If you've been keeping up with my posts this month then you'll have undoubtedly noticed the influx of remakes in this year's selection. If you've read my reviews you'll know my feelings toward remakes and note that some of these films are in fact brilliant horror films. We just reviewed director Marcus Nispel's Friday The 13th remake. We're going to stick with this director one more time for his feature film debut, another horror remake of a classic film, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE.
The first trailer for this film had no pictures. Indeed the audience was given nothing but a black screen to watch in a pitch black theater. What they were given was sound. Panicked breathing of a frightened woman. The sound of a pull cord and the sputtering of a gas engine. Then the start of a chainsaw. And finally terror filled screaming. In red letters the title of the film slowly came into view against the black screen. This was the original trailer and was deemed too scary for theatrical use.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise was practically dead by this point (2003). 1994 saw the release of a pseudo remake titled TCM: The Next Generation. It starred Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger and promoted the film with images of beloved horror icon Leatherface as a transvestite. The movie didn't do too well and really drove home the nail in the coffin for the series. Until this film that is.
Simple plot. Group of five youths are stranded in rural Texas and become the targets of a deranged cannibalistic family. Starring Jessica Biel and R. Lee Ermey this film brought the terror and intensity back in a big way. The film explores more of the cannibal family showing even more depravity than before. But really the film owes much of its fright to actor Andrew Bryniarski, the man portraying Leatherface. That man is terrifying. Hands down my favorite actor for the character. I love Gunner Hansen and Bill Johnson but they have nothing on Andrew Bryniarski.
It's not just Leatherface who you have to be afraid of in this film. Nearly everyone in the movie shows potential to be dangerous. Halfway through you don't know who to trust and who to run from... save Leatherface. The movie doesn't try to be anything more than what it is. It is a straight up in your face terror flick from start to finish. It grabs you from the first five minutes and doesn't let go. It slowly ratchets up the tension until you're at the edge of your seat and can't look away.
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| Jessica Biel... Hot... |
Also worthy of note is the return of actor John Larroquette for the opening narration. If you recall he was the opening narrator for the original film. This movie stands for me as worthy remake. It isn't has harrowing as the original but few films are. This film dips into the realm of uncomfortable every so often but it doesn't live there like the original film. What little time it does spend going that extra mile to make the audience all the more disturbed is one of the reasons this film gets as high a praise from me as it does. Too few horror films nowadays have the guts to pull the trigger. It's nice to see one that does. Hard to believe this film is over 10 years old already. If you haven't seen it yet you should.
Overall Ranking: 7 out of 10
Nude-O-Meter: 0 out of 10
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