THE RATING
THE LAIR EXPERTS
Matt: After the success of the 2003 remake, producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller did not want to do another film. But after being constantly questioned by fans about the Hewitts' past (and meeting with Michael Bay), they became convinced there was more of a story to tell. And they were right. This film goes way back to the beginning, to the very birth of Leatherface, explaining how Thomas Hewitt came to be and why he did the things that he, and his family, did. It was like the returning cast never left Texas, including principals Marietta Marich as Luda Mae and R. Lee Ermey as Uncle Charlie/Sheriff Hoyt, who delivered strong encore performances. While the teens were mostly carbon-copies of their counterparts in the 2003 movie, they did have an interesting sideplot with the Eric and Dean/Vietnam angle. That added some drama to what would have otherwise been a tired re-telling of the "teens driving across Texas" story that had been told in literally every 'Texas Chainsaw' movie. Andrew Bryniarski returned as Leatherface, and did an equally-good job as he did when he took the reigns in 2003. Steve Jablonsky also came back to score the music, which almost sounded the same as the previous film, delivering a continuity rarely seen in horror franchises. The kills were among the best of the series, including Eric being skinned alive, which still makes me cringe. What took away from this film was the fact that they never answered the questions surrounding the hitchhiker from the 2003 film, and that the film itself, like its predecessor, was not the grainy, raw 16mm film, but a higher quality, which took away from the setting. It was also hard to believe this was the late 1960s, despite the crew's best efforts. Still, at its worst, this film is a much better outing than most horror films these days. It was a worthy prequel, which I almost never say about a franchise. 7 out of 10.
A.J.: Every time a film gets a prequel, I am always a little bit worried, but I have to admit that with 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning', I was not disappointed. It was not a great film by any stretch of the imagination, but it really wasn’t half bad considering not only was it a prequel, but a prequel of a remake. They kept the main cast together, which really helped out a lot, and for once in the Chainsaw series, the family aspect had my attention. Leatherface once again delivered a great performance, and had some really unique kills. Also, the ending of this movie, in my opinion, was really good and not the type of ending you would expect. The only thing I did not like about this movie was that it was a prequel to the remake, but yet there is still a gap of time from where this movie ends to where the remake picks up, which doesn't make any sense to me. This film gets a very fair 7.5 rating from me.
THE FANS
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