The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
I think the greatest success of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is how effective it remains all these decades after it was released, and after horror audiences have been bombarded and desensitized to movies of its kind. Yet it effects a raw brutality that has so rarely been achieved since; and, amazingly, it does so with a relative scarcity of explicit gore. Watching it, it's surprisingly easy to imagine what it must have been like seeing it in 1974, when audiences were probably a lot more naive than they are today. The title alone evokes a brutal kind of horror, and the movie delivers on its promise. It presents itself as if it were a true story, and the starkness of its filming lends credence to the suggestion. It ultimately builds up to an extremely intense climax that I dare say has not been rivaled by any of the other titles in slasher canon. This is not tongue-in-cheek, root for the killer, Saturday night slasher fun, this is running through the woods, screaming at the top of your lungs, with a 250 pound chainsaw on your ass.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the least commodified of the big slasher franchises. Though it came out first, it was the last to receive a sequel. Where the first Texas Chain Saw Massacre was breaking new ground, the second one finds itself treading a crowded market. You'd think that since this is only the second title in the series, it would maintain a purity that the other slasher franchises (in particular, Halloween, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street) had diluted by the year 1986. But within the first ten minutes you've got what appears to be Leatherface inexplicably decked out in a Halloween ghoul costume (oh wait, was that supposed to be a corpse?) truck-surfing at 90 miles an hour as he dispatches a couple of unlikable young hooligans. Meanwhile, his daddy who cooks a mean barbecue (the secret's in the meat) is winning trophies at chili cook-offs. It just gets worse when the brother shows up. Talk about jumping the shark in record time. In the first Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Leatherface's family was a terrifying portrait of simple-minded backwoods cannibals. Here, they're like a homicidal vaudeville troupe on tour in the city. Not even a chainsaw dual can save this movie from stinking. I had high hopes for the Chainsaw sequels, but this movie dashed them against the rocks.
Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)
Much to my relief, TCM III brings back the serious tone of the first movie. It starts out with a bit of a desert-y, The Hills Have Eyes kind of atmosphere, prefacing the story with a note that, after the events of the first massacre (and presumably ignoring the second movie), the elusive figure known as "Leatherface" is still at large. A young couple is traveling through Texas on a cross country road trip, right through an area where police have lately been finding disgusting pits of putrefied human remains. Viggo Mortensen appears as a mysterious drifter the couple meet at a disturbing gas station in the middle of nowhere. TCM III borrows a lot from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, but it doesn't have the raw, gritty feeling of the original, and comes off feeling like an inauthentic imitation. Leatherface hasn't looked right - or been quite as intimidating - since the first movie, and neither is the house as creepy-looking, in spite of the multitude of bones piled up. I think the movie puts a little too much effort into piecing together "a portrait of a happy, cannibal family", and (except for the little girl) it doesn't come off as disturbing as I think it wants to be. Plus, the chases and the final climax are just not as thrilling as the original. Ultimately, it's not nearly as off-putting as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 was, but neither does it stand out from the pack, or approach the quality of the first one.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994)
The fourth installment occurs about twenty years after the first Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and (shockingly) stars Renee Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey (either they weren't huge yet, or this is a demonstration of the new wave of slashers that were able to somehow swing big stars). The Next Generation starts out with a lot more promise than the last two sequels, introducing characters that are actually pretty interesting, who are about to ditch their senior prom. Unfortunately for them, they end up lost in backwoods Texas. Truth be told, this movie borrows a lot of important elements from the first massacre, but they're integrated effectively, and, in my opinion, it passes well as homage rather than imitation. Leatherface does look a little silly with a mullet (I actually wasn't that bothered by his crossdressing - cross-skinning? - phase), but he's the most intimidating he's been since the original TCM. The final act does curiously devolve into near absurdity, but it's strangely effective, and the movie reaches a thrilling, frenetic pace that hasn't been accomplished since the first Texas Chainsaw Massacre. At one point, when two mysterious suits show up (I think it has something to do with a big conspiracy), one of them seems almost to be making a knowing statement about the misstep that the first Chainsaw sequel took, when he says, "I want these people to know the meaning of horror. You don't want to be a silly boy." The Next Generation is easily the best Texas Chainsaw Massacre sequel, at least until the remake.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
For better or worse, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre sequels have relied a lot on repetition of the basic formula utilized in the first film (and failed when trying to deviate from that formula), so perhaps it's a good thing that this version of the story is able to commit itself to retelling the events we've seen before, with a modern sensibility, without feeling compelled to avoid sticking too closely to the script. Fact is, the first Texas Chain Saw Massacre was a groundbreaking cinematic spectacle (in horror), and filmmakers have had a hard time trying to continue the story or the characters beyond it (in traditional sequel fashion). Happily, the TCM remake revives the gritty feeling of the original, staying true to its source, and adhering strictly to the faux documentary approach of the original, while allowing for the flourishes that modern cinema provides (and modern audiences demand). The cinematography is excellent (and the women very pleasing to look at). Ironically, the film does such an excellent job of setting up this backwoods Texas town and its backwards inhabitants, that when the carnage does jump out at you, it's not as starkly surprising as it was in the original TCM. But what it lacks in sheer shock value, it makes up for in intensity, with plenty of gore, and some truly sadistic characters (one imagines that Eli Roth must have been inspired by this movie). Jessica Biel is amazing as the terrified heroine, and R. Lee Ermey conjures a thoroughly disturbing sadism that makes Leatherface's animal brutality seem almost gentle by comparison. This is a true edge-of-your-seat kind of movie, that captures the rhythm and intensity of the original without copying it scene for scene, striking a fine balance between homage and originality. It's just too bad that few if any of the remakes created during the craze that this movie probably started turned out nearly this well. But, if you're cynical, you might say the same thing about the slashers that followed in the wake of the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre. This series is nothing if not a trendsetter.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)
Despite the open ending of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, the followup chose to go the prequel rather than the sequel route. Which is interesting, because it's the first time a TCM movie has gone back to take a look at the history behind our favorite chainsaw-wielding cannibal family. Yet, for better or worse, except for a captivating open credits sequence that glosses over Leatherface's birth and childhood, the movie opts to construct a typical slasher format that simply takes four years before (instead of anytime after) the events of the last movie. Which may be good, considering that what audiences probably want is another massacre, but I can't help feeling it missed the opportunity to tell a bit of a different kind of story (no less disturbing). It does, however, do a good job of establishing the state of things as we see them in the TCM remake, with the same location, and the same actors portraying the various members of the family (R. Lee Ermey, in particular, returns as the sadistic patriarch). Things are not quite so shot to hell yet, but the closing of the local slaughterhouse sets off a chain reaction that sends the Hewitt family into the depths we've seen them at a few short years later. Leatherface's transition, especially, from deformed outcast to chainsaw-wielding maniac, is especially exciting to witness. It may not be as strong or as harrowing as the TCM remake was, and some of the scenes really stretch the audience's credulity, but it's basically more of the same, and it has its share of great moments. So if you liked the last one, you'll probably enjoy this one. It's what I've been looking for in a Chainsaw sequel all along - a story connected to but independent of the first, that captures the mood of the first one. I don't know why it doesn't have a better reputation.
Conclusion: What I like best about the Texas Chainsaw Massacre is that, among the slasher franchises, it is the most brutal and unforgiving. This is reflected in Leatherface's choice of weapon - the chainsaw - and the fact that his killing instinct is animalistic, and involves cannibalism and wearing the skins of his victims. Here are my picks for the entries in the Chainsaw series that I think are most worth your time:
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)
No comments:
Post a Comment