 
A group of teenagers travel on a summer cruise in the van enjoying themselves while on their way to a rock concert but then they see a girl walking along in the middle of the road just not there and pick her up and try to help her. Yet something disturbs her while they continue driving in an area that freaks her out causing her to shoot herself in the head as they make a stop at a gas station to try and get some help but the locals there seem a little strange.
While they wait for the Sheriff near a farm area where things seem deserted one of them named Kemper (Eric Balfour) and Erin (Jessica Biel) finds a tall creepy looking house to see if he can use their phone but finds an old man in a wheelchair with no legs named Old Monty (Terrence Evans) who behaves rather weirdly. While Kemper looks around the house he seemed to have disappeared.
Sheriff Hoyt (R. Lee Ermey) arrives but doesn't seem like your average everyday lawman and acts abusive and obnoxious towards the gang of friends.
They are also terrorised, tortured and killed off one by one by a chainsaw wiedling maniac named Leatherface (Andrew Bryniarski) in which now they understand as to why this girl who took her life was talking about and was terrified in the direction they were heading to by making a wrong turn for sure.
The flick starts off nicely showing a black and white footage of a sheriff checking out a farmland which looks almost isolated in which this leaves a nice creepy edge to everything surrounding this. In fact it looks very Blair Witch Project like. There's the narration in between this story which seems to work since this is a remake after all talking about the same incident like in the original. What's really cool is that this film takes place in 1973 that same year the original was made proving that this one was a paying tribute to the original as well.
The film then opens up with a group of young adults enjoying themselves swimming near a lake and then driving in their van listening to good ole southern rock music along with smoking a joint or making out. The usual fun stuff on a summer drive to a concert. It looks uplifting indeed. Plus a distant shot on the van driving by a road with some fields in which there was a scene in the original with that too. Then there's a bit of a jumping moment when the driver is distracted and suddenly notices a teenage girl walking in the middle of the road as they try to help her out but she's out of it. This was indeed well put in making the story creepy and mysterious on her knowing the terrors in a nearby area and then showing good shocking and gruesome results while shooting herself in the head keeping you watching and wanting more on what will be happening almost soon we all hope. There is a one liner during this moment with the driver refusing to pick up a hitchhiker again as this was mentioned in the original but the scenarios were of course different in which this should be the case alltogether.
To keep the tradition on a remake alive with TCM they of course stop at a gas station where there's meats they sell but this time it's to get some help than to try and get gas but to call the local sheriff due to what they saw which is another nice change than watching the same old typical remake. Plus the setting looked nice with good gross out shots on some meats with flies swarming around it in which this definetely gives you an impression that the ownsers here are not good at all in which we have a woman who seems to look normal and not psychotic looking but yet acting very strange when the people tell her what has happened and trying to get help. This was a good drawing card so far that even the normal harmless looking types are very deceiving.
Then afterwards the gang heads towards an isolated farm area where there's run down equipment and even spot a windmill like we did spot in the original but the windmill looks even gloomier. They spot a child spying on them as he looked a little deformed which was well put in too making this little boy mysterious and also obvious that he's residing there and the surroundings look creepy especially when they spot pictures of people in glass containers filled with water. This seemed interesting to watch as well along with one of the cast members named Morgan goofing around and trying to scare his friends which was a total brain teaser wondering if he's serious or not.
Next up a couple of them named Kemper and Jessica goes to a house in which this place looked tall and very creepy but even creepier walking through the fields to get there and spot an old man named Old Monty legless in a wheelchair as this looked nicely done and spooky like watching all of this with him not acting like a normal everyday person. Plus good looks around the walls of the house with a mysterious figure peeking through the hoels of the walls which would almost leave a chill down your spine.
It gets even creepier when Kemper spots something in a TV room where a cartoon is playing in which you have a bad feeling that something is about to happen and yet it does which involves Leatherface as he looks alot creepier than the character in the original. There's a similar scene from the original hauling his dead victim into a room and slamming a metal door shut which shows some good class here.
