The film was picked up by Phase 4 Films[2] shortly after its world premiere at the 2012 Fantasia International Film Festival,[3] and later made its US premiere at the 2012 Austin Film Festival.[4] Phase 4 Films released the movie in theaters on September 6, 2013, under the tagline "You Are What You Eat."[5][6] In 2016, PopHorror named it one of the "Top 10 Cannibal Themed Horror Movies of the 21st Century."[7]
Plot
A group of Texas youths are celebrating a birthday at a posh San Antonio restaurant when they cross paths with a ravenous clan of cannibals called the Boneboys. Mercilessly stalked through the darkened streets of the city, the young revelers must fight back against their attackers with sheer ferocity in order to avoid having their bodies defiled, and their flesh devoured.[8]Butcher Boys is described as an updating of Jonathan Swift’s 1729 satirical essay A Modest Proposal, which suggested poor people sell their children to the rich as food. Writer Kim Henkel imagined the descendants of folks who actually took Swift up on his proposal.[9]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 0% of 5 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 2.4/10.[14] However, the film has successfully found an audience on YouTube, amassing over 20 million views under the moniker Cannibal Boys.[15]
Reviews of the movie were polarized. Bloody Disgusting described it as "tainted meat you've tasted before."[16] Evan Saathoff of Birth. Movies. Death. described it as "a strange, misguided film."[17]ComingSoon.net explained "this is one of those films that will split people right down the middle. It may have nothing to offer some and others may find its madness exhilarating. The performances are certainly unhinged and played to perfection."[18] Joel Harley of Horror DNA wrote "it's brutal, gory and disarmingly amusing, Butcher Boys is a fun film by The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’s less remembered co-creator and two exciting new directors."[19] DVD Exotica proclaimed "Butcher Boys is not an official TCM movie in name. But it is absolutely, 100% the next chapter in the story."[20] While Outlaw Vern concluded, "it’s worth completist viewing for Chainsaw series fanatics like myself."[21]