TCM: The Beginning

3 G's out of 5. Yay, Leatherface back on the big screen, which means I had an excuse to wear my Texas Chain Saw t-shirt. That's what I plan on doing all month; whenever I go out I'll be wearing one of my various Horror themed shirts. Okay then, on to my review. For starters it's predictable. You already know going into it what's going to happen to the characters, which I feel took away from the film. So on that plain you can't really be surprise when someone gets the axe, or more appropriately the buzz. The beginning shows how Leatherface was brought into the world but right after the opening credits he's an adult. Personally I would've loved to see a short segment in his early teens. They mention in the remake and this one that he was picked on as a child. I thought it would have been nice to actually see it and possibly what he may have done in retaliation as sort of a prelude to how he deals with it today. Of course I say that, but if it were there it probably would have just felt too out of place.

Upon first glance I was sort of thinking the plot for the family sucked. But then if you think about it, it's actually pretty good. The Hewitt family refuses to leave a town that people forgot, and they do what they have to, to survive and protect themselves. Part of the plot I read mentioned that the group of teens are spooked by a group of bikers and then one of the characters gets one of the bikers to help rescue their friends. This was only a very small part of the film that came and went too fast. What would have made for a fucking fantastic movie is drop the group of teens; that we have seen over and over again in slasher films, and have a group of bikers up against Leatherface and the Hewitt clan. What is one aspect that was cool about Friday the 13th part 3? A biker versus Jason. What made TCM part two cool? A vengeful Dennis Hopper versus Leatherface. Combine those elements and in my opinion you have movie gold. However the relationship between the brothers and the fact that they were going off to Nam was a cool story element.

Possible spoilers in the upcoming sentences so you’re forewarned. Another thing that would have made the film that much better would have been to have more members of the Hewitt family so the biker could take them out. I love seeing the victims get theirs but I love it just as much when a few of the villains get theirs as well. I will say the biker’s death was the bomb. Which brings me the gore. Gore, gore, gore. How sweet it is. Great deaths all around accept one. All that happened for one of the group was a slashing of the throat; at least she had one good scene with a hook involved. Having no one survive is always a cool way to end a horror film but when you already know it’s going to happen it doesn’t have the same impact. I also would have loved for Leatherface to be more vocal. I don’t think he grunted, groaned, or yelled at all.

It may seem that I didn’t enjoy the film from what I’ve said but I did actually enjoy it. Now here is where I make fun of Nicole. I went to see it with her and most of the film she had her hands covering her face, as she was peaking through her fingers. It was quite funny. Next time I see her I’ll probably get hit for mentioning it. Lol.