After the success of The I Spit On Your Grave comparison, Markus has sent over 2 more, the first is a comparison review of Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1974 and it's remake. please check it out...
Some famed titles don't age well over the years, others get better and better with each viewing over the years, becoming more significant as their influence on the genre shows to be harder to deny.
The orginial "TCM"- stellar classic as it has been regarded for the last 3 decades- has improved magnificently IMO and it's no surprise that it was Hooper's all-too-well analyzed groundbreaking 1974 low budget effort, which spawned the remake that basically got the whole "retro wave" really rolling...Ironically, the orginal seems to be more "present day" than the remake by now due to its strong post apocalyptic sense of doom and threat
(Listen to the constant stream of unnerving news in the radio, the shortage of gas etc.).
It's also so rich in detail that you'll pick up something new on every viewing and the extras packed SE DVD releases did their part in making me more conscious of the strong emphasis on black comedy throughout the movie.
The humour still hits the nail even over 30 years on and the jump scares are as effective as ever even on the umpteenth rewatch.
Most troubling for "newbies" when approaching the movie for the very first time remains to be the visible on-screen-absence of the titular "Texas Chain Saw Massacre", but I'd say the strong censorship backlash the film was "awarded" with during the 80's "violent videos" hysteria in a couple of countries is mainly to blame for raising the wrong ideas about "TCM's" real merit, as this is NOT one of the defining splatter movies of the 70's BUT- alongside Craven's original "Last House on the Left"- THE major flick that opened the gateways for the monsters of horror cinema finally getting rid of their costumes to display their all too human origin in front of the camera, in our reality!
Hooper's own 1986 sequel has the gore you'd probably expect given the film's incredibly suggestive title and a sassier heroine in Caronline Williams.
The 1990 release of the Jeff Burr directed "Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III" offers you "Lord of the Rings'" Viggo Mortensen and the fourth entry "The Next Generation" by the original's co-writer, Kim Henkel, tries to scare you off with the (then) future "Bridget Jones", Renee Zellweger...BUT if we're talking "Chainsaw" we're really talking the 1974 Tobe Hooper original...And even though there's little hope of him ever reaching those directorial heights ever again, the horror hall of fame wouldn't be complete without Hooper and the first TCM!
TCM (1974): 5/5
Just when the self referential teen horror of the late 90's had finally run out of steam, a remake of a beloved 70's horror classic came to the rescue, which basically everybody had deemed to be the single worst idea since Gus Van Sant laid his hands on Hitchcock's "Psycho".
The dominating fan attitude certainly took a swing to the better when the (still pretty excellent) theatrical trailer showed up, which promised a return to grimmer, more serious horror, despite bearing the name of a certain glossy blockbuster director in the producer's credits.
The impact of this one remake can be still felt almost 8 years on, welcomed by some, cursed by others.
Basically no month has passed since then without yet another remake of a 70's/80's genre movie being announced and/or put into theatres.
I guess it was inevitable in the Post 9/11 and Iraq war climate that the 70's ghosts - awakened by the horrors of Vietnam and its effect on the US as a society - would return.
Who would have thought a decade ago though that it would become en vogue in mainstream Hollywood to go all gory and even "unrated" for the home movie market?
Back to the movie which spawned the trend:
While TCM 2003 never reaches the "documentary of madness" quality of the Hooper original, one can't fault the film for actually trying to go back to the genre's serious tone, so long pretty much abandoned in bigger sized US horror for many years.
Ironically, comparing it to the more recent entries in the "remake" wave, not the least its own prequel, TCM 2003 actually comes across as rather moderate in its violence, though easily inducing way more splattery goodies than the mainly suggestive '74 original.
Typically for most modern remakes, this only bears some of the main set ups and characteristics of the movie that inspired it.
The cannibalistic Sawyer family of the original mutated into the equally insane Hewitt clan, lead by the scene chewing R Lee Ermey as the mad dog Sheriff you'll never wish to encounter.
The serie's icon, Leatherface, will probably never return to the pure portrtait of insanity that Gunnar Hansen was allowed to bring to the screen in '74, but in all fairness, the character hasn't been treated too well in the original's sequels, so this is Leatherface as good and to the point as we're ever likely to get him again.
Cynics will pull the obligatory "MTV visuals" card - not too surprisingly, since German director Marcus Nispel was then best known for his music videos - but TCM 2003 looks pretty stylish in my book, setting some of the optical standards for the retro wave to follow directly in its footsteps.
None of the beautiful young adults in this movie would qualify as authentic 70's kids (The movie is actually set in 1973 and got half heartedly marketed as "based on true events" ), but Jessica Biel is just the type of resorceful heroine you'd expect in a genre movie of this day and age and the rest are actually more likeable than the original's cast; no whining wheelchair bound Franklin this time around.
I personally like the prequel a tiny bit better, but TCM 2003 certainly doesn't need to hide behind any of the original Chainsaw's sequels either.
