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Texas Chainsaw Massacre Review |
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Having never seen the original Texas
Chainsaw Massacre, I had no basis to compare its 2003 remake. All I knew
is that it was based loosely on true events and that it's considered the
movie that started the slasher genre of horror movies. (And after
reading about the true events a few minutes ago, I've discovered it's a
really, really loose interpretation.) While the new version had a few
scary parts, I don't know if I'd consider it a scary movie. What it did
manage to do was creep the hell out of me.
TCM, like the original, is based in 1973, with 5 carefree teenagers traveling
through Texas in order to see a concert in Dallas. A chain of events
that begins with almost running over a severely f'd up girl leads them
to being stranded in a backwoods town where they encounter a mutant kid,
a sadistic sheriff and a perverted paraplegic among others. Without
giving too much away, they eventually encounter Leatherface which leads
to a lot of running, screaming and blood.
If the goal of TCM is to keep the audience feeling uncomfortable for 90+
minutes, then it was mission accomplished with me. I haven't felt that
weirded out at a theatre since the gimp scene in Pulp Fiction. And I
guess that would be a good thing. You want to be creeped out in a move
like this. I could probably count on one hand, though, the number of
times I was truly scared. But the teenage girls behind me seemed pretty
scared and I suppose that's more the target audience.
Jessica Biel does a good job as the staple "hot girl in a tight
white top who lives to the end". Another show-stealer is R. Lee
Ermey as the creepy sheriff. He gave me the willies every time he showed
up on screen. The biggest shock for me was probably how short Gabriel
Dimas survives.
What really bugged me was the lack of explanation for Leatherface's
actions. Why is he so f'd up? It seems like they just want him to be an indestructible
killing machine in this version and nothing else. Also, the girl walking
down the road at the beginning, there's no explanation about her either.
I suspect that there are some points in the movie that would make way
more sense if one has seen the original.
Pretty much everything about TCM made me creeped out, from the setting
to John Larroquette's narration. After getting home from seeing TCM, I
have to admit that I was looking over my shoulders walking through the
parking garage, and I felt really uneasy walking up the apartment stairs
by myself. In the end, isn't that what a horror movie is supposed to do
to you?
  
- 6.5/10
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Sean
Cullin - Senior Editor
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