Review of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006) by Richard L — 25 Feb 2011

This movie was clearly shot in line with the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Nispel 2003) since the producers and many of the cast members are the same in both movies. Because of these similarities, and others in directing choices, it has similar strenghts and (numerous) weak spots.

This one gets points for a few, sparingly distributed bits of originality, as it is not a remake but rather provides a background for the remake. Strangely enough, said background information is minimal and insufficient (that is, they are more or less presented in the first 5 minutes), which leads me to think that it is a rather weak justification for the whole movie.

Still, it is technically well-made (as the remake is). However, the storyline only has minor variations from the template storyline of every movie in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series. There is violence, blood and torture, but without realism, without contextual or psychological horror, without tension and suspense, it is just another waste of time of a movie that doesn't make sense.