While this is happening then the local county Sheriff finally arrives named Hoyt but he seems very strange and quite obnoxious in which you figure out that he's not really a sheriff at all that is if you watched the very beginning of the film as this dude is wearing the exact same outfit. You definetely know he's behind the madness of Leatherface's family too. It's impressive when he manipulates one of the friend's named Andy to help him wrap up the corpse that commited suicide in their van as anyone from the law would never do that. These teens are very naive to doing whatever he tells them and not guessing that he's a fake which seems quite humoress.
We see the madness behind Leatherface's creations on making his masks out of people's skin and even see on what he looks like which isn't a pretty site as well as his background explaining as to why he has a skinned mask on his face as none of the TCM movies ever mentions this which is definetely a great pointer to this remake.
Next was the real showdown as Andy goes to the house to find out what is going on and to talk to Erin on finding the phone at the home but gets aggressive with Old Monty in which we all know that this is a dangerous mistake in which you have a feeling that Leatherface is gonna show up with his chainsaw attacking and that's exactly what happens in which this looked terrifying and suspenseful with the two of them running away. What makes matters even creepier is when Andy is running through an area with sheets hung to dry which can slow things down for him while deadly Leatherface is on his tail and let me tell you that the result's aren't pretty. It's also very graphic looking too in which this isn't for anyone who is just adjusting to gory movies. It's imaginative too if you were in this situation imagining the intense pain while Leatherface does his deadly deed. There's even him showing his powerful actions by carrying Andy into a cellar and placing him on a hook which there's more close ups on this than in the original if you thought that was disturbing.
There's a moment when Hoyt is nasty challenging Morgan to shoot him with the gun he gave him in which you are watching in suspense wondering if he will do this and you definetely encourage this to put him out of his misery for his evil doings to the teenagers but yet you do have a good dark feeling that the gun isn't loaded either since this is way too easy.
The story certainly looks intimidating when Hoyt takes Tucker into his vehicle in which you think that these kids are still stupid enough to agree with his orders and there's great intense moments when Hoyt knocks out his teeth which seemed very powerful to watch.
There's more intense horror fun as both girls Erin and Pepper are trapped in their van as Leatherface tries to attack them with his chainsaw making you wonder if he will succeed or not. There's also a good moment with Leatherface's new mask which is the face of one of the teenage friends of their he killed as this looked dark, creepy and very disturing to watch for anyone who can't handle this type of horror. This looked greatly done.
The scene's looked great and dark with him chasing after her with the chainsaw but it's not as effective like in the original but pretty close.
A scene looks different when she goes into a trailer home and encounters two strange woman as you can tell they are very abnormal and quite ghostly like. This scene was well remembered to anyone who saw this. One of them offers her some tea but yet you have a feeling the tea could possibly be drugged or poisoned. This is of course a traidition to any horror type of villains with their temptations towards a victim.
Afterwards there's a real intense effective moment with Hoyt restraining down Erin in which this is suppoed to be similar to the original with the Chainsaw family kidnapping Sally with her screaming intensely but the situations here are different which should be that way while doing a remake like I mentioned before.
The settings looked good and dark when Erin goes into the cellar as it of course looks like a torture chamber as well as having peer pressure when her boyfriend Andy is hung on a hook telling her to kill him since he's in so much pain in which this seemed to be psychologically well done.
There's even some good struggling moments with Morgan battling against Leatherface while his chainsaw gives out keeping you in suspense wondering what's going to happen afterwards but have a feeling that nothing good is going to turn out here.
It's a nice touch seeing little Jedidiah helping Erin finding a way to escape in which there's dark looking pathways as this was quite impressive as well as her running towards a butcher shop. With this you wonder if the Chainsaw family are responsible for this area but there's great nonstop adventure where she hides there but Leatherface seems clever on what to do in this siutation. The excitement really piles up when Erin has a deadly plan for him when she gets a meatcleaver and tries to call to him. Sweet revenge indeed as this was one of my favourite moments in the film.
Then it seems to go in the same direction with Erin like it did with that teenage girl her and her friends saw walking in the middle of the road acting disturbed when a truck driver picks her up and he drives to the same area where the meats store is in which she loses her mind. However she has a deadly plan for Hoyt which was exciting to watch too in what she does to him. It looked overly cool to watch. There's also a jumping moment in the near end that involves Leatherface and then shows the black and white footage of that Sheriff we spotted in the beginning which was of course a flashback moment. It looked nicely put in together.
