Leatherface + Roaring Chainsaw = Texas Massacre III

What the world doesn’t need is another face in filmdom’s rogues’ gallery of homicidal maniacs, but that’s what it is getting.

It should have been enough that Michael Myers of “Halloween,” Freddy Krueger of “Nightmare on Elm Street” and Jason Voorhees of “Friday the 13th” could be counted on for annual appearances in slasher-horror pictures.

But mark the name of Junior Sawyer, aka Leatherface, who soon will be seen wielding his dismembering weapon in “Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III.”

In the first two “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” epics the role of Leatherface was played by two different actors.

Now, it is R. A. Mihailoff’s turn. He will be seen next month in the role of the mad killer and, moreover, he has signed for two sequels.

Mihailoff is a tall, balding party of some 200-pounds-plus with a scraggly beard and fierce eyes. He is not exactly a thing of beauty in or out of makeup, but when wearing the leather mask--which only partically covers his face--Mihailoff could scare the larceny out of Michael, Jason and Freddy.

It is Mihailoff’s somewhat limited ambition in life to become as closely associated with Leatherface as has Kane Hodder with Jason and Robert Englund with Freddy.

He definitely plans to avoid the fate of the several unremembered actors who have played Michael Myers.

Of them all, Leatherface is the most violently vile. Whereas Freddy relies on his bladed fingers and Jason and Michael kill with whatever is at hand, Leatherface uses the ultimate weapon--a roaring chainsaw.

Although all four lunatics have a common bond of frenzy, none seems to be motivated out of revenge, jealousy, rage or even deep melancholy. They simply kill.

Although Mihailoff is anxious to continue playing Leatherface, he also looks forward to being seen in roles without a mask.

“It’s harder to act when people can’t see your face,” he said. “I have to use a lot of body language. But there’s enough space around my eyes and part of my mouth, so I do a lot of heavy breathing and eye woggling.

“For me playing Leatherface is a childhood dream come true. Since I was a little kid I’ve been a horror fan. Twenty-five years ago I used to read Famous Monsters of Filmland and pretend I was one of them.”