Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning

February 06, 2007

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006) starring R. Lee Ermey and Jordana Brewster is the prequel to the 2003 remake of the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). Now having seen both the original and the remake I was interested to this film. Knowing that the film would not be Grande illusion, La (1937) I found myself strangely intrigued to see this horror film.

The basic premise hasn't changed. Young, good looking, people are stranded in a small Texas town and they unwillingly cross paths with Leather Face and his family, now known has the Hewitts. Wait... for those of you that don't know what a Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie is here is the low down: Leather Face, a giant brute of a man, skins people's faces and wears them to cover his own hideous face. His weapon of choice is a bone cutting chainsaw. Then we, the audience, are forced to watch as they, the young people, are tortured and brutally murdered. Yep, that's a Texas Chainsaw movie, blood, guts, running teens, and a chainsaw. It is entertaining for those of you that like a good scare, the original movie spawned 3 sequels, a remake, and now a prequel, but they are pretty all much the same.

Now one significant change in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning as well as the remake The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) is a character that is not in the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and that character is Sheriff Hoyt played by R. Lee Ermey. In the original film Leather Face had a sadistic brother played by Edwin Neal who danced around and waved a razor and did the majority of the talking. Neal was not very good (acting wise), but he was creepy. Sheriff Hoyt, now Leather Face's Uncle, is the character "re-imagined" giving a sadistic voice and red neck attitude to the Hewitt family. If you have never seen one of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies they are a lot of action and not much on the dialogue. The Sheriff Hoyt character adds to the horror in a whole new dimension. Because now there is someone who is holding Leather Face's reigns (although loosely) and Sheriff Hoyt wields Leather Face as a weapon of terror.

Now what I thought of this film…

Having seen the original, the remake, and even Texas Chainsaw Massacre: the Next Generation, I have to admit I was intrigued by a George Lucas style prequel. Having now seen the film, which did deliver a few jumps out of the seat, I was like, "Yep that was a Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie". But horror movies are always tough to critique. Do you compare horror to romantic comedies? Can you compare the feeling you get from a horror movie to court drama such as Philadelphia? No, it is an entirely different beast. This film gave me a few scares and had great production value, but when I walked out of the theater I was thinking what film am I going to see next? To sum it up again, "Yep, that was a Texas Chainsaw Massacre Movie".


Click here to read the staff review by Mania.