Earlier this year of our lord 2022, Netflix released The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in collaboration with Legendary Pictures, a direct sequel to the original 1974 film that gave birth to many of the tropes that would become part of the slasher genre in the 80s. The original movie, telling the exploits of Leatherface, a giant human-skin-face-wearing, chainsaw-wielding redneck who hunts down innocent victims to feed his family of hillbilly cannibals, spawned a beloved franchise that has expanded to several media like comics and video games, and has gathered a legion of bloodthirsty fans who have followed the story of their favorite Texan murderer for decades.
The original movie was a commentary on the political climate of the time it was made, discussing themes like contemporary American rural life, violence against women, and even vegetarianism. It is honestly one of the best horror movies I have ever watched, a masterclass in storytelling and cinematography that lit the spark of a whole new genre. The new Netflix film is intended to honor that legacy, and even tackle some modern issues in its storytelling… But it doesn’t really succeed at that.
The 2022 sequel starts when a group of millennial real estate entrepreneurs – which is a nice way to say gentrifiers – decide to buy a small abandoned town in Texas to buy it off to independent contractors and create a new safe haven for hipsters who are trying to experience a more “authentic” setting. Problems begin when the gentrifiers force an elderly woman out of her house, thinking she no longer had the rights to her property, causing her to have a heart attack. Unfortunately, we find out that the old lady still had ownership over the building, meaning our lovely gentrifiers caused her to die for nothing. This is when Leatherface, who has been living in that abandoned town for decades, becoming best friends with the old lady, decides to take revenge on the awful millennials who won’t stop taking pictures for social media in his town. Oh yeah, and the main character of the film is a girl who was a survivor of a school shooting but who has absolutely no character development nor agency during the entire movie.
Overall, the fact that we are given such a clearly unlikeable cast of survivors makes us almost cheer for Leatherface, which is not usually a good sign. You want to enjoy some good kills in a horror movie, sure, but you never want to ROOT for the slasher all the way. In this case, as horrible as Leatherface is, it is extremely satisfying to see him run through a whole bus of influencers with his chainsaw and get revenge on the gentrifiers who interrupted his peace.
If there is anything that we could learn from the last 9 movies in the franchise, and an actual insurrectionist assault on the capitol of the United States, is that you should leave crazy Texan rednecks the hell alone.
The film fails at being a good sequel, but it is remarkably successful in providing us with some well-performed kills, lots of good tension and screams, and some iconic scenes of Leatherface wielding his chainsaw to slay some innocent (are they really?) people and taking revenge for his friend. If you lower your expectations and watch this movie as a regular slasher film without any kind of connection to the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, this is actually a very enjoyable horror flick that will definitely be a good time. Did anybody ask for this? No, but now that we have it, we might as well watch it and enjoy it for what it is: a horror movie about a crazy cannibal with a chainsaw killing a bunch of annoying kids.
Turns out the psychopathic murderer who cuts out people’s faces to wear them like masks is actually more likeable than hipster gentrifiers. Who knew?
Very much agreed
Agreed, the kills were fun, but I found myself yelling at the tv more than I'd like to admit.