Slightly gruesome header I must admit.
(Contains slight spoilers)
Today I saw the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D which overall, I thought was quite good. I'm an absolute sucker for horror films so I knew I was going to enjoy it but there are a few downsides. When I saw the trailer a few months ago, I was so excited to see it as I love the original. Original cult horror films like this, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street etc are my absolute favourite. From seeing the trailer, I was under the impression it was just a remake as the trailer doesn't really give much away, which is good. It's actually a sequel. As many fans will know, there has been a total of 6 chainsaw films, (now 7). But this new one carries on from the original 1974 film, which I thought was a good touch. I won't go into details of how it links on because otherwise there would be no point in you watching the film. I do have to point out before I start, the 3D in the film just seemed useless. I wouldn't bother spending the money on seeing it in 3D because it just isn't worth it. Spend less, see it in 2D & enjoy it more. In parts, my eyes couldn't adjust to the 3D because of the angle of the chainsaw. Now that sounds quite silly, but when the chainsaw is pointing at the screen but coming out at you in 3D, it just looks like a straight line, which looks a touch useless.
First of all, I think the plot of the film is really good. It is kind of predictable but aren't majority of horror films? The main character, Heather, is your typical young girl, working a dead end job, who decides to go on a road trip with her friends & boyfriend, Trey Songz who quite frankly should stick to music, after inheriting a house in Texas from her Grandma. She's left the keys and a letter, which she's told to read straight away, but of course she doesn't. They pick up a hitchhiker along the way and when they get to the house, they go shopping and the hitchhiker robs some of the house's contents. But there's a big gold key on the set of keys and he tries to find out what its for & he does. But he finds out the hard way. He unlocks a big door with the key & low and behold, he finds Leather-face locked in the wine cellar. May as well have said "release the kraken!" because he unleashes a whole lot of hell. Anyway, a lot of stuff happens and it turns out that Heather & Leather-face are cousins so she takes on the roll her Grandma had of looking after her cousin who stays locked in the basement. There's more to it but I don't want to completely ruin the film for people.
Now to my opinion. I've read many other reviews on the film and a lot of people are complaining about the concentration in this film on Leather-face being mentally retarded, but this has always been the case. These people may have not seen all the other chainsaw films, because if they had they would know this. His character is a mentally retarded man who has the mental age of an 8 year old. He kills out of self defence because he feels threatened and is afraid of new people being in his house. So he isn't just some sadistic freak like Jason Voorhees or Freddie Kruger. I kind of felt myself rooting for him near the end of the film and found myself saying 'awh' out loud in the cinema! But then I thought to myself, with all the people he's killed he kinda deserves whats coming to him. You do see a different side to Leather-face in this new film. The rest of the characters were very bland. It was enjoyable seeing them get killed, kind of similar to seeing Paris Hilton being killed in House Of Wax. Trey Songz character was, for lack of a better word, an arsehole. He cheated on his girlfriend, Heather, with her best friend, so it was nice to see him be killed.
The scares and the gore in the film were kind of disappointing. Not much of it is actually scary, it's actually quite hilarious. I think I laughed more than I felt scared, not because it's a bad horror though, the humour was intentional. However there was one really jumpy part, simply Leather-face jumping out of the darkness and the whole of the cinema showing screamed, including my sister and I. Bearing in mind the showing was packed, only 3 or 4 free seats. The gore was lacking to be quite honest and with something like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, you expect the gore level to be quite high. The killings weren't that good either, only 3 people actually get killed by Leather-face. So it shouldn't be called Texas Chainsaw Massacre, more like Texas Chainsaw Mediocre Murders. I expected more from a film with 'Massacre' in its name.
All in all, it was a good film and I recommend any chainsaw massacre & general horror fans to watch it. If you haven't seen the other 6 films, I suggest you do as they are horror classics. I'd rate it a 3 star film.
