I have been reviewing all of the sequels to the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre and now it is time for the remake and its prequel. I have made it no secret that I do not like the remake. I took my wife, the girlfriend to see it upon its release and I left the theater mad. It was there I realized horror remakes are a bad idea. Shortly after I was proved wrong when Dawn of the Dead came out and I loved it. Hollywood started remaking all of the horror films I grew to love, Amityville Horror, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Evil Dead.
We’re going to start with the prequel to the remake, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. I was surprised with this, it is not terrible. It sure is a lot better than the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake.
It is about two couples driving across Texas on their way to leave for Vietnam. The two guys are brothers, one has been to Vietnam and the other is a draft dodger wanting to go to Mexico. We also meet Thomas Hewitt, who is Leatherface, we see how Hoyt becomes the Sheriff. The things about the movie, it is fresh and similar and feels a little bit more than Jessica Beil walking about and bouncing all over the place.
I didn’t care about the characters, but I found this to be the case with nearly all of these movies. They are kind of fast paced and you don’t need to know them as well. I did like the way the boys were dragged into the barn and tortured.
I honestly do not have much to say about this one. I like it, better than the remake. I don’t like the absence of the Hitchhiker in this series, well he and Chop Top. These are pretty much average horror, slasher films.
IMDB.com surprisingly has this at 5.9, not bad.
I am going to give it a 6.0.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake. I saw it opening night, I was excited. I am a big fan of the series and for some reason I had no doubt this would be good. I was wrong.
I’ll have to be honest, I was mad when there was no Hitchhiker character, I mean there was, but I hated her. I was enraged from the beginning and the inferno burned the entire movie. I could not enjoy it at all. A few months later when the DVD was released, I gave it another shot, I fucking bought this damn thing. But, there was a deal, get the remake and get TCM 2 free. I could not pass that up. I popped it in the ole DVD player. I gave it a fair shot. I noticed how stylized the movie was, it was supposed to look dirty and grimy, but the cast was so beautiful. They did not look like “All American” teens or whatever. It seems like it was a movie to put Jessica Beil’s body on display(not a bad thing). I also hated the character of the Sheriff.
Andrew Bryniarski as Leatherface…was ok. He is buried under make-up and his costume. But there really is not much to the performance. He is nothing compared to Gunner Hansen who added a lot of emotion to the character.
With the remake, I feel like…they tried to take a classic horror movie and do something a little different. Rather than do a remake, it is more of a reboot, although the prequel is more of a reboot. They should have started with that and made the remake. It would have been a different movie to me. I wouldn’t have expected to see some of the iconic scenes, like the dinner scene at the end of the original.
I hate that I don’t like the remake. My track record is bad for remakes. It is Double Feature Friday, so I am giving it one more shot.
How do you feel about this one?
IMDB,com has it rated at 6.2
I have it rated at 5.2
I hope watching it again helps. It is always good to put fresh eyes on something you haven’t seen in a long time.
