Cast/Notable Credits:
Jeff Burr (Director): Stepfather 2 (1989), Pumpkinhead 2 (1993), Wishmaster 4 (1993) & 5 (1994), Night of the Scarecrow (1995), Devil's Den (2006)
Viggo Mortensen (Tex) : Young Guns 2 (1990), Psycho (1998), Lord of the Rings Trilogy, A History of Violence (2005)
Ken Foree (Benny)
Kate Hodge (Michelle): She Wolf of London T.V. series
Toni Hudson (Sara): Nothing in Common (1986)
R.A. Mihailoff (Leatherface ‘Junior’ Sawyer): Trancers 3 (1992), Pumpkinhead 2 (1993)
William Butler (Ryan): Friday Part 7
Joe Unger (Tinker): A Nightmare on Elm St
Tom Everett (Alfredo): Friday Part 4, Air Force One (1997), Thirteen Days (2000), Tremors 3 (2001), xXx (2002), The Alamo (2004), The Island (2005), Transformers (2007), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
Jennifer Banko (Leatherface’s Daughter): Friday Part 7, Barb Wire (1996)
Beth DePatie (Gina): Nightmare Part 5
Duane Whitaker (Kim): Pulp Fiction (1994), Puppet Master 5 (1994), Night of the Scarecrow (1995), From Dusk Till Dawn 2 (1999), The Devil’s Rejects (2005), Feast (2005), The Butcher (2007), Trailer Park of Terror (2008)
Michael Shamus Wiles (Checkpoint Officer): Trancers 3, Puppet Master 4 (1993), Fallen (1998), Pearl Harbor (2001), A.I. (2001), D-War (2007), Transformers
Trailer:
Plot:
Driving cross country on their way from Los Angeles to Florida, Michelle and Ryan stop off at an isolated Texas gas station to fill up for gas. Acting on a tip from a local hitchhiker, Ryan decides to take a short cut through the heartland of Texas to get to Houston.
While driving on the short cut road late at night, the two are terrorized by a monster pickup truck and run off the road. While changing a blown out tire on the side of the road, Michelle and Ryan encounter the chainsaw wielding maniac, Leatherface.
Ryan changes the tire and the two of them quickly drive off as Leatherface causes damage to the
truck of the car. While escaping, they encounter another vehicle driving opposite of them on the road. They swerve to miss something popping out in the middle of the road and collide with the other vehicle.Now stranded in the middle of nowhere, Michelle, Ryan and the other vehicle’s tenant, Benny; fight for their lives as they have fallen prey to a Sawyer family trap in the swamp lands of Texas.
Villain:
The Sawyer family returns for another Texas adventure. Leading the cast of family members is the notorious Leatherface (yet again, a re-casted actor). Leatherface continues to be a boy trapped in a man’s body, but seems to have entered his teenage years as his hormones have kicked in a little. We also get a nice glimpse as we see Leatherface construct a mask out of human flesh.
Throwing continuity out the window, this Sawyer family has a couple new characters added to the line-up. A mother of the family has entered the equation. The mother is a wheelchair bound, voice box speaking old hag who dictates the house hold.
New to the mix are family members Tex, Alfredo, and Tinker…oh wait, and the rotting corpse of Grandfather too. Yes, they still wheel his *ss around. Tinker drives the monster truck and
Alfredo operates the gas station down the road.Alfredo is played by Tom Everett (Pictured left). Doesn’t sound familiar? Well Everett has a list of major film credits including Air Force One (One of the President’s aides), The Island (Clone of the President), and Transformers (Pentagon Official). He also had a small part at the beginning of Friday Part 4.
