Netflix just dropped it’s new, highly anticipated horror ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ which seems to be positioned as a follow up to the 1974 classic from Tobe Hooper, but the name is about as close as it gets to being anything like the original.
The movie tells the story of “After nearly 50 years of hiding, Leatherface returns to terrorize a group of idealistic young friends who accidentally disrupt his carefully shielded world in a remote Texas town.”
As soon as the movie makes it to the 20 minute mark, I was already ready to it to end, because I have already watched a movie with the same basis, and that was the recent Halloween reboot from a few years back.
The only difference is that this ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ is nowhere near as watchable. Despite a number of gory kills, the film is nothing more than a lazy, hollow attempt at putting forth pure garbage under the mirage of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Leatherface banner.
Aside from wearing skin as a mask, putting on a dress and makeup, and wielding a chainsaw, this is not Leatherface, and it’s not even close.
The film is so lazy it glosses over details that almost insult the viewer’s intelligence. There is one particular scene, for example, where Leatherface shoots his chainsaw across the floor and clips a potential victim as they run away, suggesting that the blow severed a leg, or at the very least, shredded tendons. But mere seconds later that person is up running full tilt as if nothing happened.
And let’s just say this: the idea behind bringing back the Sally Hardesty character (the original survivor) may have looked good on paper, but no real thoughts or effort was put into it. It’s clear that the writers just copied the Laurie Strode character arc and pasted it here, and again infused lazy storytelling that lacked any logic or consistency.
As iconic as Sally is to the original, and her importance in the story, she is nothing more than a prop, and apparently has super human powers that allow her to remain a force even after having her insides chainsawed by Leatherface.
The movie is the most forgettable entry into the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, and the fact that they were so blatantly “cash-grabbing” with such a terrible, detached, and yawn inducing movie.
