Let me start off by saying I enjoyed the remake to Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I enjoyed the grittiness and feel of the film. And R. Lee Ermey is just creepy. It didn't capture that disturbing, insane feel of the first, but it held its own. So I figured, I would enjoy this prequel, especially after reading an article in Fangoria about how it was supposed to be gory and brutal, and a bunch of other crap that I can't remember right now.
I didn't enjoy this movie. At least, not to the extent I thought I would. Even though it had a different director than the remake, the look felt consistent. But it dragged on for a movie that was only supposed to be an hour and 24 minutes.
Here were my problems with the film:
1. The tagline states "Witness the Birth of Fear", and birth, yes. However, the rest of Leatherface's childhood is done within a matter of 2 minutes, tops, by means of vague flashes. There was really no explanation of why he was the way he was. They did explain the cannibalism, but that's not really necessary. (When the family is obviously completely insane, does explaining why they eat people lessen the fact that they are still insane? Not really.)
2. I have no freaking idea who Jordana Brewster is prior to this movie, and I'm not sure I care. But one thing is for sure. Watching her run frantically around for an hour trying to save her friends is boring as hell. Wondering how she wears her pants so low and manages to not flash crack, not so boring.
3. Lack of character development. Is it imperative to develop characters that we know, logically, will all get it? (And that's not a spoiler. It's common sense.) Not really. But don't try to play the sympathy card on us when we can't connect to the characters that are getting the shit beat out of them. Near the end, I was just waiting for them all to die so the movie could be over.
4. This movie tried too hard on one hand, and not hard enough on the other. It was as though the filmmakers were setting the audience up to have those "Oooh...so that's why [fill in a tidbit from the TCM remake here]." So we get to see why the old guy doesn't have legs below the knees, but we don't get to see any of the teasing of Leatherface as a kid and why he's so embittered. Okay. Makes sense. Right?
5. Same ol' shit. We've seen this before. Three years ago.
What I did like was that there was gore. This was a movie made for the older crowd, not 15 year olds. The movie may have lacked suspense, but I was cringing to see how the next person was going to get it. Which is, in a sense, suspense after all, just not the kind that I would expect from a horror film.
I give it one nana. On a side note, as the movie ended in the theatre, some guy yelled out "That movie sucked my dick." That may have been the most entertaining element about the experience.