Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)Dir. Tobe Hooper
Five friends visiting their grandfather's house in the country are hunted and terrorized by a chain-saw wielding killer and his family of grave-robbing cannibals.
First let me say something about my childhood. I have many memories of sneaking down our old creaky stairs to the living room late at night to watch horror movies on TV; having an old fashion satellite I had enough to choose from. It was on one of these nights I was first introduced to the monster known as Leatherface. From the moment he steps through the door and bashes Kirk over the head with the hammer and the slamming of the door afterwards, Leatherface was something to be afraid off.
As I got older I became more aware of Leatherface’s child like innocence. Sure he kills people but if that is what you grew up in and all you knew, would you consider it wrong to do so. There are times this Leatherface seams almost sympathetic and alone in his world, the time he is sitting in the “living room” comes to mind looking around the room after the kill, almost scared.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
Dir. Marcus Nispel
After picking up a traumatized young hitchhiker, five friends find themselves stalked and hunted by a deformed chainsaw-wielding killer and his family of equally psychopathic killers.
The True monster of this film come as Sheriff Hoyt, a sadistic old bastard that gets so much pleasure out of the power he commands, even if it is just fake. The new Leatherface is more of a quiet stalker type killer, more in the line of Jason from Friday the 13th parts 6 through 8. More of a force of death then a monster, I think this is where the filmmakers really fail. To take such a large part of a character and turn him more into a mindless killing machine was just too much of a change for me to take.
So what do i think of the remake, well In the end I guess all I can say is that the remake off TCM has everything every other horror movie has. Its not a bad horror movie, it just has too much to live up to. The original was far too real and horrifying to ever be remade right. You can't remake something like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, its a animal, a force you just can't reproduce. Instead we get a watered down slasher flick that runs through the same cliches and makes some new ones. That being said, I love those cliches. They are the back bone of some of my favorite slasher, but not when their being used to muddy the water of a great film like Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
All you have to do to compare these movies is think about the ending. In the original Sally (Marilyn Burns) Crashes through a window escaping hell itself, then is chased on to the road having her back repetitively cut with a Straight razor by the sick Hitch-hiker until he gets run over, She then jumps in to the back of a passing truck. As she looks back you can see pain and loss in her face as she laughs and screams. She will never be the same, what she has experienced over the last 24 hour is something that will live with her. She didn't survive... Not really.
In the Remake Erin (Jessica Biel) Has gotten away from Leatherface and hidden in a old slaughterhouse, as leatherface is distracted, she chops of his hand with a meat clever and runs off. She gets pick up on the road by a man in a semi-truck, who then stops at a local dinner to get help to Erin's disapproval, while said trucker is busy with the murderous sheriff Hoyt and some other family member. Erin goes in to the dinner to save a baby we assumed was kidnapped earlier and hot wires the sheriff car. Then repetitively runs over Hoyt before driving off.
Now, off all the remakes I’ve seen over the past 15 or more years I don’t think any have ended so differently. The original has an ending that is what you wonted but still so bleak. The girl gets away but at what cost. “Who will survive and what well be left of them.” After seeing the end of this movie you know that Sally well never be the same girl she was before this. It leaves a definite impact. The remake goes the same old slasher film route girl survives and kills those who tormented her and leaves you feeling both fulfilled and empty at the same time. Sure your glad she got away and got revenge, but that doesn't necessarily make a good ending.
A line from the intro dialogue to T.C.M. 2 sums up the original well I think.
“Sally said she had broken out of a window from hell”
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