Texas Chainsaw Massacre Review: Bland Requel Butchers The Legacy Of Original

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Tobe Hooper’s 1974 Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a triumph in the horror-slasher genre for endless reasons. Be it the haunting, stomach-churning portrayal of the Sawyer family, a silent, macabre masked cannibal wielding a chainsaw under the Texas sun, or a traumatized Sally Hardesty having the last laugh: every frame is an ode to true terror. Hooper’s film, obviously, inspired a barrage of reboots and remakes, among which 2003’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre emerged as the strongest, while entries such as Leatherface mindlessly attempted to flesh backstories that did little to add depth to an already iconic character. Netflix’s legacy sequel, 2022’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre picks up right after Hooper’s original and ignores all previous entries.  Unfortunately, it also ignores everything the 1974 film achieved and stood for. Despite featuring tense chase and gore sequences that are fairly well-made, Texas Chainsaw Massacre butchers Leatherface's legacy in the dullest of ways.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre opens with a voiceover narration by John Laroquette (who also voiced Hooper’s original) describing the events of August 18, 1973, when the gruesome murders took place in Texas. A composite sketch of Leatherface is presented (masked, of course) along with the news that lone survivor Sally Hardesty (Olwen Fouéré) has not spoken about the incident since its occurrence 50 years ago. This exposition dump is actually a true-crime broadcast watched by Lila (Elsie Fisher) on a gas station television in Texas. She is visiting with her sister Melody (Sarah Yarkin) and friend Dante (Jacob Latimore) and his girlfriend Ruth (Nell Hudson). The reason behind their presence in Texas is that Melody and Dante, both social influencers, are