My take on the TCM remake (Cue BACKFIRE)

The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is my third favorite movie (behind River’s Edge and Menace II Society), and I feel the need to make a few comments about the remake.

I do not think Hollywood could have done a bigger disservice to TCM than when they made a sequel in 1986. But I was wrong. The bigger disservice was performed in 2003.

This resembled the original in minimal form and fashion and to have the audacity to use the same opening monologue as the original is borderline blasphemy! Now I am not exactly sure what has come up in the real-life case since the original was made but to pawn off the remake as the true events would have required a complete reversal of 90% of the facts!

A few observations about the remake:

These guys look nothing like hippies except the dark-haired guy. The ones in the original fit the hippie character to a T. The blond-haired driver was the worst. He looked like a fit for the next installment of some teeny-bopper movie. The characters are presented totally differently and, therefore, I could have cared less what happened to them, as opposed to the original.

The “hitchhiker,” if you want to call her that, was completely less intense and effective than the original one. I’m going to stop there before I start boiling over….and what’s with the “I Know What You Did Last Summer” panicking after she

Spoiler:
commits suicide?

Also, the teenagers in the original are not dumb, just a little curious, and it is much more believable that they would have stopped at the slaughterhouse and gone to the creek, even with the wheelchair. The teenagers in the remake are complete idiots and conform to the standard Hollywood horror cliché of investigating things that go bump in the night. When the girl goes into the house to see what the noise was, that’s when the plot goes out of whack. In addition to that, where is the generator that fans of the film have long-time associated with it??

At least the first “attack” was similar (the sledging, dragging, and door-slamming).
And they had a hitchhiker connection. And they had the guy “snap out of it” at the end. And they held off on the chainsaw for a while. That’s where the similarities end.

Why are they trying to pass Leatherface off in Jason-fashion? He even looked like him in the remake, for crying out loud. The original is not a slasher film. It is an intense psychological thriller, IMO. The remake goes out of its way to present Leatherface completely different, like a Michael Myers type. The stalker scene in the meat locker? Did I miss something in the original?

Also, a few more things which bugged me were the girl’s talent to start the engine and the guy fending off LF’s chainsaw with the bar.

Overall, thumbs down even before I saw it.

I agree with everything you said. I'll simply say the remake served no purpose of any sort. I especially agree with you about the Leatherface acting like Jason thing, that bugged me too.

Originally posted by botankus
Also, a few more things which bugged me were the girl’s talent to start the engine and the guy fending off LF’s chainsaw with the bar.

Sheesh. People don't know good horror movies these days. That movie rocked and it scared me more than the original.

What? The reamake was OK, but the original is MUCH better. And I think most of us here know a good horror movie when we see one.

I had planned on buying it, but after renting to to kinda pass final judgment, I passed. I think Boty summed it up perfectly.

That said, I am all for putting Jessica Biel in more "scream queen" roles, because she really did light up the screen.

1. I liked the movie. Much like Dawn of the Dead.....it's a good movie in it's own right but a horrific remake. They should have just lost the Leatherface character and changed the name of the movie to something else........like Rob Zombie did, he called in House of 1000 Corpses.

2. R. Lee Ermey stole this movie. He owns in everything he does......and he owned this movie. He should have gotten top billing.

3. Of course while watching the movie I couldn't help but compare it to the original.......the movie they were supposedly "remaking" (more like tearing down and starting from scratch). This took away a bit from the movie. I have many gripes in this area.....I'll go ahead and list my biggest one.

4. What are the chances of there being two derranged families who go on a killing spree on the same day...in the same state? This wasn't the Sawyer family story........this movie was about the Hewitt family. I wouldn't really mind the name change or character changes if it had atleast tried to stay true to the previous movies. According to this movie, TCM2 could have never taken place as the characters don't even exist. Oh yeah, they do exist......I forgot this movie was about ANOTHER family who went on a "Chainsaw Massacre" in Texas on the very same day. Man......the odds of this would put a mathmatician in the loony bin......especially when he gets to the fact that both families had a retarded brother who wore a mask made of human skin and was referred to as Leatherface by their families.

i watched this movie yesterday and i completely agree with Bot on his first post. This movie wasn't scary, and it was far worst than the original. I liked the axe in the back, drag, and slam door part, but the rest of the movie i could do without. I didn't like this movie at all except for R. Lee Emrey who did infact steal the show...

Ermey was a nice feature, I will admit.

Oh, I forgot to add, the remake also was without the equivalent of the greatest screaming performance in history (Marilyn Burns).

Why did anyone do a TCM re-make in the first place? Or indeed a NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD? Both are watersheds of the horror genre. Neither need bettering like classics like PSYCHO. One thankfully dosen't see a remake of GONE WITH THE WIND, SOME LIKE IT HOT or ONE FLEW OVER THE COOKOO's NEST etc. on the horizon...

Oh yeah, I forgot, as Neil Diamond once wrote..."Money talks..."

The Night of the Living Dead remake owns. It actually did the original movie justice. The only reason it was done so well with so much respect payed to the original is probably because it was directed by Tom Savini, who not only worked on both of the dead sequels (dawn and day) but is also close personal friends with George Romero.

Originally posted by Evil Dead
The Night of the Living Dead remake owns. It actually did the original movie justice. The only reason it was done so well with so much respect payed to the original is probably because it was directed by Tom Savini, who not only worked on both of the dead sequels (dawn and day) but is also close personal friends with George Romero.

I disagree. The remake is totally forgettable and adds nothing to the original. Respect, maybe, but one does not have to go cap in hand! 🙁

I saw it this weekend it was a waste of time and I wish that I had just rented the original again and watched that for aboput the 30th time.