Despite its popularity and cult status, the slasher genre is perhaps the most formulaic of them all. Since the genre's peak in the mid 70s and until today, each slasher movie has stayed true to its original format, without much change in the presentation. Most of these movies usually involves a group of young people on a trip, perhaps to a cabin in the woods, and a serial killer with crazy choices of weapons. There's a lot of screaming and running around and characters making poor decisions that lead to their tragic death.
The original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was released in 1974, introducing audiences to the iconic masked killer Leatherface. The film pioneered the slasher genre and has spawned a long-running franchise with countless sequels, spin-offs and reboots. The new Texas Chainsaw Massacre positions itself as a clean restart, to be a sequel to Tobe Hooper's 1974 original, ignoring all the other movies in between. But of course it doesn't pick up right where the first one left off, being set in the present day.
Written by Chris Thomas Devlin and directed by David Blue Garcia, in Texas Chainsaw Massacre a teenage girl named Lila (Elsie Fisher), her big sister Melody (Sarah Yarkin) and their friends Dante (Jacob Latimore) and Ruth (Nell Hudson) head to the remote town of Harlow, Texas, to renovate the neighbourhood and establish their idealistic new restaurant venture. But their dream soon turns into a waking nightmare when they accidentally spark a tragedy and disrupt the home of Leatherface, the deranged serial killer whose blood-soaked legacy continues to haunt the town's residents, including Sally Hardesty, the sole survivor of his infamous 1973 massacre, who's still seeking revenge.
As for the kills, the movie title holds its promise. The new Texas Chainsaw Massacre has some insane and gruesome violent scenes. After a brief, slow start that sets what some might call a narrative, the killing starts and there's no turning back. The bloody body count includes decapitations and a bus-full of mangled people. The camera gives us all the gnarly visuals without turning away. If you're here for Leatherface and his bloody mission, you'll get exactly what you came to see.
As is common throughout the series, the 2022 Texas Chainsaw Massacre's plot is paper thin and lacks unique characters and good story development. You need to suspend disbelief as the film's characters make obviously ill-conceived choices and a serial killer pushing 70 years old can still run around swinging a chainsaw.
With normal expectations, the action and violence that ensues should satisfy, although it feels more like a violent action movie than a true horror film. Leatherface remains a physically intimidating presence and maybe the most interesting of the mostly one-dimensional characters. The film provides no reason to care about them so there's zero emotional investment as you watch them being sliced and diced.
Despite the narrative shortcomings, Yarkin and Fisher are quite convincing as two annoying sisters encountering a terrifying chainsaw killer. They make the perfect counter to Leatherface's terror. Ultimately, Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a bloody and gruesome horror film that lives up to its name. Outside of the violence, there's not much substance to the story.
- Texas Chainsaw Massacre
- Starring Elsie Fisher, Sarah Yarkin, Mark Burnham
- Directed by David Blue Garcia
- Now streaming on Netflix
