Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)

Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the ninth installment of a franchise that began in 1974. The first movie, a dark satire about a family of redneck cannibals who enjoy adding unorthodox ingredients to their family barbecues, was a surprise smash hit.

It spawned three sequels, a remake, a prequel to the remake, a 3-D movie that was a direct sequel to the original film, a prequel to the aforementioned 3-D movie, and now this installment, which is also a direct sequel to the original. Got all that? This franchise is an incoherent mess. Even the Halloween series makes more sense.

In the new Texas Chainsaw, which bypassed a theatrical run and was released directly to Netflix, a group of young aspiring entrepreneurs journey to a rural Texas ghost town that they are hoping to gentrify and rebuild. Unfortunately for them, the town is occupied by Leatherface (Mark Burnham), a demented chainsaw-wielding cannibal who is responsible for decades of gruesome murders dating back to the 1970s.

The main character is Lila (Elsie Fisher), a shy girl from San Francisco who suffers from PTSD after surviving a school shooting. Lila’s outgoing, ambitious sister Melody (Sarah Yarkin) convinces the reluctant Lila to join her on her trip to Texas. There are several other characters, but they are mostly one-dimensional fodder to increase the movie’s body count.

In a twist that was inspired by Jamie Lee Curtis’s return to the Halloween series in 2018, Leatherface must also face his old nemesis, Sally Hardesty. She was the sole survivor of the killing spree depicted in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Sally is now a Texas Ranger. She has waited five decades for a chance to get revenge against Leatherface. Hardesty is played by Olwen Foure, who replaces the original actress, Marilyn Burns. Burns passed away in 2014.

A lazy script filled with slasher Cliché’s

Sadly, Texas Chainsaw Massacre finds nothing interesting for Sally to do. In a twist that they probably thought would be shocking and clever, Sally gets anticlimactically killed off in the middle of the movie. What was the point of bringing this character back after fifty years?

There is nary an original idea to be found in this movie. Anyone who has experience watching slasher films will know from the beginning that Lila is going to survive. She might as well have a neon sign saying “final girl” on her forehead.

This movie has rare glimmers of cleverness, like a funny scene where Leatherface gets live-streamed on Instagram. But the characters are bland and cliched. There is no tension or suspense. The characters aren’t well-written enough for us to care about them.

Rating

Texas Chainsaw Massacre adds to the extensive list of disappointing and subpar installments in this long-running franchise. A predictable script and cliched characters doom it to failure.

Rating from 1( avoid at all costs) to 10 (masterpiece) 4