Seil
03-03-2010, 01:07 AM
The trouble with classics is that they're maybe too well known. I mean, everyone knows what happens in The Wizard Of Oz, even if they haven't seen it. Monty Python And The Holy Grail is pretty much standard for this theory as people who haven't seen it could quote an entire scene. It's not that something is a bad movie because of that - hell, classics are classics for a reason. But you already know what you're getting into when you see the flick, which ruins some of the mystique.
I picked up a few movies recently, one of them about a massacre, presumably in Texas, and I hear tell a chainsaw got involved at some point. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l7WLabRkTs) I think they called it. I saw the remake, not the original. Going in I was sure of a couple of things - it was based on real life serial killer Ed Gein, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Gein) who came from a very religious home and used pieces of people as lampshades and things. Then there's Leatherface, who everyone knows is one of the horror movie antagonists. I don't really want to call him a monster because, well... he's not. He's just misunderstood. How many horror villains can you say that for?
The thing about Leatherface isn't that he's vulnerable - he gets hurt a lot in the film, unlike Jason or Michael who just get up and keep on going. Mr. Face, who is actually Mr. Hewitt - Thomas Hewitt - shares a theme with Jason in that he was born with a bit of a problem. He had some sort of flesh eating disease that did a number on him. In the film, there's an unmasking scene that gives you a closer look.
There's a lot of detail surrounding Thomas, because it seems they want to portray him as a sympathetic sort of character, even while he's hanging someone on a meat hook. The surprising part is, it works. It shows Leatherface as a guy born into a very odd/sadistic family, whatever you want to call them, was bullied as a child for his disease and is pretty much bossed around by the other members of the Hewitt family. He is seriously someone who just wants to be loved. He also totally cuts people with a chainsaw.
The film itself is pretty slow in terms of actual horror, and is just chock full of horror-character mistakes, such as not running when they should, taking the "Our friends are missing, let's split up and find them" approach, and trusting the locals. Trusting the locals isn't that strict of a rule, but in a flick like this, it's probably the best rule to follow. Everyone is working towards killing the main characters.
As for the main characters, they're pretty much stock - young twenty-somethings heading out to a concert. They pick up a hitch-hiker and she commits suicide by pulling a gun out from between her legs and shooting herself. This is how the film starts - and most of it involves what to do with the girl in the back of the van. The acting is pretty good, especially for a horror movie. However, it's dependent on Jessica Beil. Not to say that there's anything wrong with Jessica Beil - heck, most of the flick is focusing on her sex appeal without actually focusing on anything - but she's happy and scared at the right moments. The film's fine acting-wise.
The trouble is that it's slow, it's limited by similar locations, the Hewitt family is average... Well, as average as crazy murdering psychopaths are, anyway. Their goal is pretty much to get the kids to Leatherface, who, as I said above, is not really scary in the sense that other horror villains are scary. The film is more of a suspense than a horror, and the parts where it actually tries to scare someone are more about gore than about scares. I don't know - maybe it's the remake. Whatever it is, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake does not get a thumbs up. Maybe I'll recommend it if you've seen the original and wanted an update, but not having seen the original yet, I wouldn't know. Most of the scares you can get from the trailer, but there's other options if you want a fast paced, edge of your seat kind of scare.
I picked up a few movies recently, one of them about a massacre, presumably in Texas, and I hear tell a chainsaw got involved at some point. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l7WLabRkTs) I think they called it. I saw the remake, not the original. Going in I was sure of a couple of things - it was based on real life serial killer Ed Gein, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Gein) who came from a very religious home and used pieces of people as lampshades and things. Then there's Leatherface, who everyone knows is one of the horror movie antagonists. I don't really want to call him a monster because, well... he's not. He's just misunderstood. How many horror villains can you say that for?
The thing about Leatherface isn't that he's vulnerable - he gets hurt a lot in the film, unlike Jason or Michael who just get up and keep on going. Mr. Face, who is actually Mr. Hewitt - Thomas Hewitt - shares a theme with Jason in that he was born with a bit of a problem. He had some sort of flesh eating disease that did a number on him. In the film, there's an unmasking scene that gives you a closer look.
There's a lot of detail surrounding Thomas, because it seems they want to portray him as a sympathetic sort of character, even while he's hanging someone on a meat hook. The surprising part is, it works. It shows Leatherface as a guy born into a very odd/sadistic family, whatever you want to call them, was bullied as a child for his disease and is pretty much bossed around by the other members of the Hewitt family. He is seriously someone who just wants to be loved. He also totally cuts people with a chainsaw.
The film itself is pretty slow in terms of actual horror, and is just chock full of horror-character mistakes, such as not running when they should, taking the "Our friends are missing, let's split up and find them" approach, and trusting the locals. Trusting the locals isn't that strict of a rule, but in a flick like this, it's probably the best rule to follow. Everyone is working towards killing the main characters.
As for the main characters, they're pretty much stock - young twenty-somethings heading out to a concert. They pick up a hitch-hiker and she commits suicide by pulling a gun out from between her legs and shooting herself. This is how the film starts - and most of it involves what to do with the girl in the back of the van. The acting is pretty good, especially for a horror movie. However, it's dependent on Jessica Beil. Not to say that there's anything wrong with Jessica Beil - heck, most of the flick is focusing on her sex appeal without actually focusing on anything - but she's happy and scared at the right moments. The film's fine acting-wise.
The trouble is that it's slow, it's limited by similar locations, the Hewitt family is average... Well, as average as crazy murdering psychopaths are, anyway. Their goal is pretty much to get the kids to Leatherface, who, as I said above, is not really scary in the sense that other horror villains are scary. The film is more of a suspense than a horror, and the parts where it actually tries to scare someone are more about gore than about scares. I don't know - maybe it's the remake. Whatever it is, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake does not get a thumbs up. Maybe I'll recommend it if you've seen the original and wanted an update, but not having seen the original yet, I wouldn't know. Most of the scares you can get from the trailer, but there's other options if you want a fast paced, edge of your seat kind of scare.