cockney0_1's Movie Review of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning

Rating of
3/4

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning

A weaker link in the chain(saw) than previous.
cockney0_1 - wrote on 03/31/09

The problem with most successful movies - horror in particular - is that people tend to see dollar signs and, usually inferior, sequels are routinely made and released. This is certainly true of the original '...Chainsaw' movie, with only part three serving the same sort of nastiness as the first, but it was still lacking in most other departments. The makers of the 2003 remake said there wouldn't be a sequel, but instead, after many requests from fans to address the psychotic Hewitt 'family's' history, they made this prequel (although this one is directed by Jonathan Liebesman in place of Marcus Nispel), detailing not only how and why Leatherface (Andrew Bryniarski) first put on a mask, but also how Sheriff Hoyt (R.Lee Ermey) came to be and how the family entered into the madness detailed in the previous movie.

The story begins in the late thirties when a pregnant worker in a meat factory gives birth to a deformed baby boy on the factory floor. The boss of the factory dumps the baby in the rubbish skip where a young Luda May Hewitt discovers it whilst searching for scraps. Taken in by Luda May and her family, the boy (now named Thomas) grows into a man and takes a job at the meat factory where he was born, wearing a scarf over his face to hide his ravaged features. After the meat factory is closed down by the authorities, Thomas takes out his rage on the boss (the same one who delivered him) using a sledgehammer. The body is discovered by the local sheriff, who goes to the Hewitt home looking for Thomas. Upon finding he's not there, the sheriff and Thomas' uncle go searching for him, only to set off a chain of events that lead to a new law enforcement body taking over the defunct town. While this is going on, a group of four teenagers - two brothers and their girlfriends - are on their way across the state so the two brothers can enlist for Vietnam. After running into a gang of bikers intent on robbing them, the group crash their jeep, after which the local sheriff turns up, only he's not the normal law enforcing sheriff. Having murdered the proper Sheriff Hoyt, the uncle has taken his uniform and adopted his name. Now seemingly the only residents left in the town, and with no police force left, the new Hoyt takes the group of kids back to his house where in the basement young Thomas is discovering ways of using his meat preparing skills to make himself a new face.

The first thing to note about this movie is how much more graphic it is than the 2003 movie. The implied violence in some scenes in that movie is now fully realised and the viewer is not spared in the full-on violence on-screen. The scene where Thomas first uses the chainsaw is magnificent, made all the more significant given Hoyt's reaction. A lot darker in tone than the previous movie, the focus is more on the characters in this one, giving them more depth. The four kids are less one-dimensional than the previous bunch, although maybe not quite as likeable because of it, and when they do get themselves into trouble you do find yourself caring what happens to them. The 'family' characters are given more of a role this time, although the lineage still isn't fully explained. Monty, the guy in the wheelchair in the 2003 film and referred to as 'Uncle' by Hoyt even though they're of similar age, is the most 'normal' - for use if a better word - of the bunch, only doing as he's told so as not to upset Hoyt. There's even a little sympathy for him when the reason he loses his legs is revealed! Luda May comes across as similarly conflicted, acting like a sweet old granny one moment and hard as nails the next, and although the movie is supposed to detail Thomas' transformation into Leatherface, it's really Hoyt that comes across as the force of madness within the 'family', with R.Lee Ermey giving a really unhinged performance as the deranged redneck. The mysterious 'tea-lady' also returns, without Henrietta this time, although again, she is never really explained (she does bear a resemblance to Leatherface's real mother, but this is never followed up).

The main difference between this movie and the last one, and the movie's overall weakness, is that there is no real sense of madness on-screen. There's graphic violence, and plenty of it, but because it's all there for you to see there's no sense of mystery, no real sense of the bizarre as in the last movie and the 1974 original - the animals roaming around the house, the bedsprings with meat hooked on attatched to the ceilings, the shamanistic toys hanging around, the rotting food strewn about the kitchen, etc. - which all added to the macabre goings on. Maybe it's because the 'family' are just starting out on their killing career, but watching it just felt like you're watching scene after scene of bloodshed with little other substance, only Ermey's insane barking giving any hint of the underlying descent into madness. There is a supper scene in this one, which should please the hardcore fans, although it is over fairly quick, and the reasons that are given for the 'family's' cannibalistic tastes are fairly weak. It's obvious that Luda May and Monty aren't as keen as Hoyt, but where this could have been given more development it's left as a few raised eyebrows between the characters and that's it. The script also has a few flaws - "You guys f*ck all your cousins, or just the ones you find attractive?" - that come across as cringeworthy, and the biker sub-plot just seems tacked on.

Overall, this is a very good movie that does what it says and details how one of modern horror's iconic figures came to be. The effects are superb, the acting (especially Ermey) is very good and it's a great companion piece to Marcus Nispel's movie, but even though it's shot in a similar fashion, it lacks the directional flair that movie had. What you have is a brutal, no-holds-barred horror/exploition movie, with strong characters and loads of blood, that answers a lot of the questions posed by the previous movie but somehow stops short of the ultimate '...Chainsaw' movie that was promised.

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