Butcher Boys (aka Boneboys) (2012) (1st viewing) d. Graves, Duane / Meeks, Justin (USA)
Ferociously committed flick which comes close to recapturing the breakneck pace, nightmare imagery and go-for-broke sensory assault of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a film it clearly emulates throughout its depiction of a group of thrillseeking youngsters menaced over the course of a night by a hostile band of leather jacket-wearing ’50s greaser thugs. This is not to say that it possesses the same instinctive strands of genius as Tobe Hooper’s modern horror masterpiece, or that the frantic juggernaut pace and violence don’t feel a more than a little manufactured at times. But with Kim Henkel (screenwriter of the 1974 film) back in the saddle as writer/producer and good ol’ boy directing team of Graves and Meeks (Wild Man of the Navidad) fearlessly doling out the shocks, there’s a lot to admire in terms of honesty and homage, especially with the sound cranked up and images looming large.
Brutal, dark and relentless, at once epic and claustrophobic, one does wish perhaps the artists had not hewn so closely to their inspirations – the “dinner scene” feels a little too on the nose and the endless parade of TCM alumni (Marilyn Burns, Ed Neal, Teri McMinn, John Dugan, Bill Johnson, etc.) prove more distracting than entertaining. (Likewise, the stream of banal profanity spewed by our bonkers band also proves ineffective; one wishes Henkel would have cut the b-words and c-words by 200%.)
A movie destined to divide audiences, but one whose enthusiasm registered loud and clear within this horror heart.
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