Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) Review

This week, horror fans and Netflix subscribers took to social media to share their feelings about the latest phenomenon on the platform – the release of Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Directly connected to the infamous 1974 film, this isn’t the first sequel or reboot to crawl bleeding from the celluloid abattoir. And of course, with the original film being ground-breaking and extreme for its time (even getting it banned in several countries), making anything related to it already has a high bar to reach before it will be accepted by die-hard fans.

Set nearly 50 years after the original incident that saw five teenagers come face-to-face with a depraved, murderous family in a remote Texan town, the new film introduces 4 new young, ambitious townies. They have snapped up a cheap ghost town named Harlow with the intention to re-develop it and make big money.

Enlisting the help of an irascible local handyman for renovations, the group arrive at Harlow in their fancy electric car and get straight on with making changes to the place before a busload of potential investors arrives.

But on entering the old orphanage sited there, they find an aged sickly woman and her hefty son who contest the claim that their home has been sold. In a stressful exchange involving the local law enforcement, the woman falls ill and is rushed to hospital.

Medical help doesn’t come quick enough and with the woman dead, her now enraged mute son metamorphosises into old Leatherface himself after laying dormant for many years under his mother’s care.

And thus, the bloodbath begins as the iconic killer sets about getting revenge on anything with two legs. And considering he’s now in his sixties (at least) and seems to have led a pretty sedentary lifestyle of late, he’s surprisingly strong, agile and bullet-proof. What he lacks in conversation he makes up for with boundless rage and energy.

As a standalone film, Texas Chainsaw Massacre is fine. It has a terrifying antagonist, great setting, a so-so back-story, and a solid cast who play out the scenario with conviction. Horror lovers should enjoy it. Particularly the younger audience who won’t be so tired of big plot-holes and like a fast-moving splatter-fest that’s light on story.

Yes, there are silly bits, frustrating bits, unrealistic bits… but these are things that we have come to accept as part of the horror experience.

The gore is pretty intense (for a Netflix production at least) and surpasses Fear Street with creative kills and extreme butchery. In fact, the film it feels most reminiscent of is Halloween Kills… in many ways…

The unstoppable, giant, strong, brutal, mask wearing, anonymous, emotionless killer who is returning for old times sake and will be faced by the lone survivor of his first attack.

Reading that back, it sounds A LOT like Halloween Kills. And that’s probably the biggest problem for this cynical reviewer.

It seems very obvious that Leatherface has been selected as Netflix’s answer to Universal’s Michael Myers. An indestructible monster with pre-established status as horror royalty that they could wheel out for a string of films. All assuming that Netflix meet their viewership targets of course.
And one wouldn’t have such a problem with this, if it wasn’t so damn similar to the Halloween franchise.

One other thing that stuck out was an odd connection to a high school shooting. Following the recent success of The Fallout – which was the latest show to highlight the senselessness of guns in America and the devastating consequences of mass shootings – it seemed as though there was a sensible consensus on this subject.
Conversely, our key protagonist in Texas Chainsaw is a mass shooting survivor who struggles to comes to terms with her trauma but evidentially sees the benefits of arms when she has to use them to defend herself. A pro-gun political undertone? Maybe.

Undertones aside, Texas Chainsaw Massacre isn’t anything like the original. It’s not as raw, gritty or disturbing. And that’s probably understandable as Netflix doesn’t need censorship issues or regional bans.
Instead, it’s a decent horror film, tenuously linked to a pinnacle moment in horror cinema that looks likely to become a regular feature on our home screens, aiming to entertain a whole new generation of viewers.

Movie Rating:

Trailer: