– Thomas Mills contributed to this report
In 1974, Tobe Hooper gave cinema goers one hell of a time with the cult horror classic “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. After numerous sequels, a remake and a prequel, the new “Texas Chainsaw 3D” is meant to be the official follow-on from the original and take the franchise back to its roots.
This means much more Leatherface and more teens becoming victim to his chainsaw, but wait, surely there is also meant to be a script?
Teenage girl Heather (Alexandra Daddario) is told that her grandmother has passed away and in the will has been left the family house. Originally, Heather goes along to Texas with her friends on a road trip to see the house.
Once they arrive there, it seems that someone is still living in there and is not planning on moving any time soon. So we then have just over 90 minutes of good-looking teenagers being butchered in headache worthy 3D. Still no sign of an actual plot anywhere though.
Fans of the original film should stay well clear. The original did a fantastic job of playing on the psychological fear of the audience watching it. The only time we ever saw blood leaving a human was when somebody pricks their finger. This so called sequel is not scary and simply showers the screen with blood and guts to hardly any effect.
The 3D is pointless and a waste of time and money. Apart from the chainsaw that flew out towards the audience at one point, the graphics were more of a gimmick. Enough said about the 3D.
The direction is bad, the performances are wooden, the script has no respect for the original source and is simply attaching a dull slasher story to a beloved horror franchise so it can make more money. If Texas Chainsaw 3D was just another slasher film that had nothing to do with the original, then I would have just said it was poor.
There are a couple of jumpy moments and there’s hope at the beginning of the film that it was going in the right direction, but these minor elements are not worth the time or my money. Just associating this film with the original is an insult to the Tobe Hopper mini masterpiece of horror cinema. Texas Chainsaw 3D is certainly one to avoid.