Nasty (Michael Bay's Texas Chainsaw Massacre (DVD))

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Product:	Michael Bay's Texas Chainsaw Massacre (DVD)
Date:	21/05/06 (96 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Violent, disturbing and graphic

Disadvantages: Violent, disturbing and graphic

In Channel 4's 100 Scariest Moments programme, Tobe Hooper's 1973 original Texas Chainsaw Massacre featured in the top ten. I could never really see the big deal to be honest. For me, the original movie has dated considerably and where once we were supposed to be horrified, I could only really be amused. Thirty years later a remake was released upon a dubious cinema audience split between those who believed that the original could not be bettered and those who thought it couldn't be any worse. Personally, I generally despair with modern horror movies, most of which struggle to get an 18-certificate and simply aren't horrific. Well, with the release of this film, all that changed.

A group of friends takes to the road and decides to travel down to Mexico. It is the middle of summer and as they travel through the fiery temperatures of deepest Texas, they begin to wonder whether it was such a good idea. As they drive along the hazy, dusty roads, tempers flare with the heat and as the friends bicker they fail to notice a lone figure in the road until it almost too late. The figure turns out to be a young woman, bruised, dazed and visibly distressed. Unable to ignore her plight, the teenagers take the girl on board and set about trying to find some help. They are however unaware that it is the direction in which they are travelling that is so distressing the girl, until it is too late and she brutally kills herself. Morally compelled to report the death, the teenagers are forced to retain the body in the searing heat of the van and drive to the nearest town to find the police.

Their first port of call is a small café/diner, where the only occupant is a crazed old woman, who they eventually persuade to telephone the sheriff. The sheriff instructs the teenagers to meet him at an old farm, and the group sets off once again. But when they reach their destination, the policeman is nowhere to be seen and unable to agree what to do next, the group divides. One half sets off to try and find help, whilst the other half remains with the van in case the sheriff shows up. Erin and Kemper set off to find help and soon encounter a large farmstead. The house appears only to be occupied by an old, disabled man, who although rather odd, agrees to let them use his telephone. Whilst Erin uses the telephone, her boyfriend Kemper wanders off to look around the house, attracted by a noise in the sitting room.

But somebody else is in the house. Somebody is watching him, simply waiting for the moment to strike. Back at the van, things aren't much better. When the sheriff finally arrives, he doesn't turn out to be the saviour that the friends had quite expected…..

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre took me completely by surprise. I've seen a lot of horror movies in the past and very few of them have actually frightened me. Whether or not The Texas Chainsaw Massacre frightened me, I'm not sure. But when I left the cinema I felt unsettled, disturbed and very, very uncomfortable.

Even I was surprised at how nasty this film was. It's completely relentless. The feel and mood of the film is perfectly described by a friend of mine who came to see the film with me. After about two minutes, during which nothing had really yet happened, he tapped me on the shoulder, looked nervous and said, "This film is going to be horrible isn't it?" There was only one answer I could give. I was right.

The film is nasty in both what it shows and what it leaves up to your imagination. The killer in the film, generally known as Leatherface, inhabits a dark, decrepit basement underneath a wooden farmhouse. His lair is damp, dirty and sinister and in the stifling Texan heat, you can only imagine the smells and sights that would greet you. His methods of murder vary, but are consistently unpleasant and what happens to his human victims is guaranteed to be dreadful. This marks one of the most obvious differences between this version and the original. In the original, Leatherface acted rather like a mad butcher. He simply saw humans as cattle and would cull them in exactly the same way that he would a cow. In this version, things seem to have changed. Leatherface doesn't seem to be after the meat anymore and his disregard for human life has turned to contempt. So, in the depths of his smelly basement, he has a vast range of tools and accessories for slicing, dicing and dismembering.

Sometimes, we see exactly what he does, and sometimes we simply work it out. For me, the most horrific scene in the movie involved Andy, who, having just tried to escape finds himself re-captured, minus one leg beneath the knee. Lifted off the ground, he is impaled on a large meat hook and left to dangle from the rafters. Worse is still yet to come. To cauterise the bleeding from his amputated leg, Leatherface grasps a handful of rock salt and applies it to the wound, before simply wrapping the wound in dirty brown paper. He is, of course, oblivious the poor young man's screams. But the audience isn't.

The remake features a host of new supporting characters whom, not surprisingly, are all connected to Leatherface in one way or another. This struck me as a fairly sensible addition to the story, given that the first movie was rather limited by having only one threat to the teenagers' existence. Given also that the director, Marcus Nispel, wanted to stay fairly faithful to the original film's outcome, the supporting cast members also provide a means to provide greater audience satisfaction for retribution.

Visually, everyone and everything in this film looks perfect. The Texan countryside looks hot, dirty and unwelcoming. The camera work is as graphic, sharp and brutal as the murders and the special effects/make-up employed are extremely convincing. There are lots of fond tributes to the original, such as the chase through the sheets drying on the line and the narrated introduction, but there are also new touches. There is a short epilogue that adds a subtle, almost Blair Witch reality to the proceedings. Leatherface is also rather different. In this version of the film, we discover that Leatherface actually has a terribly disfigured face, for which he was terribly bullied as a child. The explanation of Leatherface's motives also provides for a wonderful shock moment, where Leatherface confronts Erin in a freshly sewn facemask.

The young cast is much more likeable than its 1973 equivalent, due largely to the lack of any irritations such as the 1970s Franklin. Our heroine is Erin who breaks the mould of the hapless female wherever possible. Ever watched a horror film where they only seem to hit the bad guy once, and you wonder why they don't keep hitting him? Not so here, I'm glad to say. The other teenagers run, scream and do their best to stay alive, but they manage to make their peril seem authentic. From a purely personal perspective, things were also helped along by the very sexy Mike Vogel, in a very sexy, sweaty grey vest and a very tight pair of jeans. The sheriff Hoyt is particularly revolting and R Lee Emey is worryingly convincing in the role.

So what is frightening and/or unsettling about this movie? Obviously, the idea of being chased by a crazed lunatic brandishing a chainsaw is quite frightening, but it's more the peril of the whole thing. Unlike slasher movies, where you usually find yourself willing the killer to pick off the cast, you really feel for the hapless teens in this production. The sadism and nastiness is shocking, but the desperation of the situation is probably the worst thing. And then of course, there is the inevitable question of what we would do if we found ourselves in the same situation? Shudder.

If you don't enjoy violence and bloodshed, then this film is not for you. Indeed, it won't even appeal to all horror fans, particularly the devotees to the original film. For me, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was exactly what a horror film should be. Well-made, well acted, nasty and exciting, this film only narrowly missed my vote as favourite film of 2003. (Wrong Turn, cunningly enough inspired by the Texas Chainsaw Massacre has the edge on this in terms of excitement.) Nonetheless, this is definitely a remake that both updates and vastly improves the original.

Highly recommended

http://www.texaschainsawmovie.com - check out the eerie theme music!

Summary: Nasty remake that really does the trick