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The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a scary remake
by Steven Kiser
The Carillon
In a year where sequels and remakes seem to be all the rage amongst filmmakers, there hasn’t really been any reason to celebrate due to a complete lack of creativity. That all changed when The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a remake of the 1974 film of the same name, was released upon the masses.
The story, which is inspired by actual events, revisits the chilling account of five friends stranded in a small Texas town, desperately trying to escape from a chainsaw-wielding maniac. It is impossible not to experience the sheer terror that the characters go through, which allows for such an intense experience that you are left utterly speechless. Whether it is the utter despair and fear of dying, or the pure horror of being chased down by a madman with a chainsaw, the performances put forward by the cast are definitely real.
The stars each put forward a performance that goes beyond their acting abilities, whether it is 7th Heaven star Jessica Biel or releative unknowns like Jonathan Tucker and Mike Vogel. An excellent addition to the cast is R. Lee Ermy, who revisits his role as the hard-ass drill Sargeant from Full Metal Jacket in the form of the local sheriff. The most believable performance of the film is given by Andrew Bryniarski, who portrays the disturbed and maniacal killer known as “Leatherface.”
The Leatherface character in the original film was a wild animal who grunted and lusted for blood; he was the perfect killing machine. If you are expecting the same psycho serial killer in this version of the film, you are in for a very disturbing surprise. The way Bryniarski portrays Leatherface is very real and very frightening. He doesn’t stalk his prey, and he doesn’t jump out at them when you least expect it, instead he attacks them relentlessly until they have nowhere left to run. Leatherface is beyond a simple serial killer, and he is beyond a derranged murderer; Leatherface is the embodiment of pure evil. He isn’t evil in the same way as the devil, instead he represents everything that can possibly go wrong inside a person, he doesn’t feel sympathy and he doesn’t kill for reason. He kills because he wants to.
Bottom line, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the best horror films I have ever seen, simply because it not only creates a sense of horror, it is horror. This is not the kind of movie that you take your girlfriend to and snuggle up with when the action gets too intense, it is the kind of movie where you leave the theatre afraid. It is not a fun movie, there is nothing fun about it; there is no humour, no laugh track and no reason to smile. The original film was a classic and will always be a masterpiece, but this one will go down in history as a movie that scared people in a way that the original couldn’t.
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