Hello everyone and Happy Friday. The day that some of us have been waiting for has arrived. Texas Chainsaw Massacre '22 has been unleashed upon the world and onto Netflix. Now, The Saw Is Family has been an nice refresher course of the Chainsaw franchise. I have always enjoyed these films. Again, I have mentioned before that I can find something to enjoy about each of them. When one looks at the franchise as a whole, it's really interesting to see the different takes that have been presented. It gives the franchise very much an anthology feel to it, even if it is very unintentional. This is a quality that makes this franchise a bit unique and stand apart from others.
My partner had asked me if I was planning on covering Texas Chainsaw Massacre '22. I immediately had responded with a 'Yes'. At this point in the year, this is a big drop for us horror fans. Even though, Netflix may have us thinking otherwise with its lack of marketing for the film.
Then my son had asked me the best question, "Can I watch it?". I had to tell him "No, you're not old enough just yet.". But it made me happy to hear him asking these kind of questions. I know that when it's time for him to start seeing more horror films it'll be special. At this point, he hasn't seen many horror films. He's seen the original Halloween (TV Cut), John Carpenter's The Thing (TV Cut), and the gamut of horror films for kids. Yes, that includes Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark. He really loved that one. But he does know their names as he has seen my partner and I play Dead By Daylight before. So he knows Ghostface (I have a mask), Freddy (I have a custom glove), and Jason (who he calls Choo-Choo-Ha-Ha). Well, he has seen glimpses of the headers that I created for The Saw Is Family and asked me who was in the movies. His exact words were "Whose Chainsaw? And why does he look like your one figure?". In my collection, I have the Leatherface vinyl from Handmade by Robots. But I told him that his name is Leatherface. He asked what the films are about. I explained that mostly they are about family and he'll get to see them one day.
I was so excited for Texas Chainsaw Massacre '22. I knew that Fede Alvarez had produced the film. That was really brought me on board for the film. I loved his take on Evil Dead and I loved the first Don't Breathe. The passion that he has for the genre shows through his films. So when I had heard that he was going to be producing a Chainsaw film. I was a little hesitant. It was said to be a direct sequel to the original Tobe Hooper classic. Okay...why? Why did this need to be? By tying yourself to the classic, what could you bring to the table that is different? At this point, we already had a film that tied itself to the original and that was Texas Chainsaw '13. Aren't you going to be putting yourself into a corner by doing this?
Then I had heard that they were bringing back Sally, the survivor of the original. Why? Are we trying to pull a Halloween '18 in a Leatherface suit? Would that work? How could that even work? By this point, we already know my thoughts on Halloween '18. At first, I was extremely hesitant about that film. And then when it was released, I was a bit underwhelmed by it. It just felt off to me. Honestly, it's because that was only a third of the story that they had wanted to tell. But in Fede I trusted because if he believed in this story, it has to be something special.
Then the synopsis was released and it involved social influencers. Immediately I was like What? Social Influencers? You mean like Youtubers, Instagrammers, and TikTokers? Those kind of social influencers would be terrorized by Leatherface? Okay, this could go very wrong. But again, I believe in Fede and what he has done for the genre so far. Well, outside of Don't Breathe 2 which just didn't work for me.
Then the film went dark. No, of course this has to happen to a Chainsaw film. It had happened to Leatherface and Texas Chainsaw '13. So of course, our boy Leatherface just can't get a break these days. No word had been said about the film or if it would be released. All that had been briefly mentioned was that there was a director attached. Through creative differences, they had been removed from the production. Someone new was attached to it. There had been test screenings and those had been very positive. But still no mention of when it would see release.
Then news broke last August that the film had been picked up by Netflix. I was intrigued. Okay, Netflix I see what you're doing. Lately, they have been doing their best to bring Horror to their service. Some of it had been very successful - Fear Street, I'm looking at you. The two entries for Nobody Sleeps In The Woods Tonight were very fresh and unique. I personally enjoyed them. At this point, Netflix does have competition for Horror with Shudder, Tubi, and now ScreamBox. So it makes sense that they would pick up the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
I was hoping that it'd see release this past October. I was ready for it. I wanted more Chainsaw. I wanted more of Leatherface. It had unfortunately been too long since we had an entry in this franchise, in my opinion. And I wanted to see Leatherface get his due. With the Lionsgate entries, it's very clear that they didn't know what to do with him. They were putting out products that they thought would test well and then see the money come pouring in. Those entries are a product of a company that didn't believe in Leatherface. They didn't understand what they had. They just knew that they had to try and do something different. And when that failed, they took a page out of Platinum Dunes's book by making a prequel. If they had faith in the franchise and the character, we would have seen a different outcome. The company wouldn't have shelved the entries then just release them when it was too late.
