“Witness the birth of fear”
Two brothers and their girlfriends take one last road trip before heading off to Vietnam. After their car breaks down and the sheriff is called to the scene, they are taken to this house of horrors.
Yep, that’s right, five stars my friends. How can this be, you ask? How can this, the 5th sequel/prequel to the TCM cannon achieve a higher rating than the original source material? Am I insane you ask? Admittedly I went to this film merely as a way to up my Horrothon numbers. I had zero expectations that this would be any good, having been disappointed in previous chainsaw sequels/remakes. Tired, I saw a midnight showing of this and boy did I wake up.
With all due respect to the original, which is a critical film in the annals of horror history, I believe that this could and should be the definitive chainsaw film. Let’s get one thing straight about this whole “prequel” thing. TCM: The Beginning is marketed as Leatherface’s origin, however truth be known, after the opening credits which detail his disturbing birth and early history, you will quickly forget that this is a prequel. Instead, Beginning unfolds like a remake of the original 1974 film. It’s true that all the chainsaw family characters are here from the 2003 remake, but this film could easily have taken place one month before the events of that version. The only real prequel elements include a brief scene of Tom Hewitt (aka Leatherface) working in the slaughterhouse on the day it was closed and we get to see grandpa before he lost his legs. How does he lose his legs? See the movie you silly goose! So why the five stars? This version is unrepentant in the level of violence portrayed onscreen. Leatherface has never been this scary before and no previous incarnation of this film series has ever been so nail-bitingly tense or gory. Yes, we have gore galore here. For example, in an attempt to evade Leatherface, Bailey, our female protagonist, runs into Leatherface’s old slaughterhouse and is forced to submerge herself is a large pool of blood and animal entrails. Think Decent, but grosser. There are many such moments in this cinematic treat. Here we get head bashings that are completely convincing as well as chainsaw evisceration, which will make you hold your belly. The rest of Leatherface’s family is equally deranged including Sheriff Hoyt, who almost steals the film from Leatherface. This guy is terrifying in his sociopathy.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning is a bleak, gritty, incredibly disturbing slaughterfest and well worth your time.
Watch the trailer.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning Trailer
2 comments:
I'm glad to hear it's great but to quote you - "how can this be? Are you insane? Better than the original?"
You know, only one person gets taken out by chainsaw in the original. So I can see it happening, numbers-wise.
Post a Comment