Hello. I’m Bob Pastorella, co-host of the This Is Horror podcast, website manager for This Is Horror, and writer. I’m the author of Mojo Rising, They’re Watching (with Michael David Wilson), and have numerous short-stories and non-fiction online and in print in various publications.
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Updates:
Work on Turn Up the Night is moving along, slowly but surely. I flipped POVs again, back to 1st person because it just feels right. The most challenging part will be writing action scenes in 1st person, which is something I’ve never felt comfortable about. I’m pushing forward with this one. Not too sure about where I started the story, but the beginning, the real place I should begin, is either right where it needs to be or somewhere close, and I’m not going to know it until I get further along. That’s the goal, just push forward. One thing I think I’m doing better with 1st person POV is burying the “I”, which is something I struggled with in the past to the point of just saying “Oh well, I’ll just write it and maybe it won’t be that bad.” There’s some growth in that area, which I like. One thing that’s missing from my writing sessions is that feeling of Zen, of losing myself in the story and cruising along, but that’s probably because I’m learning new things, adding to my toolbox so to speak. It feels good, but I’m a slow learner. Basically breaking old habits, which take time, which is why I can’t get any momentum. But it’s going to happen soon … I can feel it.
The Saw is Family (*SPOILERS!*)
The following is a short review of Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022), the recent legacy film continuing the events of the first film, ignoring all previous sequels, prequels, and reboots. If you haven’t seen the film, there are spoilers past this point, so consider yourself warned.
When the recent legacy film was originally announced, I was rather skeptical about it, as I am with most films of this nature. There are very few remakes/reboots that I’ve enjoyed in the past, so few I can probably count them on one hand. It takes a serious love of whatever particular franchise you’re diving into, and a willingness to bring something new to the table that both pleases the fans as well as attracts new audiences. These kinds of films get made because studios love built-in audiences. They want asses in the seats, and considering the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is such a classic horror film, it’s guaranteed to sell tickets (or clicks since it was released on Netflix) even if it sucks.
I would like to go on the record here stating that I’m happy they made this latest film. My feelings about it have nothing to do with the hype it generated, which is good for the franchise, and good for horror in general. Many people have enjoyed the film immensely, and that makes me genuinely happy.
So, where to begin …
This wasn’t the film many suggested it would be. Blame it on advance rumors, excited fanboy hype, or just plain shoddy reporting, it really doesn’t matter. In a nutshell, we were led to believe that this new sequel, taking place fifty years after the original events, was to be a showdown between old man Leatherface and final girl Sally Hardesty. And yes, old man Leatherface was there, and Sally, and there was a showdown. But what was suggested and what we got were two different things.
The impression I got from early reporting was that this was about Leatherface hiding in plain sight. No one knows what he looks like, so it’s fairly easy to believe he’d just take off the mask, heal up from cutting his leg with his own chainsaw, and slowly assimilate into society. It’s been implied over the years that Leatherface wore the mask to hide some form of facial disfigurement, and while there’s some notion of that from the original film (especially the scene when he licks the lips of the mask he’s wearing through the mouth opening, suggesting his own teeth and lips are unnatural), we actually do not know for certain that’s the case. For all we know, he may look normal, and the mask is part of his strange interior psychological design. And if he does appear normal, then why wouldn’t he hide in plain sight? Maybe he’s a loner. Maybe he’s just a quiet guy who works in a warehouse. Perhaps he’s not a quiet person. He could be in a position where he regularly interacts with people. He’s been hiding for a long time, and nothing has provoked him to a fight or flight stance since, so he’s just chilling.
I honestly thought the store proprietor at the beginning of the new film was old man Leatherface. A major take was the way the scene was filmed. You don’t get a good look at his face until the end of the scene. The actor is filmed from behind, almost an over-the-shoulder point of view, which is often used in movies to hide the face of the killer so you just hear them talking. Then, when we see his face, he mentions the killings, and no one knows what he actually looks like. When I saw that I thought: “That’s Leatherface. He’s right fucking there.”
But no.
Instead, we eventually find Leatherface staying at a derelict orphanage. It’s suggested by photos hanging on the walls of the house he has been living there for a long time, cared for by a severely underutilized Alice Krige. The story here is that a group of business owners hope to auction off properties to revitalize an abandoned town. Thing is, they don’t have the deed to the orphanage. One of the team has lied about it, which leads to confusion from the elderly homeowner, who insists she doesn’t have to leave her home. Krige’s character Ginny is frail, using an oxygen tank, implying Leatherface is the one person she relies on to take care of her. Upset about possible removal from her own home, Ginny falls ill, suffering from a heart attack. On the ambulance ride to the closest hospital, she dies, enraging Leatherface. From here on out, we get to see Leatherface’s full-on assault on everyone involved with the business.
These business owners, and their trendy potential customers, suddenly become the enemy. Leatherface becomes the hero. We begin to root for a crazed killer who has hidden from any and all responsibility for the carnage he caused fifty years before. We are led to sympathize with him because of the death of his previous caretaker. We know we’re not supposed to sympathize with him, that he is death incarnate, but we also love to see trendy rich assholes get their comeuppance. We begin to relish Leatherface killing these people. It’s an uncomfortable feeling, but we get to see all the gore and blood and this is what we watch these Chainsaw Massacre films for, right?
