Hello everyone and glad to be writing here again! I started another blog for random topics in the world and some of my local opinions. Over the past few weeks I have seen Django Unchained, Lincoln and Texas Chainsaw 3D. Now I could obviously tell you the same thoughts as everyone else that the first two movies I stated were really good with a good plot and execution, but Texas Chainsaw? The horror genre has become quite weakened and few exceptions remain strong including Halloween, Jaws and the obvious Psycho. But these long running series of slasher movies are poorly qualified and remain a lower example of modern media. Today’s generation enjoys seeing someone slaughtered with blood splattering and gut spewing treachery.
The film starts the day after the first movie (Tobe Hooper’s) on August 19th, 1974. A raid of police officers and local rioters surrounded the Sawyer home and unleashed a hail of bullet and flame reducing the home and its inhabitants to rubble. Heather Sawyer was only a baby and was taken by a local family who could not have a child of their own. Unable to really identify the bodies, they assumed the family was dead. The family also was composed of some Carson relatives. The movie then moves forward to today where Heather discovers she was adopted and that her real grandmother had just passed away leaving her all of her possessions. This leads her friends and herself on a trip to Newt, Texas to obtain hew house and assets. Little did she know that her cousin Jedidiah Sawyer had survived the raid on the house so many years ago and has been living in the catacombs beneath the mansion she had just acquired.
Most slasher films are followed with one-two people in the end surviving the onslaught of their pursuer leaving him to be believed dead, normally leading to their corpse disappearing or some sign of a follow-up movie. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise is unique that the main antagonist Jedidah “Leatherface” Sawyer (Thomas Hewitt in some of the other films) is human. When we think of Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees, they are indestructible; where they never die or continuously return to the living to continue wreaking havoc on local citizens. Leatherface and his deceased family murdered and attacked civilians until they were killed themselves or injured beyond further action. Some people will say the franchise is unique since it was inspired by the murderer/gravedigger Edward Gein who also wore the faces of his victims, but that was a very minor comparison between Leatherface and Gein.
The first half of the movie basically went the same as what you’d expect. All of Heather’s friends are killed while she barely escapes the attack similar to the first movie. But then another odd characteristic of the film arose. The theme of ‘justice’ came up throughout the film, comparing murder and fair trial toward the Sawyer/Carson families. The mayor of Newt named Burt Hartman was the individual that, against orders, attacked the household that began the shootout. With the return of Heather, the town’s secret that was justified as ‘an eye for an eye’ had made its way back up and had to be taken care of. Heather had to make a choice against the corrupted community of Newt and her crazed cousin. The film portrayed the opposing factions as both evil and good, taking justice in different ways. Leatherface only wished to protect his family but has severe mental disabilities crippling his decisions.
Other similarities such as this have been intertwined in other slasher films like the Halloween franchise. Halloween followed the family of Michael Myers who in the sixth film was found to be an agent of a lost cult who must sacrifice his kin to maintain the power of his society. The Friday the 13th movie franchise also relates to Jason’s continuation of his mother’s massacre of camp counselors and locals. His half-sister and niece also appear in one of the film’s, playing a key role in his resurrection. Family has become an ever-growing trait in slasher flicks, but Texas Chainsaw series has maintained it and emphasized it from the very beginning.
The definition of justice and family values are key roles to this film’s success in modern media, and the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a cult classic with magnificent ratings such as a 91% fresh from Rotten Tomatoes and 7.5/10 on IMDB. Although Texas Chainsaw 3D has 19% rotten rating and a 5.1/10 on IMDB, there are some deeper meaning within the context of the slasher film, differentiating it from all competing slasher franchises. If I personally rated this, I would give it a 6.5/10 (65% fresh)since it is for the most part just the blood and gore of any other slasher movie but with some new plot twists and ideas that definitely makes this stand out in all of Leatherface’s adventures!
Critical Films 