I swear. Some filmmakers seem to think they just need to put a guy in a creepy skin mask, give him a bloody apron and a chainsaw and boom, they've got themselves a TCM film. No, that's not how it works. Zero effort to capture the magic of the original. Just a total waste of 83 minutes.
Skip this and just re watch the original. Trust me.
The original had almost “Zero” chainsaw carnage even though it’s in the title, Franklin couldn’t act for shit, and the chase scene goes on for what seems like 8 minutes.
Let’s not pretend that movie is above reproach
I think you misunderstand the film if you're judging it because it has little chainsaw action.
shareTobe Hooper chose the title “Chainsaw Massacre” and then forgot to show any chainsaw massacre.
That’s an obvious improvement this movie made, this is an undeniable fact.
lol. Are you under 15 or what? I guess you don't like Jaws as there is minimal appearances of the shark. Or how about Alien? Not enough alien action for you I suppose?
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It’s why I prefer the 2003 remake. You get the sense of nightmarish dread, the grimy and disgusting look and I don’t find any of the characters annoying. It also doesn’t bother with the manic dinner scene from the original which as you pointed out has a lot of annoying screaming.
This 2022 film could have been good if they’d copied a lot of what makes that 2003 remake effective and I think it would have been much better for it.
That was my first thought as well…”Texas Simple Massacre.”
Definitely preferred the 2003 version also.
Almost everything you listed is exactly why the original TCM works.
- The story is extremely simple. Characters quite literally walk into trouble. Yep, no shit! That's why it's terrifying.
- The acting is just fine. No Oscar winners, but that clearly was not the intent. Nobody gives a distractingly bad performance.
- Franklin is annoying but he is not THAT annoying. He almost always takes the abuse too, so people who hate him should be glad when he gets sliced or abandoned.
- The chase scene does not feel long at all. Every second of it is gripping and intense.
- Yep, much of the climax is screaming because it's a woman getting tortured. Also, this screaming soundscape makes the film borderline unwatchable, which is a good thing.
- It was shot on cheap film stock because it's 1974 and they have no budget. Did you want them to time travel and acquire a Red50? Despite this, the film still is shot beautifully.
- You don't need fountains of gore for a film to be scary. Check out the Platinum Dune remakes to see how boring they are, despite the abundance of gooey brown gore that's all over the place there.
Based on your post, you come off as a 15-year-old edgelord who only wants to see blood splatter and high definition. The grainy low-budget feel and the droning atmosphere are the two things that make the TCM an effective movie.
That’s what is great about the original Texas chainsaw - it didn’t need to be complex nor did it need top notch acting! It was filmed perfectly and it creates a very unsettling tone from the get go. The cheap grain film is what adds the extra punch and it seems like a snuff film at times. Movies nowadays are too polished and fake looking
You are confusing ‘intense’ with ‘gore’.. it’s the exact opposite imo. TCM is much more intense for the things you don’t see! The imagination always creates something much more hard hitting
Sadly in 2022 it is very hard to write good villains or original horror stories - everything has been done to death ..
There isn’t a director alive that could make a modern TCM movie that can touch the original. Tobe Hooper even knew this was an impossible feat hence why he gave us the dogshit that is Texas chainsaw massacre 2
The original Texas chainsaw massacre was like catching lightning in a bottle. It was filmed at the right time by the right director. It will never be matched