KarateParty.org - Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The (2003)

Genres

Horror

True Story

2003

Directed by

Marcus Nispel

Written by

Kim Henkel and Tobe Hooper (1974 screenplay)

Scott Kosar (2003 screenplay)

Cast

Jessica Biel .... Erin

Jonathan Tucker .... Morgan

Erica Leerhsen .... Pepper

Mike Vogel .... Andy

Eric Balfour .... Kemper

Andrew Bryniarski .... Thomas Hewitt (Leatherface)

R. Lee Ermey .... Sheriff Hoyt

David Dorfman .... Jedidiah

Lauren German .... Teenage Girl

Terrence Evans .... Old Monty

Marietta Marich .... Luda May

Heather Kafka .... Henrietta

Kathy Lamkin .... Tea Lady in Trailer

First of all I am a huge honking fan of Texas Chain Saw, the original Tobe Hooper masterpiece. That film came out way back in 1974, I wasn't even born yet. It became an underground classic and one of the most successful indy films of all time. Fast forward to 1991, I'm 12 years old and for the first time I'm watching The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. For the next 83 minutes I was frightened to my very core, freaked out by the crazy hitchhiker, grossed out by the twisted family, and by the end my heart was racing. Let's face it for a 12 year old this film is brutal and I never forgot that final image of Leatherface swinging his chainsaw in the air as the sun is setting and as Sally (Marilyn Burns) gets away from the terror she had faced.

Iconic, cult, masterpiece, bone-chilling and many words like these best describe the original. Then in late 2002 I heard they where re-making this film, and by "they" I mean those heartless, money-grubbing corporate faceless suits that run Hollywood. And, to make matters worse, Michael Bay was going to produce it and some unknown music video director (Marcus Nispel) was taking charge of the production, four words instantaneously popped into my mind: This will be SHIT.

I won't go into any shot for shot description of the film, there's no point in describing it other than the synopsis posted up at www.imdb.com which reads:

Driving through the backwoods of Texas, five youths pick up a traumatized hitchhiker, who shoots herself in their van. Shaken by the suicide, the group seeks help from the locals, but their situation becomes even more surreal when they knock on the door of a remote homestead. It's quickly apparent the residents are a family of inbred psychopaths, and the unlucky youths suddenly find themselves running for their lives. In hot pursuit is a disfigured, chainsaw-wielding cannibal known as Leatherface.

For those of you familiar with the original this re-make, or "reimagining" as they call it, changes some the basic background and some of the story elements. For example the teens find themselves at the creepy Hewitt farm for different reasons than the original film. In this newer version the hitchhiker (a girl this time) commits suicide in their van by pulling a gun out from between her legs (that's right you read it correctly, from between her legs) and offs herself. From then on you can imagine what happens (or better yet, get the movie out and watch it!). This is the first point of difference, the second is the cast. We get a different bunch of kids this time around although we do appear to be stuck with the same clichéd bunch of fodder, the slightly slutty girl, the "I don't care if he dies" insensitive guy, the sensible geek, the girlfriend and the leader.

Other points of difference have to do with the family, it seems like the whole community is in on this cannibalism fetish, in the original it was just the immediate family of Leatherface. And, finally, this re-make rests a lot of it's scare factor on violence and gore. I don't recall seeing any gore in the original, what struck fear into many viewers was the scenery, atmosphere, and use of sound which gave the viewer the feeling of impending doom. The remake just tries to make you sick by showing you blood and guts and doesn't leave a lot to the imagination. The director also resorts to cheap scares every now and then, which as a horror fan is an insult.

Despite these shortfalls, the film is not as bad as I was expecting. The young fresh cast had a nice chemistry between them and Leatherface looked awesome. The showstopper for me however was R. Lee Ermey's wonderful performance as the crazy Sheriff, I forgot how much of an asshole this guy can be (and boy, is he a huge asshole in this movie) which makes for some very enjoyable scenes. The look of the film is nice, shot by the same Cinematographer as the original (Daniel Pearl). The film, in the words of the director, looks like puke. Yes, we have a very vomit-esque colour scheme but hey, it works for the film. They even managed to improve on some elements from the original, such as the inside of the house. In the humble opinion of this reviewer it looks creepier than in the original, maybe it was the hanging meat in the kitchen or the animals roaming freely in the house, either way I take my hat off to the art department. And as stated above Leatherface looks awesome, the make-up team has certainly improved upon the original designs for the face masks.

Overall the film had its moments but felt weak in parts. I certainly don't hate this film, which was what I was going in expecting. It's a passable re-make that doesn't completely suck, which in today’s Hollywood is a rare thing indeed.

Finger_Of_DOOM's reviews also appear on DVD Compare, where they include details of the DVD release. For this review click here.

Discuss this article on the forums. (0 posts)