One film, two incredibly different interpretations.
Last October, a newly remastered DVD edition of Tobe Hooper’s 1974 horror classic “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” hit shelves along side the release of its remake. The plot was simple: a group of teenagers on their way through Texas pick up a hitchhiker and end up running into a murderous chainsaw wielding freak (based loosely off of Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein), Leatherface, who appropriately wears a mask of flesh. Despite the DVD boasting a newly remastered widescreen transfer and a newly re-mixed stereo soundtrack, which both look and sound beautiful compared to the VHS and other DVD versions floating around, Hooper’s version still had the eerie feel of a snuff film on DVD.
After all, the majority of the film’s horrific effectiveness lies in its “Blair Witch” feel of a faux documentary. The both grainy and beautiful cinematography of Daniel Pearl is one of the best aspects of the film. The acting, for the most part, is poor, amateur, and extremely dated. However, it is nevertheless effective. Marilyn Burn’s performance as Sally is raw and horrifying, mostly due to the fact that she was actually tortured during parts of the shoot. For instance, her hand was actually cut open during the infamous “dinner scene” and, during the film’s climaxing chase through the woods, Burns had been scraped and cut open by trees and bushes. The average commentary track by Hooper, Pearl, and Leatherface himself, Gunnar Hansen delves into this issue as well as others.
It was a film that broke the rules of the genre: there was little blood and daylight does not keep the monsters indoors. During perhaps the most terrifying moment in the film, when Burns jumps out the window of the Sawyer house into the sunlit morning, is effective because it is daylight and the majority of audience’s expectations of a horror movie confine the murderer/monster/etc to a nocturnal period. While Hooper’s film was definitely not the first to break this convention, it was rarely done so at the time and it remains emotionally jarring to the viewer. The film’s final shot, Leatherface lashing his chainsaw blindly into the empty, bright, morning air, continues this emotional rousing. It leaves nothing resolved, which had become common in horror films, but it’s frightening how open ended the film’s final moments are.
Nispel’s 2003 remakes takes a completely different route than Hooper’s film took. It’s glossy and stylish and everything in it lacks the grit and snuff feel of Hooper’s original. It takes a altered clone of the plot, while adding in quite a bit of variation and homage, but it basically remains a style over substance formulaic exercise of the horror genre. Does this mean it is a bad film? Perhaps. Does it mean it is not a scary and effective horror movie? Of course not. As long as these detractions are known and expected, a perverse and scary ride awaits the audience.
It is evident that there is a great deal of talent behind the remake. The cast, including the effective Jessica Biel (“7th Heaven”) as heroine Erin and the underused Eric Balfour (“Six Feet Under”) is scene stealing as her boyfriend. On the villain side of the coin, R. Lee Ermey basically stays in “Full Metal Jacket” type cast and Andrew Bryniarski pulls his weight as Leatherface but is far surpassed by Hansen’s original portrayal. Nispel’s style, which is delved into greatly on the special edition’s three commentary tracks and one of the best and most comprehensive documentaries on a DVD to date, makes the film an incredible sensory experience (aided greatly on DVD by a wonderfully dark transfer and an engaging DTS track). The screenplay, however, is where the film is obviously lacking. It does not attempt to break any of the established conventions of the medium and, in the end, is nothing incredibly new and exciting, thus there is not much in the screenplay department worthy of writing about. On the complimentary side, it does bring in more aspects of Ed Gein (who is the subject of an interesting half hour documentary on the DVD) and lays off the cannibalism of the first film. All in all, however, Michael Bay and his team behind the camera should have come up with a stronger screenwriter than first timer Scott Kosar. Although they could have been in far worse hands.
Looking through the extras on the well produced and extensive DVD, especially the teaser and theatrical trailer, one cannot but help to be disappointed by the film in its entirety. The potential is all over this film and while it accomplishes the task set forth by the genre to horrify, it quickly becomes the same old exercise. This does not mean it is not worth viewing for a good scare, just do not let your expectations get the better of you.
Comments