Review of Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013) by Quincytheodore — 10 Feb 2015

Texas Chainsaw 3D brings a few tricks to reinvigorate an already tired series but sadly fails to polish the fundamentals. When another title comes of from well-known franchise such as Texas Chainsaw which has inspired many movies of its genre, people already has an expectation, while this is an allure, it's also a strain to create fresh ideas. A bunch of 3D antics and choppy script are definitely not the way to pique audience's interest.

The story follows Heather Miller (Alexandra Daddario) as she's about to be surprised with extravagant inheritance by her unknown grandmother. This involves a visit to countryside where the famous massacre occurred, she also takes the liberty on taking her carbon copy stereotypical friends as any other nice horror leads may do. The first act goes as predictable as it comes, right down to the clumsy coincidence, common slashing and comical chase.

I appreciate the movie's attempt to portray Leatherface as more than his usual villainous slasher persona. He's given more back story to make audience sympathize with him, however this doesn't result in an engaging character, either for protagonist or antagonist. The direction, coupled with jumbled script, makes it hard to take any of it seriously. At some points, the movie almost exclusively steers into comedy realm, this is not the path it wants to follow. The movie is as lost as a young woman running scared in the wood, and we know she's gonna trip herself and ridiculously falls.

At the very least, the lead Alexandra Daddario tries to raise the character as her role gets more investment. It's almost good to see a stronger protagonist instead of the usual victim personality, but the way the development takes place is unnatural. Addition of 3D effect doesn't help, it gives away the gore much too obvious, and random object thrown into one's face has become the fastest tired invention on late.

If it's only a brief visitation of old memory lane, or a few ironic chuckles, Texas Chainsaw 3D might be bearable. However, fans of the old might even be more disappointed of how the original has fallen.