TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE Sequels, Prequels, Remakes, and Reboots! (aka ALL THE BUZZ)

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 (1986) d. Tobe Hooper (USA)
LEATHERFACE: TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE III (1990) d. Jeff Burr (USA)
TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE NEXT GENERATION (1995) d. Kim Henkel (USA)
THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (2003) d. Marcus Nispel (USA)
THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING (2006) d. Jonathan Liebesman (USA)
TEXAS CHAINSAW 3D (2013) d. John Lussenhop (USA)
LEATHERFACE (2017) d. Alexandre Bustillo/Julien Maury (USA)
TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (2022) d. David Blue Garcia (USA)

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This week, we're firing up our collective McCullochs and taking a trip through one of the most bizarre and tangled family trees in horror history: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre franchise. As fans know, Tobe Hooper’s classic 1974 film eventually yielded an entire franchise—one filled with sequels, prequels, remakes, reboots, retcons, and enough continuity headaches to make both the Sawyer AND the Hewitt families scramble for their handy almanacs.

THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (1974) 4K UHD Blu-ray Review

THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (1974) d. Tobe Hooper (USA)

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 In 1973, Tobe Hooper and a group of young actors and technicians ventured out in to the Texas wilderness to shoot a low-budget horror film that would go on to become one of the greatest landmark cinematic achievements in history. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was a smash hit upon its release the following year and has not lost any of its ability to shock and terrify and influence other filmmakers over the ensuing five decades.

BUTCHER BOYS (aka BONEBOYS) (2012) review

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.