Texas Chainsaw Massacre

After nearly 50 years of hiding, Leatherface returns to terrorize a group of idealistic young friends who accidentally disrupt his carefully shielded world in a remote Texas town.

Review

I must admit when I first heard Legendary Pictures and Netflix would be making a new Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie, I was somewhat intrigued. Many people complain when hearing a popular movie franchise is getting a new sequel or reboot, even more so with horror movie icons it would seem. But let’s be completely honest with ourselves, any new movie that includes Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Leatherface, etc., we will part with our hard-earned cash to sit down and watch.

If the project is handled correctly and respectfully of what has come before, then I am prepared to give the movie and the filmmakers the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, Netflix’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre does not fall into that category. The movie is set 50 years after the original and this raises the first red flag for me. Leatherface did not look very young in the 1974 original, but let’s say for theory’s sake that he was in his 20s, this would still make him 70+ in this movie. How is a 70+-year-old man still running around wielding a chainsaw? He also takes a few hits in this movie, receiving multiple gunshot wounds and his signature weapon is used against him, how is he still standing?

If the filmmakers wanted to follow on from the original movie, why not have this story set in the 80’s or 90’s? I have always found horror movies set in earlier decades much scarier because the characters do not have their mobile phones to call the police or live stream to social media. All I kept thinking throughout the short 1 hour and 20-minute runtime is that they are trying to follow in the footsteps on Halloween (2018), by bringing back the survivor from the original (played by a different actor because Marilyn Burns passed away in 2014) who has spent her life preparing for Leatherface’s return following the events of the movie. The problem with this narrative besides the fact they are copying from another movie, is that there is no build-up to their confrontation and (SPOILER ALERT) she dies almost immediately, so why bother having her in the movie at all?

There is also a scene in the movie that made me laugh unintentionally. Frustratingly, this particular scene was the reveal of Leatherface’s new mask. In a scene that should have felt sinister, Leatherface just stands up in a poppy field as if he was knelt down playing a game of hide and seek. No tension was built up and I honestly thought he was going to say “peekaboo”.

Despite the lacklustre story, I do have to give credit where credit is due as this is by far the goriest Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie to date and if you’re going into this movie wanting some slasher movie carnage, then this movie does deliver. The killings are brutal and the props department certainly does not skimp on the fake blood. But ultimately, all the bone-crushing, limb dismemberment and skin removal do not save the movie from being unimaginative and boring. I was hoping that this movie would revitalize the franchise.

Stick around to the end of the credits because there is a short end credit scene, although I’m still not sure if it was trying to set up a sequel or if it was just a nod to the original movie. Either way, I cannot see the movie getting a follow-up but now that Legendary Pictures owns the film rights to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I hope they try again but spend more time creating an original and interesting story.