Texas Chainsaw Massacre

By RodneyHatfieldJr for Reviews

Finally after 6 days, a new battery and more money than I would like to admit; we are back in business. And what a fun week it has been. Let’s jump back in with the most talked about movie  this week. Netflix’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It seems every other article I have seen has been about the newest film (and most are bad). So naturally I want to put a little perspective in the whole thing. As always this review is spoiler-free.


First and foremost, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise never bothered with interconnectedness. Sequels, reboots, prequels, timelines, family members, plot points, tone and the whole 3D movie. The main reason for them all is Leatherface. I don’t understand what people expect from any new entry. Maybe because Netflix latest entry ignores everything that came after Tobe Hooper’s 1974 classic, people expected another. Well, the original was lighting in a bottle, it was magic, and I doubt you will ever be able to repeat it. 


The newest entry picking up almost 48ish years later with final girl Sally Hardesty (Olwen Fouere) holding a lifelong grudge and a new generation invading Leatherface’s territory. Melody (Sarah Yarkin) drags her sister Lila (Elsie Fisher) along on a business venture in the middle of Texas with business partner Dante (Jacob Latimore) and his girlfriend Ruth (Nell Hudson). The four are meeting potential investors at the small ghost town they’ve purchased. Big surprise, their post-millennial, influencer culture persona clashes with the few locals remain. That includes the sickly older woman (Alice Krige) who inhabiting the rundown orphanage. It unleashes the fury of her adoptive son, Leatherface (Mark Burnham), who embarks on an unstoppable, ruthless rampage.


If you have watched the other TCM, you know they exploit and or mock the current generation of victims. Except this generation gets offended, big surprise. Take for instance Lila’s the shy type still reeling from the trauma of a school shooting. Her fascination and interactions with gun-obsessed local Richter (Moe Dunford). Or the knee jerk reactions over a confederate flag. My favorite is the woke bus. “Try anything and you’re canceled, bro,”. For those of you who are on the lower side of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, that mean the Texas Chainsaw Movie killed the Woke movement.


At a brisk 80-minute runtime, director David Blue Garcia runs through all of this without stopping to untangle the generational suburban versus rural living. For that are rewarded with the gore. The movie finally understands social commentary and current fads get in the way and don’t matter in the scheme of horror. Especially when survival is on the bottom line. Leatherface is a character that operates on simplicity, and audiences just want to see the slaughter. Texas Chainsaw Massacre succeeds on that front, at least. The story keeps Leatherface intimidating and scary, yet with just enough poignancy to evoke pity. The level of gore and kills are spot on. The film does deliver on an actual massacre in the bloodiest way that’ll leave you cheering. Garcia and team want the audience to root for Leatherface, and they nail it there.  I did a little sitting dance when Leatherface did this chainsaw jig at the end. It was fun.



However, this is a TCM, you know there will be asinine choices, shotty dialogue, and thin plot lines. Anything related to the characters outside of Leatherface is an afterthought. How they just ripped off Laurie Strode from Halloween is terrible. Especially how she ends up. She is the original Final Girl, she deserved better.


So where does Netflix's Texas Chainsaw Massacre stack up to the others? I give it a solid 3 change of pants out of 5. Is it award worthy, God no. It’s a TCM movie. Will it trigger the average woke person, yea like it stole their lunch money and threw their shoes in the trash. But if all you want is a complete slasher bloodbath with some gnarly kills, Texas Chainsaw Massacre more than delivers. 

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