Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Mini-Review)

Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a direct sequel to the 1974 classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. In this sequel, a group of young entrepreneurs buy the small town of Harlow, Texas. They claim that it's to create a much needed oasis from a chaotic world, but they show a lack of empathy to the town's history. After the young entrepreneurs accidentally cause the death of an old woman, Leatherface starts killing again. Texas Chainsaw Massacre was released on Netflix in 2022. It was directed by David Blue Garcia. It stars Sarah Yarkin, Elsie Fisher, and Mark Burnham.

I have heard of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre both because I like movies and I'm a fan of horror. But I've never seen the original. Back when I was a teen, horror movies terrified me and so I avoided them for the most part. The only real horror I read was by Stephen King. Then once I left college and gradually got into the horror genre, I didn't really like the slasher genre. So while I can't compare this sequel to the original, I can say this movie has reignited my interest in the series.

The gore in this movie was amazing. When the blood starts flowing it really pours down. The majority of characters who died had it coming which made their deaths really satisfying. Especially those whose deaths were stretched out. A few deaths actually made me sad as I cared about those characters.

This film does have a few things that don't make sense. Such as our main cast arriving in Harlow without having much time to make sure things look good for their investors. These people somehow didn't think that a town deep in Texas would have a Confederate flag or two. I don't care how sheltered you are, you'll still have to know that certain areas of the USA have more instances of racism. Luckily these things are minor compared to the rest of the movie.

Lila has one of the most interesting backstories and character arcs in the movie. Though she is one of the few that are given a backstory at all. She is the survivor of a school shooting and suffers from PTSD. Everyone around her seems to think she needs to do something special with her life when all she wants to do is live. She also doesn't think she deserves to be alive and once the killings start, she thinks she escaped death before to die now. So seeing how someone with such a handicap deals with Leatherface is interesting. Will she be able to fight at all with her PTSD?

It turns out that Leatherface started living at an abandoned orphanage with a woman. A woman that managed to stop him from killing and hid him from the rest of the world. So her death really motivates the killer to get revenge. I don't need my slasher villains to have a motive besides killing, but it was nice in this instance.

I would recommend Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) to lovers of the horror genre.