Texas Chainsaw Massacre (remake)

[Jen]

He was in the one scene I mentioned I liked. And as I said, it is very hard for me to be fair when I am discussing this movie, just because I started out hating the idea of a remake. I will be the same when it comes to The Evil Dead remake, if that ever happens.

[Canetoad]

Is there a classic which HASN'T been remade yet?

[HNT]

A couple, but they are probalby on th list to be remade as we speak

[GL]

I'll post the review when I get the first two on DVD for Christmas.

[jasonx]

Loved it. Quite Brutal and pretty nasty. Although the origional remains my favourite.

[GL]

“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” is one of the better remakes of any film.

**SPOILERS**

Driving through Texas, five teenagers, Erin (Jessica Biel), Pepper (Erica Leerhsen), Kemper (Eric Balfour), Andy (Mike Vogel) and Morgan (Jonathan Morgan) are heading off to a Lynard Skynard concert when they meet a strange hitchhiker who warns them not to go down the road they are on. When they don't listen and she gets hysterical, she gives one last warning before taking her life. Deciding to go to the police, they travel to a small town and report the incident. When told that they have to go up to a steel mill, there grows some dissension in the group about what to do when the police never show up. They find a house nearby that has a phone to call the police, so Erin and Kemper head over. The caretaker invites only Erin in, so Kemper waits outside. Becoming bored, he wanders through the house and gets killed. A cop (R. Lee Ermy) appears at the mill telling them that he came for the body. Erin arrives back and frantically tries to leave. They calm her down and realize Kemper never returned. They head back, but Pepper and Andy are too spooked to go on, so Erin and Morgan head into the house. Inside the house, Erin and Morgan find the remains of dozens of victims and run, but Morgan is captured. After a series of chases and escapes, Erin is captured by Leatherface's family and held there and tortured by the crazed people.

The Good News: SUSPENSE, SUSPENSE, SUSPENSE! Finally, a movie that actually acts as a true old-school horror movie, containing that all-important factor, suspense. Most horror films have a scene or three of some guy popping out of nowhere and touching the shoulders of a cast-member. True, that scene is here, but it is outdone by so many scenes that lead up to a shocking image. The suspense here is really dripping off the screen in several different moments. The best example has to be the kitchen sequence. After going into hiding in a crawlspace, we see the layout of the room through an eye-hole and it's silent. Leatherface walks in, and we continually look through the eye-holes, waiting to see when Leatherface will leave. When a squeaking rat nearly gives them away, they cover their mouth, trying not to make a sound. Leatherface notices and disappears, and they stand up, waiting to see if the coast is clear. He suddenly comes crashing through from behind, which is shocking since we all would've expected him to slash through the wall with the chainsaw. That is such a great scene that works beautifully in here, and gives the film a grand jump that actually delivers. The setting, the camera angles and the actions on screen combine together, and it works wonderfully. This is just one, and the best, of several scenes where Nispel creates suspense in the grandest tradition. The mood here is just impressive, as we continually are aware of a threat lurking in the shadows, yet are unable to see anything, which is what it should do. The little bit of gore in the film is nice, and isn't gratuitous for the sake of it. It makes it all the more compelling because it is that way. The film is also remarkably close to the original in several scenes. When the victim at the mill gets killed, watch Leatherface. He moves his chainsaw the same way he did when he killed the guy in the wheelchair in the original. The ark with the chainsaw is the same. Also, Leatherface makes an almost similar first appearance here, coming up behind his victim, hitting them with a hammer, then dragging them away and slamming the door shut with a loud bang. It's eerie how close it is to the first one. Little bits like that make the film almost a direct remake of the original, yet it has enough of its own voice to stand alone of it. I also quite liked the opening and closing moments of the film. Pretty clever and unique.

The Bad News: I only have three small grips with the film. The main problem with this film is the fact that there is such a small cast that is supposed to get killed, you can only kill someone in a small amount of ways. There aren't a lot of deaths in here, so that really hampers what could've been a large killing spree. The true disappointment in this was when Leatherface killed two people by placing them on meat hooks. Where's the ingenuity? Instead, Leatherface simply places them on meat hooks and watches them writhe in pain. Not that big on such developments. Another disappointment was the fact that this film never had body parts hacked off. The only scene where a person's appendage was severed was a leg, and it happened so fast you never saw it. You see the revving chainsaw, a blood splat, and then the victim goes down, holding their stump and the dismembered leg falls down to the ground. It's so quick-cut it takes several views to see it clearly. That's also the third of my three grips. The film looks great, but the action scenes were edited so you can barely see what's going on. They have to cut away to a farther shot to see what's going on, then cut back in. It became frustrating.

The Final Verdict: Utterly, simply fantastic. Great acting, some funny lines, decent gore, and a fantastic amount of old-school suspense push this film from the realm of the imitators to being a true modern day classic. Leatherface ought to chop you up if you don't go see this movie, and fast.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, and a scene of drug use

[Dr. Butcher M.D.]

An "ok" film. Nothing special for a remake. Mostly your stereotypical mainstream film that caters to the MTv culture.

[Lazario]

Um, let me think about this for a second... 1. It's shit and it never should have been made.

And why is the remake the only film in that banner? That's insulting.

[Razor!]

Remakes very rarley live up to the original. However, in this case i feel this movie did a reasonable job at being decent and entertaining. Not as brutal and chilling as the original, but i still enojy this movie for some reason.
Btw the actor playing the Sheriff was very good imo.

[Leatherface]

To me the only good part was R. lee ermy ( the sheriff) The rest was...too predicatble. In the original it relied more on psychological torture than anything else. The remake is essentially friday the 13th in disguise. Leatherface was too intellegent ( the slaughterhouse scene was a clear case taht he was intellegent to a degree) and him removing his mask was...unnessecary. It completely destroys the audiences fear of him. Also the ending "crime scene walkthrough" didn't make sense. Like where was the rest of the faimly? and The cops only sent two officers to a crime scene that was the result of a psychopathic chain-saw massacre! overall ins hort- Remake sucked. IMO

[GL]

Sometimes I'm glad I don't have an emotional attachment to films-I end up liking a lot more movies than most everyone else, as all those reasonings you gave, LF, don't even enter into the equation when I'm watching something.

[Leatherface]

I think i was a little too harsh on it at first after some rewtaches i rather liked it. it wasn't perfect but it was good. just wished hoyt didn't die lol. and it was actually interesting seeing the crime scene walkthrough the second time becuase it plays on the fact taht most people do believe that TCM did happen. so again this is after i rewatched it a few times. Not bad but not perfect it falls in the middle IMO.

[HNT]

R.Lee Ermey is awesome in everything that he does. No film that includes him could ever be all bad. This one also has some pretty god effects and hard edged gore for a mainstream R rated film. It is not nearly as good as the original. The whole thing was just done on too high of a budget and now it looks like a movie set full of movie stars instead of a bunch of kids getting attacked by real inbreds rather than folks with make up on. THe house is not nearly as frightening as the set of the original was, and generally the whole thing was just a bit of a let down.

As far as remakes go, this was one of the best of the recent crop. Problem is, that isn't saying very much

[GL]

I've always thought that too, HNT, that this was one of the best of the remakes out there. I don't mind them at all, and as long as we're not bringing in the Asians during this discussion, I'll say this is one of the best.

[HiderInTheHouse]

Not a bad flick at all. I gave it a 4. Like most of you have said already, R. Lee Ermey is the best thing this movie has going for it.