Texas Chainsaw 3D - 2013

One of the largest flaws that the recent boom of horror remakes tends to fail at is a reverence for the past. Almost every classic horror franchise from the 70s to the 80s have been recreated in the last decade, most of which aren’t even close to as great as their originators, basically because they choose to forget what made the originals so horrifying. Take for example, 2003’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a film that would rather show disgusting scenes of people being torn apart than the mental aguish and distinctly slow pacing that made the 1974 original so effective. As the Texas Chainsaw moniker gets picked up again, this time around with Texas Chainsaw 3D, a film that tries to show the importance in the past in the first half, then decides to completely betray that in the second.

Texas Chainsaw 3D is billed as a direct sequel to the 1974 film that for the most part created the slasher genre. The opening of Texas Chainsaw 3D is the film at its best, as the film seamlessly connects the original to the 2013 “sequel.” Soon after the events of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the town rose up against the cannibalistic family, burning their house and a majority of the family with it. Left behind in the ashes are Leatherface, stuck in his underground hiding place, and a baby, who was carried out of the wreckage by her dying mother. The film picks up with the child in, supposedly, the present day, when she discovers that she was adopted and that her only living relative has left her everything in her will.

One thing that the film never clarifies is that if this is considered the sequel to the 1974 film, which took place in 1974, then one should assume that Texas Chainsaw 3D is also in the present day of 2013. However Heather Miller, the child that survived, is clearly not forty, but rather a twenty-something working at a grocery store. No attention is drawn to the fact that the timeline doesn’t add up, but in a film where a man with a mask made of human skin is chasing people with chainsaws for years, it’s easy to think there isn’t much here not in the realm of possibilities.

She looks about 40, right?

Anyway, Texas Chainsaw 3D tries to recreate the original, as four beautiful people take a trip down to Texas, pick up a hitchhiker, and head on their way to gruesome murders that await them. Once they get to the house that has been left to Heather, it doesn’t take long before they discover that Leatherface has his own special room in the mansion as they are quickly picked off one-by-one.

Halfway through is where the film betrays the idea of keeping the spirit of the original and tries something new. It’s a promising idea that ultimately doesn’t work out as well as it should. Heather escapes the mansion from which her friends have been cut up and runs to the local police, who remember the events of years ago. This is where Leatherface, one of the primary horror examples of pure evil, actually becomes…the good guy.

Another major problem with modern horror films is the choice to give away too much about their villains. Hannibal Lecter was terrifying because of the lack of information we knew about him. There was no explanation as to way he wanted to eat human flesh, he just DID. But in the last few years, with Hannibal, Red Dragon and the absolutely terrible Hannibal Rising, we learned more about Lecter and therefore, became less scared of him. This is something the 70s got right with horror. The less we know about why these villains are the way they are, our minds create creepier back-stories, or lack thereof, that make the uncertainty worse than the knowledge we have. Some of the scariest horror films of the last few years, such as The Strangersor Funny Games, worked so well because there was no method to their madness. Texas Chainsaw 3D decides to explain all the details of why Leatherface is Leatherface.

I'm a good guy now! Promise!

In doing this, Leatherface becomes an almost sympathetic version of Norman Bates. He has mental issues, he has family issues, and for some reason that is never expressed, he likes to wear women’s clothing and makeup. All this leads to a conclusion in which there is no horror left, but makes the audience believe that the good and the bad tables have turned. On the contrary, Leatherface has still murdered and eaten people. No matter how much you attempt to make Leatherface the hero, he’s still the villain, just without any of the fear that has been inherent in the character for four decades.

Texas Chainsaw 3D is trying to stay true to the past, and director John Luessenhop does a great job at the beginning. But the further the film gets, the more it betrays what it think it is restoring. Granted, it is the best of the attempts to revitalize the Texas Chainsaw franchise, even if this is the beginning of a new six-film franchise. But does bringing back the luster to a series that has been flailing for years matter when the subject’s mystique is ultimately destroyed? Probably not.

Rating: C+