Review of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006) by Dan C — 29 Jul 2013

Yes, it's incredibly gory, probably the most gory of all the TCM pictures. But to call it dull or lacking in suspense can't be right. Critics are no doubt reacting to the sickening and lowbrow nature of the material, much like they did with the nearly bloodless original way back in '74.

The premise is inherently repulsive and for such a premise, the gruesome violence is fitting. But surely the scene where Tommy/Leatherface is grabbing Eric's face is suspenseful. We know something disgusting is about to happen, but when? Could he perhaps be saved? No, it's not the kind of artful suspense of a Hitchcock-tier director.

It's more primal than that. It is an exciting movie, in a visceral way. The shocks are bold and outlined with loud stabbing strings and horns; the violence is realistic and repugnant. Right before it I watched Dario Argento's 1969 The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and there's no doubt this one was more thrilling It is certainly, as one critic notes below, "an unsavoury exercise in cruelty and pain.

" But this is horror. Is it a good horror movie? I don't think so, although it delivers the experience the genre is expected to. It is grisly and repulsive and disheartening. R. Lee Ermey is a master of playing characters like this, and he plays the crap out of Sherriff Hoyt.

The youthful victims succeeded in winning my empathy and I was sorry to see them die. The movie is well-made, slick and professional. But again, it's not particularly good, in my eyes. I love the level of violence, but this kind of depravity, with backwoods types eating people and cutting their faces off, is too far-fetched and just leaves me feeling dumb and filthy.

I'm sure I could criticize the writing, but what's the point? (Although the ending was just the stupidest thing I've seen.) Suffice it to say that a prequel to the remake, or any further continuation of this (despite the brilliance of the original and its sordid sequel) is utterly absurd.