The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a definitive cult horror. But I am all for remaking the classics. Or in this case a proposed re-imagining. But just how does Marcus Nispels’ efforts stand out or even compare to the Tobe Hooper classic?
Well, it makes a pretty good attempt. The movie is awash with sick imagery, tension building sequences, disturbing locals and plentiful, but not excessive, gore. It all adds up to quite an entertaining and distressing piece of sick cinema. Great!
The mood and feeling of the movie practically from beginning to end is dark and benevolent. The opening scene proceeds with black and white grainy police footage of a recently discovered and ultimately unsecured crime scene. From here we are taken on a road trip to hell. Sorry if that sounds a little hackneyed but that is more or less what happens to this group of casual fun loving college kids.
On a return trip from a little pot scoring in Mexico and on their way to a concert the the gang run into a hitchhiker who unbeknowst to our heroes survived a horrific massacre from the night before. A chainsaw related massacre would you believe!
The initial scenes are creepy, tension building and extremely well executed (no pun intended people!) including the hitchhikers suicide scene. But unfortunately from here the moment we meet the new Leatherface (in a disappointingly less-shocking initial appearance) it all kind of gets a little less tense and little more run-of-the-mill and predictable.
There’s screaming, running, hiding and great looking girls running around in small white wet t-shirts and all the usual hokum we expect. But that dark undercurrent and bizarre character behaviour continue to flow throughout.
Remake grievances then? Slow paced in the middle and a tad nonessential on occassions in the shock department. No implication of cannibalism. And why on Earth does a group of 70’s teenagers all look like they’ve just dropped out of a Calvin Klein catalogue?
Praisables then? Hottie Jessica Biel running around in a tight t-shirt and looking generally hot all through. The welcome uneasiness and discomforting imagery and sequences. It kind of has that almost sickening and dirty inbred kind of quality. The remake has a welcome change of style that so many horror movies nowadays just can’t parallel. And the unpleasantness of it all brings great hope for the future of the genre.
OVERALL SUMMARY
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre deserves applause for its genuinely great attempt at re-imagining and not ruining the reputation of the original in any form. The freakishly ghoulish community and inhabitants were terrifyingly disturbing and all performed extremely well. Most set pieces, locations, and apart from a few sequences were all well accomplished.
