Year of Release: 2022
Director: David Blue Garcia
Starring: Elsie Fisher, Sarah Yarkin, Moe Dunford, Jacob Latimore, Olwen Fouere, Jessica Allain, Nell Hudson, Alice Krige, William Hope, Mark Burnham, Jolyon Coy, Sam Douglas
Genre: Horror
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 1
Watch it on Netflix
Synopsis and Review:
Another successful audience feature release for Netflix, this new version of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is the second directorial endeavor from film maker David Blue Garcia. This new version of the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" legacy, also comes courtesy of co-writer and producer Fede Alverez, who has in the meantime made somewhat of a name for himself with the remake of "Evil Dead" and the successful "Don't Breathe". The film takes place in our current times, and focuses on a small group of entrepeneurs who are on their way to the small town of Harlow, Texas. This small town is nearly abandoned, and has been bought by this group of individuals, all with the purpose of revitalizing it, bringing new businesses and hopefully more population to it. This small group is comprised of Dante and his girlfriend Ruth, and Melody and her sister Lila (a survivor of a high school shooting which took place not that long ago). They're all expecting a large bus filled with people to show up later in the day, to also visit the town. Upon arriving in the small town the group explores it a bit, and are surprised to notice an elderly woman still living in one of the houses. Dante is certain she is trespassing since all the properties were bought, something the lady denies, claiming she has the title for the property. Soon the lady and her adult and silent son are taken by the police, alongside Ruth who wants to make sure everything goes well, however while transporting her, the elderly woman has a heart issue and passes away. Her son becomes enraged, and goes on a lethal rampage, which leads him back to the small town and the remaining party there.
The original "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" hails from the late Tobe Hooper, and was released in 1974. Since that film was launched a plethora of sequels and remakes have been crafted, including one as recent as 2017's "Leatherface", directed by Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo. This newest incarnation of the terrifying killer, uses the premise from the original film as a starting point, and assumes Leatherface was never caught, suddenly making his reappearance after the passing of his mom. It's a film that attempts a critical view of the gentrification that is occurring a bit everywhere, particularly how that movement translates into an overwhelming homogenization of habits and styles, which in turn can clash with contexts which are not entirely able to co-exist. It's also a faint criticism at how people and audiences these days respond to visceral and brutal violence that they're confronted with. However both of these observational stances, are fairly superficial, and they soon give way to the gore fest that is ultimately what the film seems to be more focused on. Largely all the characters in this film aren't given much to do in terms of arc or motivation, with some aspects of it feeling gratuitously manipulative (the survivor who comes back, and is oddly unable to do much), which ultimately makes this film feel unnecessary. Much like many of the films of this franchise, this director also fails to convey a more specific point of view, basically making this film just another slasher without much depth or resonance. Nothing much to see here.
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