Texas Chainsaw Massacre Series: A Look Back

So i did A Nightmare On Elm Street, seeing as how i did Freddy vs Jason, i figured, hey why don't i do a look back on Friday the 13th. Well now i'm doing one on the last of the so called New Line House of Horror, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Funny thing is Friday was put out by Paramount up until the ninth installment but Chainsaw was another not originally put out by New Line until a re release, in fact of the 4 original Chaninsaw films only one was released by New Line, that being part 3.



The original is one of my all time favorite films, i have fond memories of watching it as a wee lad at my uncles house, it was gritty, washed out & grainy, not the print but the whole feel of the film, and i loved it. It starts off with 5 teens going to an old house up on a hill, but they decide to pick up a hitchhiker, one with a passion in photography. The hitchhiker(Ed Neal) works at a slaughter house, and when is refused money for a real good picture, he starts a fire then stabs poor wheelchair bound Franklin(Paul Partain). Needless to say he gets kicked out but marks the van. While at the house, the lovebirds Kirk & Pam(William Vail & Teri McMinn) fall victim to Leatherface(Gunnar Hansen). Franklin's sister Sally's(Marilyn Burns) boyfriend Jerry(Allen Danziger) goes off looking for his friends, he winds up dead. Then poor Franklin, who was cut my a knife, gets cut by a chainsaw, it's a massacre, and in Texas. Sally runs off and finds help in gool old Jim Siedow, but he turns heel real fast. She gets taken to dinner at their house and is tortured, and beaten, she manages to escape and get a trucker to stop, Sally and the trucker run off but she ultimately leaves to fella and is rescued by a man in a pickup. The first hours & 10 minutes or so are fairly simple horror film moments but the last 15 minutes or so is very intense.


As intense as the first one was, the second goes for a lighter tone, The Sawyer Family is back and kills two douche bags calling a radio station hosted by Stretch(Caroline Williams), the killings are recorded so she gives them to Lieutenant Enright(Dennis Hopper) the uncle of Sally & Franklin. HE asks her to play it on air, and the Sawyer family hears it, so Chop Top(Bill Moseley) goes to the station and tries to kill Stratch, or atleast unleash Leatherface on her. However Leatherface kind of gains a crush on her, so he lets her live. She winds up falling into the family pit, and is captured by Drayton(Jim Siedow) and begins to be tortured aswell, until Enright arrives and has a chainsaw battle with Leatherface. A grenade goes off but Stretch & Chop Top make it out, Stretch then gets the upper hand and kill him with a chainsaw.



The third one features Michelle & Ryan(Kate Hodge & William Butler) traveling through Texas when they meet Tex(Viggo Mortensen), who seems okay but is apparently a victim to Alfredo (Tom Everett), the two take off and come across Benny (Ken motha fuckin Foree). It all turns out bad as they are attacked by the Sawyer family, including Tex. The third one keeps the humorous tone of the second but the "dinner" scene is more intense ala the first one, only not as intense, the only two to escape are Benny & Michelle.



The fourth one, is bad, but so bad it's good, gone are the days of horror, this is almost an a.d.d. Chainsaw film, a bunch of obnoxious teens(including Renee Zelwegger) are victims to the Sawyer family(Including Mathew McConaughey), but the main reason to mention this film is due to the dinner scene, in which Jenny(Zellwegger), some how out smarts the family and walks out, then winds up being chased again. It's almost hard to review, it has to be seen, it's that bad.

A remake was made, which i actually didn't mind, but it's prequel is an unwatchabe, horrible film. Not so bad it's good, just bad.