The film begins with reports of a gruesome discovery of a mass grave on an abandon stretch of Texas highway. Playing like news footage from a WWII concentration camp, this stench of death only foreshadows the terror that lies ahead. All the while, a couple (Michelle and Scott) is making their way across country trying to patch up their failing relationship. As these travelers try to erase these dark images from their mind, they pull into the "Last Chance" gas station for a quick fill-up. After a run-in with a sicko station attendant, who apparently kills a hitchhiking cowboy, Scott and Michelle barely escape with their lives. As the they speed off down the road, they unwise decide to take a uncharted shortcut. Wary that trouble may be coming, they try to make sense of the madness behind them unaware that they have taken a detour onto the highway to hell. Before they know it, they are forced off the highway by a mysterious pickup truck, narrowly escape a deadly encounter with Leatherface, and finally have their world come crashing to a complete stop. At the same time, an ex-Ranger (Ken Foree) good ole boy happens to be come around the corner and just misses colliding with them as he veers off the road. Now the cat and mouse begins as Leatherface and his "new family" begins their hunt for tonight's supper. Only problem this time is that the prey is packing a high power firearm and more than willing to fight back. As for the ending, I will leave you with some questions ...."Who will survive, what will be left of them, and who cares?" My major disappointment in this third installment in the "chainsaw saga" is that the story neglected any reference to the true "family". Other than Leatherface, Grandpa is the only returning member and this time around, he is just a sawdust filled corpse. Sure they were replaced by an equally demented bunch of sicko, which includes a pig-tail little girl with a baby's corpse as a doll, but these characters lack any depth, conviction, and believability that brought true fear to the first two films. The story was written by David Schow, who went on to script "The Crow", but again his failure in recognizing Leatherface's lineage cause this film to fall far short at least in my opinion. This film is far from the worst of the chainsaw movies, that honor would have to go the fourth installment. Overall, it is a so-so film that any chainsaw should see at least once
