It's been quite the wait, but the Texas Chainsaw Massacre prequel is finally upon us. Leatherface comes from Inside and Livide directors Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo and shows us the origins of the iconic horror character through the story of four escaped mental inmates. Jessica Madsen, Sam Coleman, Sam Strike, and James Bloor star as the escapees, who kidnap a young nurse (Vanessa Grasse) and take her on a brutal, bloody road trip. Chasing them down is a pair of cops played by Finn Jones and Stephen Dorff as Hal Hartman, a deranged Texas Ranger on a mission of revenge against the teenager who becomes Leatherface. The Conjuring's Lili Taylor also stars as the cannibalistic matriarch, Verna Sawyer.

BloodyDisgusting learned today that following a premiere at London's FrightFest, Leatherface will land exclusively on DirecTV on September 21, 2017, with a limited theatrical run and full VOD release through Lionsgate to follow on October 20, 2017. Per the report, Leatherface is rated R “for strong bloody violence, disturbing images, language and some sexuality/nudity.”

BD also debuted some blood-soaked first look images and they are pretty intense looking. If you've seen Maury and Bustillo's previous films, that shouldn't exactly come as a surprise, but it looks like they're laying on the blood extra thick for this one. The directors have kept pretty mum on what to expect from Leatherface, but they previously described the film as "a brutal and nihilistic road movie" and these pictures look pretty on track for that description.

Producers Lati Grobman and Christa Campbellwho first revived the frachise with 2013's Texas Chainsaw 3D and hold the rights for five film, return for Leatherface. Check out the new images below and sound off in the comments with your thoughts.

leatherface-images
Image via Lionsgate
leatherface-image
Image via Lionsgate
leatherface-movie-images
Image via Lionsgate