And now onto the character of Tex. Tex is played by the Lord of the Rings, king himself, Aragon
or also known as Striker. Yep. Viggo Mortensen. Who knew he was attached to this piece? I guess everyone’s got to start somewhere. Tex is the hitchhiker that draws the victims into the trap, and also is one of the family leaders. He also gives Leatherface a huge *ss chainsaw as a present.Completing the family of cannibals is Leatherface’s little daughter. WTF?! Since when did Leatherface have a little ten year old daughter? Even better, who the f*ck did he knock up to get her? There are too many questions and too few answers. The little girl is played by Jennifer Banko, who also starred as the young Tina in Friday the 13th Part 7. If you don’t remember, it’s the one that has the chick with powers. Banko plays a very disturbed little girl in the film, who roots and cheers for the death of others.
Cast:
There are three central characters (outside of the Sawyer family) in TCM 3. The first character is Michelle, or the heroine of the film, and is played by actress Kate Hodge.
She is driving her father’s car cross country to drop it off to him. Michelle is put through the majority of the torture events of the film as she is captured by the family and escapes to fight them off.Accompanying Michelle is her smart-aleck, pre-med boyfriend, Ryan. He’s pretty much an annoying dick. On a side note, he also starred alongside of Banko in Friday Part 7. He’s the dude’s cousin that got hacked up in the woods by Jason.
The third and final character in the film is Benny. Benny is played by Dawn of the Dead legend, Ken Foree. Benny has been going up to teach some militia survival camp on the weekends at some location nearby. To say the least, Benny is prepared when it comes to the family hunting them down. Just like a good Boy Scout. Besides Tex, Benny’s the best character in the film.
SFX/Gore:
TCM 3 continues the chainsaw tradition of serious amounts of blood, guts and gore in the film. If you’re wondering, there is a chainsaw death or two, and there is also a new take on the sledge hammer death. The body count is a disappointing six, mainly because the bulk of that number comes from the Sawyer family side.
TNA:
Not a big fan of this franchise for this category. There is more going on for the female audience
than there is for the male audience. The females get the heart-throbbed, Viggo, while the males get two less than desirable Shark Factors. One of which is dirty, and bloodied up in her short appearance. On a side note, little Jennifer Banko has grown up to look kinda hot (Pictured Right).Concept:
TCM 3 continues to use the basic principles that the first TCM proposed. A cannibalistic family with a chainsaw dancing retard, hunting and killing unsuspecting travelers. I can’t really tell whether this movie was supposed to be a sequel or just another take on the series. After all, there are many, many continuity questions in the film.
The beginning of the film starts off with a prologue stating that W.E. Sawyer lived to see trial from the first incident. He was found guilty and executed in the gas chamber. Sally Hardesty died in a mental hospital years later.
First of all, who is W.E.? There were no names mentioned in the first film. Was it the gas station owner? I thought that his name was Drayton in the second one. So once again, who the hell is W.E.? (Just wait for the next film's review)
Secondly, the family make-up changes, then again in every movie, the family changes. Now there are three new brothers/family members, a mother, and a little girl. Are they distant degenerate cousins that like to kill also?
As you can see my dilemma on whether or not this is a sequel or different take on this. It’s probably a blend of both. Outside of the constant issues with family members, there were a couple good things I found interesting in the film like the trapping and hunting plan.
By the family’s house there is a swamp labyrinth where the family has built hidden traps to help assist in hunting their prey. I thought that this aspect was a pretty cool idea to add to the genre. These ideas created a good creepy atmosphere to the film. It also set up a nice hunting game between the family and Benny. Too bad, they didn’t indulge more on this in the film.
T.Gun Factor:
Overall I like this film more than I did with the 2nd sequel, but it still had a feel of “been there, done that” to it. TCM 3 is not a complete waste of time, but more of a different, poor man’s take on the original film. Knowing that, I can’t really hate or ‘dis’ TCM 3 that much because most of my favorite horror movies are just different takes on the original. Bottom line, I’ll just call TCM 3…okay.
Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on January 12, 1990 and made $5.7 million at the Box Office ($3.2 million opening weekend)
-Only TCM not filmed in Texas
-The chainsaw in the movie weighed ~ 80 lbs
-Kane Hodder (Jason) was the movie’s stunt coordinator
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