Netflix just released the newest installment in this iconic franchise...and it's something.
The horror genre has recently been entering an era of reboots/sequels. Halloween, Scream, and Chucky are some of the most recent cases of this type of filmmaking and Texas Chainsaw Massacre has now joined the ranks. This film marks the 10th film in this series filled with prequels, sequels, reboots, and more reboots. This film, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, is the sequel to the 1974 film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and other than bringing back Leatherface also features the return of Sally Hardesty. The original actress, Marilyn Burns, unfortunately, passed away in 2014 so they recast Olwen Fouéré as the character.
This new film also introduces a new group of teenagers and a large cast of supporting people whom we never learn the names of. Despite the countless story and character issues that hurt this film, it lives up to its name of a massacre. The film is incredibly brutal and leaves nothing to the imagination with its grotesque and often disturbing kills but we have always known Leatherface as a sadistic killer.
This time around Leatherface is no longer trying to kill everyone he meets, he is solely seeking vengeance on those he believed killed his mother. We even see a scene where Sally talks to him and he doesn't do anything but ignore her because he doesn't recognize or remember her. This was actually a large complaint of the Halloween films was when Michael Myers was solely hunting Laurie Strode and everyone associated with her. This ended up being retconned in the recent films where now he just kills everyone he can.
As for the story of the film, we follow four TikTok / Instagram influencers who go to the town of Harlow, Texas to auction off items so they can build their own modern (or as they call it, woke town). From the obvious cringe-inducing story elements, the film lacks any real direction with the story and characters. I've actually read people's comments online who say that technically our group of teenagers are the antagonists of the film because they did, indirectly cause the death of Leatherface's mother.
What started out in 1974 as a terrifying horror movie where a chainsaw-wielding psychopath murders innocent teenagers who are lost has now become a series that ruined the original final girl by bringing her back just to kill her off again and became a social commentary film mixed with violent and disturbing kills that creates what feels like an unfinished balance of a film.
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