an all black background with someone in the foreground.  This is a great example of how the images look.
 

AUDIO QUALITY:

The audio is a DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 mix.  Most of the audio is from the center channel whether it is effects or dialogue.  It is prioritized and separated for a clean sound.  Moving into the rear channels, the ambient sound has some indigenous creatures to Texas to keep with the rural feel.  The effects from like chainsaws are appropriately terrifying and are prioritized well over the sounds of the screaming victims.
 

SUPPLEMENTS & PACKAGING

-Behind the Bloody Mask: Making LEATHERFACE: This is a feature about the movie with the standard coverage.
 
-Deleted Scenes:
Alternate Opening
Betty
Clothes
The Pit
Trailer Confession
Alternate Ending
 
Disc Details
1 Blu-ray Disc
Digital copy
 
Running Time
88 mins
 
Edition Ratings
Rated R
 
Region Coding
Region A
 
Video Resolution
1080p AVC MPEG-4
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
 
Audio Mixes
English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
 
Subtitles
English SDH
Spanish
 

THE BOTTOM LINE:

LEATHERFACE is one of those horror movies that takes a step in what is arguably not the right direction.  If they took a look at where the franchise could go in a sequel, this would be a very different film.  The audio is decent but the video is a very nice.  The clean images are surprisingly clean.  The extras are a little light but I would’ve like a little more about this film on the disc.  I would maybe give this a rent first because it might play off a bit differently than in your head.

About the author

MEDIA JOURNALIST | Michael is a fanatic about all both cinema old and new. He collects anything from 1:6 Scale, 1:12 Scale, and vinyl Collectibles plus Slipcovers and Steelbooks. He loves pop culture, writing, reviewing films & collectibles, and journalism. An avid Batman, The Joker and anything comics junkie, he will also chat it up about pretty much anything. Go ahead and ask...