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| The
Texas Chainsaw Massacre Review |
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This remake (or in actuality, Texas
Chainsaw Massacre 5) has got to be the best horror movie I've seen this
year, second only to 28 Days Later. Cabin Fever, though a very
entertaining movie, didn't have the cohesion that this movie had. From
the first death scene, you sink into this movie, caught in the quick
sand of the situation the one-dimensional characters in this movie find
themselves. Jessica Biels' Erin and Andrew Bryniarski's Thomas Hewitt (a.k.a. LEATHERFACE), are the only characters that get any development in
this movie, though it's sprinkled and paper-thin. Having seen both Tobe
Hooper's original Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Texas Chainsaw Massacre:
The Next Generation, I can adamantly say that this "remake"
had the best beginning death scene out of all of them. It was brutal and
the movie held that brutality until the dead body was dealt with.
The camera just lingered and lingered and lingered, right on the
gruesome destruction of it. It was incredible and twisted, beautiful
even. Big budget, studio horror movies usually don't have the guts to
do that but this movie did. This Texas Chainsaw Massacre had the best
camera work out of the whole series. The lighting it used and the way
shadows played over the bodies were fantastic, especially when new
characters were introduced.
The soundtrack in this movie was above average and succeeded in getting
the audience into the atmosphere of the movie and what some of the
characters must have been going through emotionally. It wasn't Basil
Poledouris' soundtrack to Conan the Barbarian but was decent. Steve
Jablonsky, the music composer for this Texas Chainsaw Massacre, did an
adequate job, a very good job in some instances.
Sheriff Hoyt, played by Full Metal Jacket's R. Lee Ermey, brought
authenticity to this movie simply because of his presence on screen. He
was hilarious, morbid, abusive, sadistic and authoritative all in his
first five minutes of screen time. You grew to look forward to his
appearances throughout the movie just to see what he'd say or do next.
For all of the brilliance and gore of the first two-thirds of this Texas
Chainsaw Massacre, the last third of it seemed to be more than a little
bit censored.
The attentive viewer would notice it almost immediately. The movie went
from bloody dismemberments to see no evil, hear no evil kills. Quick
camera cuts replaced those of Hewitt's chainsaw. Blood and gore were
replaced by frightened looks from cast members and screams. The last few
kills were all off screen and the movie's intensity and electricity
suffered for it.
Was it because of the MPAA? Had this Texas Chainsaw Massacre reached its
quota for blood letting and bleeding out bodies? Who knows. The answer
to the question of whether or not this Texas Chainsaw Massacre ended as
entertainingly as the original did is a qualified no. The new ending was
entertaining but it didn't have the edge or intensity that the
original's ending had.
The blood and the hysteria of that ending are completely gone, swiped
cleanly away like the slab in a coroner's office after an autopsy has
been finished. This movie teetered on the edge of greatness, GREATNESS,
and recoiled like a frightened child, too afraid to plunge.
 
- 8/10
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did you think?
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Reginald Williams
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