Bottom line is the film was dark and well done but yet it meets nowhere to the original although there's better effects and made on a bigger budget as well as it being up to date with today's standards but that's about it. It seems to also borrow similar gruesome and intense elements like in today's horror films like the Saw movies too. It's not as corny as the other remakes like Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III or Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation adding alot of dark horror to this story in which that is what a TCM remake should be.
The acting shows good natural talent in which there's a nice fine performance by Jessica Biel (Erin) who knew on how to show some good spunk into her role with niceness to what she does as well as really getting down to being emotionally scared along with freaking out uncontrollably. Plus she was great at screaming intensely too. There's also a good moment on her during a certain moment when she's anxious and aggressive towards someone as well as also does well acting drugged and wobbling around acting out of it in which she also does well by behaving like that. She's perfect by sobbing after what she spots in which looked good as well as good blocking movements on her plunging a knife into someone. She was perfect having a screaming vengeful attitude while speeding a police car with full might in which she gets into this big time. She never let an ounce down with what she did into the film and knew her part inside out. Two thumbs up.
Jonathan Tucker (Morgan) was quite a ham in his performance showing good timing with his wit and sarcasm into everything that he did plus had the right goofy looks. He also looked like a total 70's type of a person. He brings out a ton of energy into his performance and came across nicely to everything that he did. There's a great scene when he is pointing a gun at someone and acting nervous about it. Plus does well choking out his words in another situation which looked believeable and terrifically done. He does a good job quickly rising up from a tub of water panting and breathing heavily in which all of this looked naturally well done. He was perfect by acting menacing while jumping on someone's back as well as hollering in pain and falling down.
Mike Vogel (Andy) shows off a great aggressive attitude in which he performs alot of great characteristics with whatever he did in the film. He too was very energetic especially with his panicking attitude along with acting believeably in pain when he needed to perform that way.
Eric Balfour (Kemper) certainly came across very serious in his part and brought a good firm type of speaking into his role too. He seemed to come across nicely to the camera with what he did in his supporting role here.
Andrew Bryniarski (Leatherface) without a doubt had the terrific masculine look to play the demented retarded chainsaw wielder. He looked incredibly powerful and very intimidating with every move he made whenever he lunged in for the kill with his chainsaw or even plunging a hammer down on someone and looking fairly brutal by doing this as well as more great blocking on dragging one of his victims along the floor and slamming a metal door shut which also looked nicely energised. He studied this part incredibly well.
R. Lee Ermey (Sheriff Hoyt) was one of the best cast members to mention. He showed off a perfect nasty sneering sarcastic type of personality along with a great manipulative attitude too. He was perfect at behaving very violent and obnoxious along with his demanding behavior too. He also has a nice cockiness to his behavior which is a plus. There's even a great dark situation with him challenging someone else in which he knew on how to have a peer pressuring type of attitude. He brings this role to life making him an obvious member to the chainsaw family.
David Dorfman (Jedidiah) had the perfect looks to be a little one in the chainsaw family and does well acting out of it as well as acting strange while approaching others in his first appearance of the story along with showing good dynamic energy during the near ending of his performance in which he can really do the trick pulling off his role and being good at it.
Terrence Evans (Old Monty) really shows a great aggression as well as coming across as someone very mysterious and untrustworthy. Plus he plays a believeable grouch as well as a perfect close up shot on him speaking wickedly and coldly back with good evil expressions. He makes his part so believeable you'd think that he'd really be like this. He also had the right looks for this part which was another plus to his character.
Heather Kafka (Henrietta) didn't have a big part in the film but yet I thought I'd mention her in which she really was fondly remembered for her role in this flick. She does a perfect job with her whispery voice sounding very ghostly like as well as having her petite type features as she even looked like a ghost with her presence or someone who is totally abnormal.
