New Texas Chainsaw Massacre Gets Rating, Possible Title Revealed

A new entry in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise is expected to debut later this year, with new information on FilmRatings.com seemingly confirming that not only will the film earn an expected R-rating, but its official title appears to merely be "Texas Chainsaw Massacre." With this upcoming film meant to serve as a direct follow-up to the original 1974 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, it could be that the project is embracing a formula that proved successful with the Halloween franchise, as the previous installment debuted in 2018, served as a direct continuation of the original installment, and also opted for the straightforward title "Halloween." With no confirmed release date for the upcoming film, it's also possible that the title could be tweaked in the coming months.

What's clear is that the filmmakers won't be holding back on the terror, as the new film is rated R for "strong bloody horror violence and gore, and language."

The original film sees a group of friends traveling across the Texan landscape, only for a pitstop to result in them accidentally wandering into the Sawyer homestead, encountering the deadly "Leatherface." Acting under orders of his cannibalistic family, Leatherface earned the moniker as he would make masks out of his victims' faces to cover his own face. Only one of these friends, Sally, manages to escape Leatherface and his reign of terror.

Funnily enough, despite the gruesome subject matter of the concept, original director Tobe Hooper reportedly hoped to secure a PG rating for his film, given how little actual carnage is depicted on screen as opposed to merely being implied. At the time, there was no PG-13 rating, with the arguably more violent Jaws earning a PG rating just the year after the release of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Over the course of subsequent sequels, prequels, reboots, and reboot prequels, the series has leaned much more heavily into the inherent intensity of the narrative to deliver audiences more unsettling imagery.

The new film stars Golden Globe award nominee Elsie Fisher, alongside Sarah Yarkin (Happy Death Day 2U), Moe Dunford (The Dig), Alice Krige (Star Trek), Jacob Latimore (The Maze Runner), Nell Hudson (Victoria), Jessica Allain (The Laundromat), Sam Douglas (Snatch), William Hope (Dark Shadows), and Jolyon Coy (War & Peace).

Mark Burnham (Wrong Cops) is set to play "Old Man Leatherface" in the new film while Olwen Fouéré (Mandy) will be playing Sally from the original film.

Stay tuned for details on the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

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