Texas Chainsaw Massacre - The Beginning (DVD)

"The Texas Chiansaw Massacre", directed by Tobe Hooper (also responsible for good efforts like "Poltergeist" and real stinkers like "Mortuary") in 1973, is universally acclaimed as one of the best horror movies ever. To be precise, more than a standard horror, this is a teen slasher (read: psycho massacres group of dumb teens), but this distinction is not so important. Anyway, in 2003 Marcus Nispel, a videoclip director, was contacted by Platinum Dunes to helm a remake of this movie, and he did a pretty good job. You know how these things go in Hollywood... if a movie does well at the box office, you have to produce a ...  Read the complete review

For the follow up to Marcus Nispel’s 2003 remake of the 1974 classic horror, Jonathan Liebesman opts to try something a little different. Rather than simply follow up the grisly events of 1974 with more grisly events thereafter, Liebesman instead takes us back to 1969 in order that we can discover a little more about the notorious family that was to spawn a classic horror movie, three sequels and a remake. Grisly events, however, were still assured. It’s 1969 and in the heat of summer, two brothers travel through Texas to enlist in the Vietnam War. Older brother Eric has already served a term and is keen that his brother joins him in the conflict, blissfully ...  Read the complete review

Texas Chainsaw; The Beginning is a somewhat unnessecary prequel to the recent remake of the original Tobe Hooper horror flick that was banned for many years by the BBFC presumably simply for the crime of featuring a chainsaw. Having seen the original a couple of times since subsequently being released, I see little other reason why it may have been banned except for the fact that it was perhaps more psychologically disturbing than it was gory and hence considerd more damaging to susceptible audiences. The recent remake followed a unhealthy trend at the moment for reimagining classic horror films from yesteryear (Rob Zombie's Halloween, Friday The Thirteenth, The ...  Read the complete review

Its not going to get a high rating as it's so bad. The film does manage to tie up quite a lot of the loose ends and questions from the remake of the original, things like how Leatherface (whose real name turns out to be Thomas Hewitt!) came to be (you also get to see a little of his childhood which gives you clues as to why he's so crazy) as well the plot behind how he became associated with the local slaughterhouse (and why it was abandoned). You find out how R. Lee Ermy's character managed to become the local Sheriff (he killed the previous Sheriff). The kids that end up getting killed are 2 guys going to Vietnam (the film is set in 1969) taking a final ...  Read the complete review