Movie Review - Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Director: David Blue Garcia
Genre: Horror
Runtime: 83 minutes
Year: 2022
Starring: Sarah Yarkin, Elsie Fisher, Mark Burnham, Jacob Latimore, Moe Dunford, Olwen Fouéré, Jessica Allain, Nell Hudson
 
Description: After nearly 50 years of hiding, Leatherface returns to terrorize a group of idealistic young friends who accidentally disrupts his carefully shielded worlds in a remote Texas town.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2022 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 9: A MOVIE WITH BAD REVIEW

Review: In 1974, director Tobe Hooper released “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. In it we saw how a group of young people fell prey to Leatherface, a maniac with a chainsaw, and his cannibalistic family. Over the decades, several sequels have been released, but none of them has been able to match the gruesome realism of the original. The mix of suggestive horror, dingy images and the sweltering, almost intoxicating heat in the Texas countryside is sickening. And remarkably, there was hardly a bucket of blood involved.
How different is it with “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” from director  David Blue Garcia? While his film is a direct sequel to the original – picking up where it left off after nearly fifty years and ignoring all the intervening parts – in terms of tone and style this has not become a consistent story. Here the blood is flowing and all the killings have been very graphically portrayed. To make a story short: it’s a gore fest.
Those who just want to tune in for an evening of uncomplicated horror entertainment, with a touch of self-conscious humor, will have a great time. If you’re expecting to see a classic in the making… well… then you better skip this one.
We are introduced to four young people who travel to a ghost town in Texas: Harlow. Here they plan to investigate the possibilities of gentrifications. The idealism of these millennials immediately gets on your nerves: they think pickup trucks are useless big polluters and the Confederate flag must of course be taken down as quickly as possible. They are a bit too politically correct. And the film is way too short to get invested in any of the characters. Only Lila gets a bit of a backstory, which makes her the most likeable one of the bunch.
Added to this already not so brilliant plot is the now elderly Sally Hardesty, the sole survivor of the 1974 massacre (now played by Olwen Fouéré). She is sent on a sort of half-hearted revenge mission here, much like Jamie Lee Curtis in the recent “Halloween” movies. But the execution of it leaves seriously to be desired. Just leave that part of the past alone.
Unfortunately “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” is yet another sequel without a lot of originality, mainly to present us a lot of gore and gruesome deaths. Fun enough to enjoy some uncomplicated horror, but not good enough to remember it for long.

Rating: 2,5/ 5

Netflix Friday - Volume 94

Some Netflix film tips for the weekend! And there is something for everyone, since I picked a movie for all the different genres.
 

Action: The Bourne identity (2002)
A man (Matt Damon_ is picked up by a fishing boat, bullet-riddled and suffering from amnesia, before racing to elude assassins and attempting to regain his memory.
 

Drama: 1917 (2019)
April 6^th, 1917. As an infantry battalion assembles to wage war deep in enemy territory, two soldiers (Dean-Charles Chapman, George MacKay) are assigned to race time and deliver a message that will stop 1600 men from walking straight into a deadly trap.
 

Comedy: Daddy’s Home (2015)
Brad Whitaker (Will Ferrell) is a radio host trying to get his stepchildren to love him and call him Dad. But his plans turn upside down when their biological father, Dusty Mayron (Mark Wahlberg) returns.
 

Animation: How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
A hapless young Viking (Jay Baruchel) who aspires to hunt dragons becomes the unlikely friends of a young dragon himself, and learns there may be more to the creatures than he assumed.
 

Romance: Top Gun (1986)
As students at the United States Navy’s elite fighter weapons school compete to be best in class, one daring young pilot (Tom Cruise) learns a few things from a civilian instructor (Kelly McGillis) that are not taught in the classroom.
 

Horror: Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)
After nearly 50 years of hiding, Leatherface returns to terrorize a group of idealistic young friends who accidentally disrupt his carefully shielded world in a remote Texas town.
 

Science Fiction: Terminator Salvation (2009)
In 2018, a mysterious new weapon in the war against the machines, half-human and half-machine (Sam Worthington), comes to John Connor (Christian Bale) on the eve of a resistance attack on Skynet. But whose side is he on, and can he be trusted?
 

Crime: John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
After returning to the criminal underworld to repay a debt, John Wick (Keanu Reeves) discovers that a large bounty has been put on his life.
 

Thriller: Munich: The Edge of War (2018)
A British diplomat travels to Munich in the run-up to World War II, where a former classmate of his from Oxford is also en route, but is working for the Germany government.
 

Documentary: Django & Django (2021)
A homage to Italian director Sergio Corbucci of the 1960s and contemporary director Quentin Tarantino, recounting a memorable period in Italian cinema with the sensibility of today.
 

Family: A Cinderella Story (2004)
Routinely exploited by her wicked stepmother (Jennifer Coolidge), the downtrodden Samantha Montgomery (Hilary Duff) is excited about the prospect of meeting het Internet beau at the school’s Halloween dance.