Tobe Hooper’s terrifyingly palpable masterpiece has been immortalized thanks to its own legacy and the franchise it kicked off. The saga of Leatherface, the series’ wordless, cannibalistic, chainsaw-wielding villain, has expanded through seven other films, comic books and even a video game. While they certainly have their fans, none of the sequels, prequels or remakes have come close to capturing that same nasty and controversial energy of the first and original 1974 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

The first new addition to the franchise in four years, following 2017’s Leatherface, is slated to be released this year exclusively on Netflix. Directed by David Blue Garcia with a screenplay by Chris Thomas Devlin, Texas Chainsaw Massacre (no ‘the’) will act as a direct sequel to Hooper’s original film and ignore all the other entries. Similar to the new Halloween films’ approach towards Michael Myers, Leatherface will now be a much older, but no less deadly, antagonist.

The film stars Nell Hudson and Elsie Fisher as Melody and Lila, a pair of sisters who run afoul of the terrifying Leatherface (Mark Burnham) and must enlist the help of the sole survivor of the original massacre, Sally Hardesty (Olwen Fouéré). Producer Fede Álvarez has noted that they filmed in an old school way, using vintage lenses and crafting practical effects for the gore. the film is scheduled to drop onto Netflix next year.

Entertainment Weekly has just just unveiled the first images of the upcoming sequel as well as the official release date of February 18th, so bloodthirsty fans don't have too long to wait. The still give us our first look at the older Leatherface as well as the new young cast that will have to face him.

Alvarez explains this new vision of Leatherface to EW, “It’s basically the same character, who is still alive. Our take on it was this guy probably disappeared after everything he’s done. You know, how do you catch a guy who has a mask? Once he removes the mask and runs away, it’s very easy for him to hide somewhere. This story will pick it up many, many years after the original story. He’s been in hiding for a long, long time, trying to be a good person. These people arriving in this town are going to awaken the giant."

'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' premieres on Netflix February 18th.