The Saw Is Family...TCM 3D

 The Saw Is Family...TCM 3D

PLOT: After the first massacre in 1974, the townspeople suspected that the Sawyer family were responsible. A vigilante mob of enraged locals surrounded the Sawyer house, burning it to the ground and killing every last member of the family. Decades later a young woman named Heather learns that she has inherited a Texas estate from her grandmother. she decides to bring her friends along on the road trip to investigate her inheritance. On arrival she uncovers she has inherited a mansion but is yet to uncover the terrors that lurk in the basement below it

LOWDOWN: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies have been a part of my love for horror for many years. I still clearly remember when my sister and I rented the original back when we were kids and how you could seriously hear a pin drop when we both sat together in the dark watching the ending. TCM is horror at it's finest. This was a low budget gritty unsettling movie that tells the tale of five very unlucky teenagers who wander down the wrong dirt road. Now I adore the sequel that Hooper made several years later, and very much enjoy the third. The forth...well...we'll skip that one for the moment. The two remakes that were released I really wasn't a huge fan of since it seemed such a far cry from what the original was. Still I loved the whole idea around the chainsaw movies. Unlike the Freddy and the Jason movies, this is an idea that could actually happen...which in my eyes is pretty fucking scary.

Ever since My Bloody Valentine 3D was released back in 2009, horror movies in 3D became the new trend. Sadly most of them were just pieces of shit with pieces of shit flying at you. This movie regained my faith in 3D horror. 

What I love about this movie is the fact it's a direct sequel to the original, taking place shortly after poor Sally climbed her ass into that truck and drove away screaming like a crazy person. Ignoring what Hooper's sequel said, we have the police indeed finding the farmhouse and surrounding it telling the much larger Sawyer family to give Leatherface. Right before agreeing to send him out and give themselves up, a bunch of hillbilly's drive up and begin a full blown shootout and burn the place down to the ground. For fans of the series we first get a small little glimpse of  Grandpa (played by John Dugan) and Gunnar Hansen along with cult series actor Bill Moseley who takes over the role of Drayton Swayer. Being able to see the old farm house after the original massacre took place warms my heart. I do feel it was a bit of an overkill adding so many family members though. I mean one or two would have been all right in my book...but where the world were these people when the first film took place? At the market? Or at war like Chop-Top? Hummm maybe I'm just nit picking...

Of course the only two people to escape the burning farmhouse is an infant girl, and Leatherface himself. Cut to the year 2012...yep that's right. Not the 1990's...2012. I have all ready read and heard I'm not the only person who was sorta confused and bothered by this goof up. I mean the movie is near perfect yet they have a bunch of 20 year olds who really should be nearly forty. I'm really not trying to complain since the movie was so rad, still I was more than a little stunned the filmmakers decided to ignore the timeline/and basic math. I got a good chuckle whenever they referenced to August 19th, they never showed the actual year it happened, which we all know is really 1973. It just puzzles me why they didn't get older actors or have it just take place in the 90's Besides that, the movie was fine. What can I say? I hate when such little simple details are ignored.  

The film follows a pretty basic storyline with very disposable characters who are right in the way for Leatherface to slice and dice. For a good twenty minutes we have a basic good old fashion slasher. Leatherface slowly stalks his prey, chases a lot, waves his chainsaw around, and goes his thing. I loved the setting of the mansion in the middle of nowhere and more than once jumped. The 3D was very legit which was a change for once. The gore was amazing (Thanks KNB!) and all the little nods and references made a true fan of the series like myself smile. The last half of the movie is very interesting and I couldn't help but give props to these filmmakers in making the Sawyers somewhat human. Putting aside all the horrible things they have done, you can't help but feel sorry for them and Leatherface. (I haven't felt sorry for this guy since part III when he couldn't figure out his spell-in-say.) A lot of people are giving this movie shit, but I'm one of the few that really enjoyed it and liked the direction they took it. For once our lead girl isn't screaming and running away. She has a history/link to this family and finds out all the dirty dark secrets that take place in this small little Texas town. The last fifteen minutes of this movie were awesome and I loved the little cameos we got with the film finally becoming full circle. I found the ending very fitting and unsettling in which I found myself having to agree with the lead character's choice. Not since The Devil's Rejects have I rooted for what was supposed to be the villains of the movie. This was a great way to reboot the series and an even better way to start off the year of horror in 2013.

Four Stars!