: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
At first, I was skeptical, being a fan of the original 1974 classic. Still, I purchased it, a blind buy, based on the positive reviews of others and all I can say is WOW!
Many elements that made the original great were present. Five young people, a van, Texas, Leatherface, a demented family and even a nice voiceover by John Laroquette (He did the voice over narrative for the original film). But after the narrative, the horrors you're shows are far different, even if eerily similar.
The film opens almost like a snuff film, a grainy 8mm film of a police officer going over the scene of a particualrly grissly crime. It sets up that something horrific happened here without showing us too much. The film and the enhanced narrative lend more of a "documentary' feel to it and is the most telling nod to the gritty realism of the original.
But the similarities end with the narrative. The infamous "hitchhiker" is no more, replaced instead by a wandering young girl the troupe of teens nearly hit as she walks listlessly down the road. Our heroes have changed as well, rather than being a group of well meaning hippies driving the Texas countryside to make sure their grandfather's grave has not run afoul of a grave robber, these teens are coming back from a vacation to Mexico. A vacation which, to the surprise of some, was actually a means by which to buy two pounds of marijuana, a "nest egg", as one of the characters puts it.
The characters are far more developed in this version than in the original. Nobody seems to exist for the sole purpose of being killed. You get a sense these are three dimensional people, that they have been places and, had events been different, would have gone places.
Also gone, to some degree, was the element of cannibalism being the cetral precipice behind the deeds of the "family". In fact, the cannibalism was so played down that if you weren't watching, you'd have missed it. Instead, you're shown a much more, well, normal looking family that is simply deranged and trying to shelter this younger member of their family, the homocidal, chainsaw wielding "Leatherface", this time given a name and a face of his own. William Hewirtt.
The original pathos for Leatherface is also somewhat diminished. Unlike in the original, he is not viewed so much as a product of this deranged family of cannibals as he is a pue psychopath not above using his chainsaw on members of his own family. Though not expressed, it is implied that the leggless old man, an undetermined relative of the family in question, lost his own legs to Leatherface's chainsaw.
Yet, at the same time, his pathology is more clearly explained to us by giving him an overbearing mother and elluding to his having an alcoholic father (both nods to the true life serial killer Ed Gein). We are told in smatters about his childhood and even shown his face, to remind us he is not an inhuman monster, but a human one. His face is grotesque, to be sure, but not so ov er the top as not to be believed. We are told of the "skin disaease" he contracted as a child, tumors grew on his face. We all know how cruel children can be to children that are different. We are shown that Leatherface was not born, he was made. In a chilling line delivered by his mother "I know your kind, always being mean to my boy. My sweet, sweet boy".
The film has many nods to the original, yet maintains an originality of its own, allowing it to stand on its own merits. In many ways, it is superior to the original.
Now comes the fun part, since this IS a DVD, I'll give you the specs, so bear with me. I strongly recommend, if you're buying this film, to lay down the extra money on the delux edition. It's well worth the price for the bonus disk, which contained deleted scenes, alternate ending and beginning, a feature length documentary on the making of the film as well as a chilling feature length documentary on Ed Gein, the real life inspiration for both the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the remake, as well as Psycho and a few other films. Just don't watch the documentary or the film alone.
At first, I was skeptical, being a fan of the original 1974 classic. Still, I purchased it, a blind buy, based on the positive reviews of others and all I can say is WOW!
Many elements that made the original great were present. Five young people, a van, Texas, Leatherface, a demented family and even a nice voiceover by John Laroquette (He did the voice over narrative for the original film). But after the narrative, the horrors you're shows are far different, even if eerily similar.
The film opens almost like a snuff film, a grainy 8mm film of a police officer going over the scene of a particualrly grissly crime. It sets up that something horrific happened here without showing us too much. The film and the enhanced narrative lend more of a "documentary' feel to it and is the most telling nod to the gritty realism of the original.
But the similarities end with the narrative. The infamous "hitchhiker" is no more, replaced instead by a wandering young girl the troupe of teens nearly hit as she walks listlessly down the road. Our heroes have changed as well, rather than being a group of well meaning hippies driving the Texas countryside to make sure their grandfather's grave has not run afoul of a grave robber, these teens are coming back from a vacation to Mexico. A vacation which, to the surprise of some, was actually a means by which to buy two pounds of marijuana, a "nest egg", as one of the characters puts it.
The characters are far more developed in this version than in the original. Nobody seems to exist for the sole purpose of being killed. You get a sense these are three dimensional people, that they have been places and, had events been different, would have gone places.
Also gone, to some degree, was the element of cannibalism being the cetral precipice behind the deeds of the "family". In fact, the cannibalism was so played down that if you weren't watching, you'd have missed it. Instead, you're shown a much more, well, normal looking family that is simply deranged and trying to shelter this younger member of their family, the homocidal, chainsaw wielding "Leatherface", this time given a name and a face of his own. William Hewirtt.
The original pathos for Leatherface is also somewhat diminished. Unlike in the original, he is not viewed so much as a product of this deranged family of cannibals as he is a pue psychopath not above using his chainsaw on members of his own family. Though not expressed, it is implied that the leggless old man, an undetermined relative of the family in question, lost his own legs to Leatherface's chainsaw.
Yet, at the same time, his pathology is more clearly explained to us by giving him an overbearing mother and elluding to his having an alcoholic father (both nods to the true life serial killer Ed Gein). We are told in smatters about his childhood and even shown his face, to remind us he is not an inhuman monster, but a human one. His face is grotesque, to be sure, but not so ov er the top as not to be believed. We are told of the "skin disaease" he contracted as a child, tumors grew on his face. We all know how cruel children can be to children that are different. We are shown that Leatherface was not born, he was made. In a chilling line delivered by his mother "I know your kind, always being mean to my boy. My sweet, sweet boy".
The film has many nods to the original, yet maintains an originality of its own, allowing it to stand on its own merits. In many ways, it is superior to the original.
Now comes the fun part, since this IS a DVD, I'll give you the specs, so bear with me. I strongly recommend, if you're buying this film, to lay down the extra money on the delux edition. It's well worth the price for the bonus disk, which contained deleted scenes, alternate ending and beginning, a feature length documentary on the making of the film as well as a chilling feature length documentary on Ed Gein, the real life inspiration for both the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the remake, as well as Psycho and a few other films. Just don't watch the documentary or the film alone.