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The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning

Review by: Zak Santucci

ZakSantucci@TheCinemaSource.com

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. So, let me preface this with the fact that like most horror aficionados, I am a huge fan of the original Chainsaw Massacre. Given that, I was surprised to discover that I was also a fan of the 2004 remake. Much like Zack Snyder's remake of Dawn of the Dead it took a different road than the original and was highly stylized and original as far as remakes go. Now, this right here is a prequel. It's very important to make it known that this is a prequel of the remake and not by any means a prequel of the series (this being a franchise of a trilogy, remake, and now prequel).

In the film world, Texas Chainsaw lore likes to point out that said massacres are the worst crimes in human history. This movie attempts to explain how circumstances for such massacres would occur, and of course gives us the background story of one of our
most beloved unstoppable psycho killers. It starts out with a deformed baby being born in none other than a slaughterhouse. This baby is thrown in the trash and a family of hicks find it and lovingly raises it as their own. Years later, Leatherface is working at the same slaughterhouse when it closes. This closing is a sign of a soon to be Texas ghost town, but the "Face" family (that was a bad pun on my part) decide they're never leaving their town. Since R. Lee Ermey was a POW forced to eat his companions, he
has no problem with butchering and eating drifters. I feel like that's a bit of a stretch (and there's no explanation as to why the family's so eager to go along with it). In fact, I liked it better when it was just a bunch of insane in-breds killing people for no reason. Either way, they pick up some potential draft dodgers and their girlfriends (including the always
sexy Jordana Brewster and all Hell breaks loose as Leatherface is forced to make his first kills.

Let me point out the positive aspects of this movie first. It's amazingly gory. I feel like every horror movie gets bloodier and bloodier, and I'm not complaining at all. For real, this was so close to NC-17, I was cringing with excitement. I kinda like horror movies for their gore if you haven't noticed. Anyway, the scares are moderately good, but you kind of see them coming. I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but I think they sacrificed genuine fear for brutal, grisly deaths. As excited as I am to see someone get picked
up with a chainsaw and

thrown across a room, I also watch horror movies to feel a little terrified.

Next point, is I liked the plot progression. The torture scenes were well-placed and the hope for a Brewster's Rambo-like rescue of her friends was something you root for (despite the fact that you sorta know who's going to live and who's not going to live in a prequel). Anyway, it was a more original take with people getting away and then getting caught again and role reversals extraordinaire. However, the prequel idea was SO weak. Honestly, there were no "unanswered questions" in the story of the crazy hicks who arbitrarily torture people that wander into their house. Yes, they answered why R. Lee Ermey was missing a few teeth. They answered why the older guy was missing some legs. They answered how Leatherface got his leather face. Notice, that last statement was
the only one that was in any of the other TCM installments. The movie wasn't terribly suspenseful, it was just good gore and a bunch of explanations that I didn't really have any emotional attachment to.

Here's my major gripe. While I think R. Lee Ermey was one of the best parts of any of the five movies, I think this was the worst incarnation of Leatherface. Gunnar Hansen is meant to play Leatherface, not a guy who was in Hudson Hawk and the cheesiest character in Street Fighter (to keep it fair, he's the meathead in The Program and the Nazi in Higher Learning, not like those movies are
any good, but they hold a special place in my heart).

While it wasn't as true in the last one, this Leatherface is all menacing and badass. What's great about Leatherface is that he's stupid and has retard strength. He has insane people that tell him what to do and no conscience. That's scary. A giant guy that is actually smart enough to sneak up on you and has a scary face isn't scary. I mean it can be, but it's not Texas Chainsaw scary. They switched up the tone
dramatically, and the only thing that keeps it similar to the original is that the word "grisly" comes to mind for both.

I'd recommend probably seeing this movie if you're a gorehound, but other than that, there's not much going for it as far as fear. The occasional "What's gonna happen next?" or claustrophobic moment, but nothing to really make me say "This is a scary movie." R. Lee Ermey is cruelly humorous, but I wouldn't watch this past the rental. I hear The Departed comes out tomorrow though.

Movie Grade: C+

Synopsis:

The origins of the legendary horror character Leatherface will finally be revealed in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. The film, which is set years before the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie, stars Jordana Brewster and is being

directed by Jonathan Liebesman.