Well …
Considering this is a direct sequel to the original film, ignoring all the other films in the franchise, it sure relies a lot on the aesthetic of the prior sequels and prequels and reboots to make its point. The thing that makes the original film so scary, so frightening, is the power of suggestion. Sure, there’s a little gore, and perhaps shades of folk horror with the bone furniture in one of the rooms of the house, but what makes the original film so scary is the continuous and building dread and suspense because we have come to actually give a damn about the characters. Sally and Franklin and the rest of the gang have fallen victim to a strange family of backwoods cannibals. We’ve gotten to know Sally and the rest of the gang in a short period of time, and they are relatable characters, people just like ourselves or just like people we know who have found themselves in a never-ending nightmare that will leave them dead or driven mad if they survive. This is what the tagline “Who will survive and what will be left of them” means.
With the new film, we don’t give a damn about the characters. Yes, our final girl is the survivor of a school shooting and must find it within herself to fight back, but I really didn’t care if she lived or died. We do feel a little empathy for her because of the horrors she’s been through, detailed through short flashback scenes, but we don’t get enough of her story to build that empathy with any form of satisfying impact because we’re constantly treated to scenes of Leatherface’s gory kills of the rest of the group. When we finally do get to the point of the story when she fights back, there’s not enough of her character there for us to latch on to. The movie is too busy substituting gore for character development. The original film’s kill scenes are fast and brutal. But they are also deliberate and filmed in such a way that your mind fills in the blanks. There’s no need to linger on the carnage because that’s not what Tobe Hooper wanted the story to be about. With this new film, the camera loves the gore, replacing the weak storyline and stereotypical characters with blood-spurting stumps and bodies sawed in half.
And then we get to Sally Hardesty. We were promised a showdown. The original final girl faces the original menace. Instead, we get an uneven attempt to cash in on the success of the recent Halloween legacy films with a hardened Sally having to wait fifty years to finally confront her nemesis, just so Leatherface can throw her around like a rag-doll because he’s the hero of the story. The return of Sally Hardesty here felt tacked on and forced, which is quite silly considering the immense talent of Olwen Fouéré, an outstanding actress certainly worthy to take on the torch of Sally Hardesty.
Instead of dread and suspense, we get buckets of blood and gore. There’s nothing wrong with blood and gore, I’m a big fan of the gory stuff, but when you sacrifice story and rely on nifty special effects, then I get a little disappointed. There’s a lot to love about how this film was made. The cinematography and editing are top-notch. The film looks good, with scenes that could have been iconic for me if they actually held any meaning, if they would have landed with an emotional punch. The original film leaves me shaking to this day. The ending is brutal and nightmarish and we feel every single one of Sally’s screams. We continuously root for her, we want her to escape these horrors and are relieved that she does eventually get away from the killers. The scenes at the end of the original film, with Leatherface spinning wildly with the chainsaw, are chilling and disturbing. When that scene is recreated at the end of the new film, it felt cheesy and embarrassing.
I could go on and on, but I think you get the gist. The new film, at least for me, was a disappointment on many levels. I’ll probably revisit it at some point in the future to see if my disappointment was perhaps just not being in the right frame of mind at the time. The idea of the film, what was initially suggested, is solid. The execution of that concept could have been much better.
That said, I must reiterate that I am genuinely happy for those that have enjoyed the film. I stand by my earlier statement that this film is good for the Chainsaw franchise and good for horror. Given so many people have enjoyed the film, and Netflix’s ratings show it was one of the most-watched films over the weekend, gives us all the proof we need to see audiences are hungry for horror.
Trust me, I know.
No secret, it's the meat.
Don't skimp on the meat.
I've got a real good eye for prime meat.
Runs in the family.
Music: Rust Monolord, Iommi and Hughes DEP Sessions (via youtube), Kyuss, and Sleep.
Films: TITANE. Holy shit, you fine people need to feast your eyes on this one, what an experience! Also checked out Takashi Miike’s First Love … excellent crime noir.
TV: From. Watched the first episode on EPIX, looks like a good one. On deck soon: Yellowjackets.
Books: The Book of the Most Precious Substance by Sara Gran. Hot damn, this book will set its hook in and they set in deep. Still reading Folk Horror Revival: Urban Wyrd Volume 1: Spirits of Time, but I’m also reading Folk Horror Revival: Urban Wyrd Volume 2": Spirits of Place. While the first volume primarily covers hauntology, this second volume dips into psychogeography. And really, that’s not doing the books—or Urban Wyrd—any justice because the subject is much more vast than two topics can handle. Still reading The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte (again). Straub’s Ghost Story (again and again forever and ever), King’s ‘Salem’s Lot and The Shining.
Next Issue: Okay … might be time to talk about Urban Wyrd.
peace&love
Bob.