If you do a remake marathon, best start it properly with the movie that set the wave into motion...
3.5/5
Some famed titles don't age well over the years, others get better and better with each viewing over the years, becoming more significant as their influence on the genre shows to be harder to deny.
The orginial "TCM"- stellar classic as it has been regarded for the last 3 decades- has improved magnificently IMO and it's no surprise that it was Hooper's all-too-well analyzed groundbreaking 1974 low budget effort, which spawned the remake that basically got the whole "retro wave" really rolling...Ironically, the orginal seems to be more "present day" than the remake by now due to its strong post apocalyptic sense of doom and threat
(Listen to the constant stream of unnerving news in the radio, the shortage of gas etc.).
It's also so rich in detail that you'll pick up something new on every viewing and the extras packed SE DVD releases did their part in making me more conscious of the strong emphasis on black comedy throughout the movie.
The humour still hits the nail even over 30 years on and the jump scares are as effective as ever even on the umpteenth rewatch.
Most troubling for "newbies" when approaching the movie for the very first time remains to be the visible on-screen-absence of the titular "Texas Chain Saw Massacre", but I'd say the strong censorship backlash the film was "awarded" with during the 80's "violent videos" hysteria in a couple of countries is mainly to blame for raising the wrong ideas about "TCM's" real merit, as this is NOT one of the defining splatter movies of the 70's BUT- alongside Craven's original "Last House on the Left"- THE major flick that opened the gateways for the monsters of horror cinema finally getting rid of their costumes to display their all too human origin in front of the camera, in our reality!
Hooper's own 1986 sequel has the gore you'd probably expect given the film's incredibly suggestive title and a sassier heroine in Caronline Williams.
The 1990 release of the Jeff Burr directed "Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III" offers you "Lord of the Rings'" Viggo Mortensen and the fourth entry "The Next Generation" by the original's co-writer, Kim Henkel, tries to scare you off with the (then) future "Bridget Jones", Renee Zellweger...BUT if we're talking "Chainsaw" we're really talking the 1974 Tobe Hooper original...And even though there's little hope of him ever reaching those directorial heights ever again, the horror hall of fame wouldn't be complete without Hooper and the first TCM!
TCM (1974): 5/5
Just when the self referential teen horror of the late 90's had finally run out of steam, a remake of a beloved 70's horror classic came to the rescue, which basically everybody had deemed to be the single worst idea since Gus Van Sant laid his hands on Hitchcock's "Psycho".
The dominating fan attitude certainly took a swing to the better when the (still pretty excellent) theatrical trailer showed up, which promised a return to grimmer, more serious horror, despite bearing the name of a certain glossy blockbuster director in the producer's credits.
The impact of this one remake can be still felt almost 8 years on, welcomed by some, cursed by others.
Basically no month has passed since then without yet another remake of a 70's/80's genre movie being announced and/or put into theatres.
I guess it was inevitable in the Post 9/11 and Iraq war climate that the 70's ghosts - awakened by the horrors of Vietnam and its effect on the US as a society - would return.
Who would have thought a decade ago though that it would become en vogue in mainstream Hollywood to go all gory and even "unrated" for the home movie market?
Back to the movie which spawned the trend:
While TCM 2003 never reaches the "documentary of madness" quality of the Hooper original, one can't fault the film for actually trying to go back to the genre's serious tone, so long pretty much abandoned in bigger sized US horror for many years.
Ironically, comparing it to the more recent entries in the "remake" wave, not the least its own prequel, TCM 2003 actually comes across as rather moderate in its violence, though easily inducing way more splattery goodies than the mainly suggestive '74 original.
Typically for most modern remakes, this only bears some of the main set ups and characteristics of the movie that inspired it.
The cannibalistic Sawyer family of the original mutated into the equally insane Hewitt clan, lead by the scene chewing R Lee Ermey as the mad dog Sheriff you'll never wish to encounter.
The serie's icon, Leatherface, will probably never return to the pure portrtait of insanity that Gunnar Hansen was allowed to bring to the screen in '74, but in all fairness, the character hasn't been treated too well in the original's sequels, so this is Leatherface as good and to the point as we're ever likely to get him again.
Cynics will pull the obligatory "MTV visuals" card - not too surprisingly, since German director Marcus Nispel was then best known for his music videos - but TCM 2003 looks pretty stylish in my book, setting some of the optical standards for the retro wave to follow directly in its footsteps.
None of the beautiful young adults in this movie would qualify as authentic 70's kids (The movie is actually set in 1973 and got half heartedly marketed as "based on true events" ), but Jessica Biel is just the type of resorceful heroine you'd expect in a genre movie of this day and age and the rest are actually more likeable than the original's cast; no whining wheelchair bound Franklin this time around.
I personally like the prequel a tiny bit better, but TCM 2003 certainly doesn't need to hide behind any of the original Chainsaw's sequels either.
If you do a remake marathon, best start it properly with the movie that set the wave into motion...
3.5/5
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