Tobe Hooper’s 1974 film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre remains a seriously disturbing horror classic. There’s just something terrifying about the movie’s spooky, desperate nihilism and the way the villains pervert the traditional nuclear family. Honestly, I still get a bit uncomfortable thinking about that incredibly screwed-up dinner scene.
All of which means it’s a shame that the newly released Texas Chainsaw Massacre isn’t very good. In his review for WGTC, Scott Campbell described it as “an early contender to be named as the worst mainstream film of 2022” and that it’s “the worst entry in the series to date”. Ouch.
Now producer Fede Alvarez (who directed 2013’s very fun Evil Dead) has claimed that could fit in with the original continuity despite the almost fifty years that have passed. In an interview with Bloody Disgusting, he said:
“You see a photo of young Leatherface… an old picture from the late ’70s. The logic for me is that Leatherface, after the crimes of the original movie, just ran away. [His new mother figure] took pity on him… saw that he was mentally challenged and scared and probably did some terrible things.”
She took him in under her wing. Probably… I think…. a lot of the movies that happened after [the original] still happened. He probably escaped, ya know. He was in and out of that place for a long time. I think she probably gave him enough chances as movies [that] happened. And then it got to a point that he settled down. He just stayed there.”
This fits in with his comments in December to EW:
“When I say ‘direct sequel’ I wouldn’t say it skips everything. When movies do that, sometimes it feels a bit disrespectful to all the other films. Some people love Texas Chainsaw 2. I love a lot of things about that movie — it’s so wacky and of its time. But the rest is such a mess canon-wise. I think it’s up to you to decide when and how the events of the other movies happen.”
So essentially they’re having their cake and eating it. If you want the new film to be canon, it can be, but who knows? I suspect most viewers won’t spend a single second pondering the issue.
With this new entry apparently reaching new levels of terrible, it’s possible the franchise may be put on ice for a while. 2013’s Texas Chainsaw 3D, Leatherface, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) are all plumbing the depths and no entry has come close to capturing what Tobe Hooper did in 1974.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre is available to stream on Netflix.