Today, I woke up at 3:30. I immediately brewed myself some coffee, sat down, and turned on Netflix. I was ready to see more of Leatherface. I was ready to have my questions answered. I was ready to see what this take would be. What would they do in this film that hadn't been done before? What would make this stand apart from Texas Chainsaw '13? I am happy to say that I did have my questions answered.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre '22 is a film made by those that understood the assignment, in my opinion. There will be those that won't like it. That happens. We have seen that quite well with Halloween Kills and Scream. But for every person that doesn't like it, there's a high chance that someone will love it. It could happen to be one of their favorite installments. That's honestly something I love about these franchises. Yeah, we see a lot of bad discourse when it comes to films nowadays. But for every bad example, there are good examples of discourse.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre '22 took my expectations that I had and went against them. I went into it very much with an open mind. But I had a feeling that they were aiming for a Halloween '18 approach. That's what the trailer had me led to believe. However, this film brilliantly subverted that. When Sally returns, it's extremely interesting to see the approach that they took with this character. It's an approach that honestly feels like its tied to one of our characters, Lila. It's absolutely fantastic.
Oh no, the mask for Leatherface doesn't look good. That's what I have seen ever since they dropped that first look at it. However, I don't think that's true. I loved the mask. There is a reason for the mask. It's not the same mask that was featured in the original film just dilapidated to the point where it's unrecognizable. I loved what they were going for with the mask. It has a specific reason for looking the way it does. And it was pretty incredible to see the reasoning for it.
Leatherface is a character in this film. Some may say that he's not a good representation of what Leatherface is. I say I disagree. In the original film, Leatherface is a bit of a simple character. He is someone that is doing these things because he is told to by his family. He has been living life a certain way for a certain time. And when people come in that he perceived as threats to that life, he attacked. That was most certainly the case with that first kill in the original film. With this installment, I really loved what they did with the character. When I first saw him, I was like That's Leatherface? It plays so well against what I had expected for the character. I was thinking that it was going to be 'Oh, people trespassing. I gotta kill them.'. But no, it's interesting seeing where Leatherface's story begins in this film. It's very much not where I had expected him to be. It felt different. And I have a theory on something, if it proves to be true - it just makes the film that much deeper.
On to what something most people were questioning, social influencers. This was something that I thought would overshadow the film and throw it over the shark into the realm of ridiculousness. Honestly, the whole social media aspect is something that is nothing but a cliff note. At the very most, it was something that was mis-highlighted in that trailer. Again, the trailer missed the mark in my opinion.
I don't want to call our group of people that we follow 'kids'. That's not really what they are. Our group of characters is Melody (Sarah Yarkin), Lila (Elsie Fisher), Dante (Jacob Latimore), and Ruth (Nell Hudson). Melody and Dante are people that want to try something new. They want to be able to revitalize the small town of Harlow. Bring life back to it. After seeing the film and seeing Lila's backstory, it makes absolute sense that Melody would want to do this. Lila's story in this film was something that I didn't see coming. It caught me off guard. It felt very real. It ultimately led this film to be Lila's story - which I thought was incredible.
There is also the character of Richter (Moe Dunford). He's the group's contractor. He's spent time in Harlow to help bring a more presentable side to the town. At first, he comes into conflict with our group. It may have felt a small bit forced. But ultimately, I thought was handled well.
There is gore in this film. What Chainsaw film would it be without it? At times, it felt like it was pushing the boundary a little bit more than The Beginning. It didn't feel over-excessive. There is a reason for it. And it contributed to the story, in my opinion.
Honestly, the film delivers in the title. It takes place in Texas. There is a Chainsaw. There is a Massacre. It played against my expectations beautifully. I was really interested to see where they were going to go with it. It absolutely didn't disappoint. Is it perfect? No. Does it do Leatherface dirty? No. It understands the character very well and this franchise very well. Don't go into this expecting it to be Halloween '18. If that's what you're hoping it'll be, you may find yourself disappointed. It feels like it respects the original and is an anti-Halloween '18 approach. If you go in with an open mind ready for a ride, you may enjoy it. Will I return to this film for more viewings? Hell yeah. I hope that this isn't just a one and done. We have had enough of that for this franchise. Let's get more stories for Leatherface.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
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Well said bud ✌️😈🍻MJL
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