Starring:
Jessica Biel.... Erin
Jonathan Tucker.... Morgan
Erica Leerhsen.... Pepper
Mike Vogel.... Andy
Eric Balfour.... Kemper
Andrew Bryniarski.... Thomas Hewitt a.k.a. Leatherface
R. Lee Ermey.... Sheriff Hoyt
John Larroquette.... Narrator
Directed by Marcus Nispel. Written by Scott Kosar. Based upon a screenplay by Kim Henkel and Tobe Hooper. Produced by Michael Bay and Mike Fleiss. Released by New Line Cinema.
Its hard to review horror movies. They are a genre usually defined by crappy acting and lackluster story. As this horror film goes, however, it is quite good--well crafted, with reasonably good acting. But as a normal film goes, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is mediocre. It doesnt explore the reasons why the Hewitt family, and the entire town in Travis County, Texas allowed Leatherface to slaughter so many.
This is of course a remake of the 1974 film of the same name. The original was simply awful, with terrible production values and atrocious acting. In one of the many chase scenes in the original, it is clear to see that the man playing Leatherface was not running at his full capacity to make it seem like the actress he was chasing had some chance. It also seems to hold physically handicapped people with a slight disdain.
Its odd that even after Scream, horror movies still follow a pretty familiar storyline and character roster. There is the heroine who seems to survive by luck and luck alone, Erin (Jessica Biel). The leader who always seems to make the right decision, Kemper (Eric Balfour). The couple who cant keep their hands of each other, Andy (Mike Vogel) and Pepper (Erica Leerhsen), and, of course, the stoner, Morgan (Jonathan Tucker). They also follow the rule that if you commit a sin, then you will die, which we havent seen followed so closely since the original Halloween.
The 2003 version is about five people in the early twenties on their way from Mexico to Dallas for a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert. As they drive through Travis County, Texas they nearly hit a girl walking in the middle of the road. They pick her up and she tells them that they are all dead and so they decide to go find her help. On the way for help, she begins to freak out as they get near a town in Travis County and pulls a revolver out of herself and shoots herself in the head. They freak out and head into the town to find a cop. They receive apathy from a local woman running a general store, who has a particularly disgusting assortment of fly covered pigs. She calls the sheriff and informs that the he will not be along for several hours, so they should head out to the Old Crawford Mill or something with a similar name.
When they arrive, they discover that the sheriff is not there and they wait and find a boy living in an abandoned mill with terrible teeth. The boy tells them that they can find the sheriff at the Hewitt Place that can only be reached by foot.
Erin and Kemper head out for the place to find on old man with no legs and a very creepy house. When Erin goes inside to use the phone, Kemper goes inside and has to poke around. He becomes the first we see to be killed by Leatherface (Andrew Bryniarski). What follows is the typical horror movie with each of the remaining teens being chased by Leatherface and most being killed. After Leatherface kills, he takes them back to his basement and does things to them that is pretty disgusting, and shouldnt be described here.
The whole town is in on it and we get but a glimpse of why they let him do what he does. He has some sort of skin disease that people made fun of and, of course, this is ridiculous. Even Sheriff Hoyt (R. Lee Ermey) lets this slaughtering go on. R. Lee Ermey does a particularly good job of hamming it up as he always does since Kubricks Full Metal Jacket. Its quite odd that no one in this town objects, but they are all crazy Texas hicks.
The one thing that is truly admirable of this movie is the cinematography, which is by far the best ever seen in a horror movie. The cinematographer, Daniel Pearl, does an amazing job comparable to the other beautiful Michael Bay films. On an interesting note, Mr. Pearls first job as a cinematographer was on the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which looked terrible due to a paltry $170,000 budget.
Do not go to this movie expecting to be scared or challenged. It is a horror movie, not scary, but just fun to watch for its stupidity. The movie never really does a good job as a horror movie but is worth it to see some astonishing and stunning cinematography. The movie is gory and should be avoided by all who abhor violence but is probably held in high regard by horror geeks. Its a good rental for a dark and stormy night.
Grade: C+