A girl shoots herself in the head with blood and other stuff shooting out as well as a hole in her head
There's jars of eyeballs and cut off fingers
A leg is sawed off
Pieces of flesh are sewn together
Someone gets battered up
An arm is chopped off by a meatcleaver
There's great low tones playing which sounds believeably gloomy especially for the opening sequences as well as nice rusty metal clanging sounds. Plus there's the odd light echoey piano playing too. Plus low trombone music mainly for the dark rainy sequences used in this film with some drum poundings too. Plus there's great high pitched violin music for when Leatherface is in for the kill. Of course there's the big banging sounds too which is common for the jumping scene's. All of this was nicely put together by Steve Jablonsky
[first lines]
Narrator: The film which you are about to see is an account of the tragedy which befell a group of 5 youths. It is all the more tragic in that they were young. But had they lived very, very long lives, they could not have expected, nor would they have wished to see as much of the mad and macabre as they were to see that day. For them, an idyllic summer afternoon became a nightmare. For 30 years, the files collected dust in the cold-cases divison of the Travis County Police Department. Over 1,300 pieces of evidence were collected from the crime scene at the Hewitt residence. Yet none of the evidence was more compelling than the classified police footage of the crime-scene walk-through.
Adams (officer in walkthrough): Test test test... OK, uh, this is, uh, August 20th, 1973. The time is, uh, 3:47 P.M. Our location is the Hewitt residence on Route 17; it's where victim one was found. We're gonna do a walk-through, and we're now descending the stairs into the furnace room... uh... There's - over here - there's scratch marks along the wall. There's some more over here, right over here. And, oh, there's something over here. Seems... Looks like a clot of hair and an embedded fingernail. All right, we're gonna go move into the actual furnace room.
Narrator: The events of that day were to lead to one of the most bizarre crimes in the annals of American history - the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
[sees rotten big corpse in meat window]
Morgan: Anyone want some pig?
Sheriff Hoyt: You kids shouldn't have messed with that little girl. You brought this all on yourself.
Sheriff Hoyt: I smell bullshit.
Sheriff Hoyt: How about giving me a hand here, asshole? You don't expect me to do this by myself? I need some help.
Andy: Why do I always get yanked into this shit? What am I doing?
Sheriff Hoyt: Lift her up and just kind of pull her over your way there. She ain't gonna bite you. She's deader than a goddamn doornail. Get a-hold of her and pick her up.
Sheriff Hoyt: I bet she's real unhappy, real sorry that you're getting fuckin' her blood all over your goddamn arm. You know, back when I was a young patrolman, I used to love wrapping up these young honies.
Andy: Yeah, I bet you did.
Sheriff Hoyt: Yeah, cop me a little bit of a feel every now and then, you know. Oh, look at that. She's kind of wet down there. What you boys been doing with this dead body anyway?
Andy: Can we please finish this?
after Morgan tries shooting the sheriff with no avail]
Sheriff Hoyt: Well, well, well. Look at we have here. We got ourselves a killer. Only this time, you killed the sheriff.
Old Monty: What the hell are you doing in my house?
Andy: All right, look. We're just looking for are friend, all right. Then we'll be out of here.
Old Monty: You ain't running things, boy except your mouth.
Andy: This guy's crazy.
Old Monty: You little turd, you're so dead, you don't even know it.
Henrietta: [Hangs up the phone] I've got to go. Bye.
[Looks at Erin]
Henrietta: Something the matter, child? You don't look so good.
Erin: I thought you said you didn't have a phone.
Erin: [Watches Henrietta cradle the baby after she discovered that it was related to the hitch-hiker] That's not your baby.
[pause]
Erin: YOU STOLE HER!
Henrietta: She's MINE.
[Erin starts feeling an overwhelming emotion of everything that's been going on in combination of the drugged-up tea. She walks a little ways through the hallway, into the living room and then faints]
Jedidiah: Gramma let me in the house!
Luda May: JUNIOR! Better be out there with them dogs!
Andy: rin, I'm dead. Please finish it. You can do it.
Erin: I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't.
Andy: here's a knife. Erin, do it. Do it!
Erin: I can't do it.
Andy: Do it! Do it! Do it!
Erin: Please forgive me. Please forgive me.
|
