Recently Screen Junkies showed off the new Texas Chainsaw 3D trailer, which works as a direct sequel to the 1974 original, ignoring the previous 6 films.
It follows Heather (Alexandra Daddario) who inherits her grandmother’s house. Her friends accompany her to check out the assumed vacant house, only to find it not quite as vacant as it thought.
Ibtimes has a great piece which expands on the plot, but does contain spoilers, which we will regurgitate below. The story starts 20 years before the trailer and involves the home of Leatherface being burnt down, and the infant Heather being rescued by a couple and whisked away. Now grown, Heather comes to find out she was adopted, and that an inheritance from her biological grandmother includes a house, however Heather also appears to have inherited a Leatherface too. {SPOILER < The twist here is that she actually sides with Leatherface against the villagers who destroyed the original Sawyers property. > SPOILER} This could be an interesting way to give a recharge to the series. Shame the trailer shows little of this information.
Filmofilia had this interesting quote about the movie too.
“The film will continue the story from Tobe Hooper’s 1974 original, picking up the character of Leatherface decades later with a cast that includes Dan Yeager, John Dugan, Bill Moseley, Alexandra Daddario, Sue Rock, Tania Raymonde, Scott Eastwood, Gunnar Hansen, Tobe Hooper, Paul Rae, Keram Malicki-Sánchez, Ritchie Montgomery, Trey Songz, Marilyn Burns, Shaun Sipos, Thom Barry and Richard Riehle.”
So the remakes before it appear to have been discarded in favor of a more streamlined approach. Though we know that it is a direct sequel, we don’t yet know how much of the original sequels (one directed by Tobe Hooper himself) will be incorporated into this movie, if at all. I’m guessing a few nods may be given to previous movies in the cannon. What we do know is some old favorites are coming back in some form. Gunnar Hansen will appear in the project (hopefully as Leatherface), and Tobe Hooper is involved as well, which gives it a one up on most of the remakes out at the moment. Then there are returning franchise players Marilyn Burns and also old Chop Top himself Bill Moseley (though I doubt he is revising this character).
First impressions are on the bleak side. The trailer plays out like a very generic horror film, in fact a lot like the Friday the 13th remake, only with less action. I think the film even knows this is a problem because it offers up a young lady showing her bra to distract you in the first 30 seconds. The trailer is trying to get the feel of the original film, but it felt to this reviewer more like Saw with its raw, dirty and decayed environment.
The trailer does seem to show variety of location from a fun fair, the house itself and a museum or national heritage location plainly seen. The build up of Leatherface is good with the iconic mask and the chainsaw, but there is very little of Leatherface shown other than very brief flashes. They also use negative imaging to give it the feel of photographs been taken, much like the original movie, but it came off better in the 2003 remake. The biggest loss for this trailer is the lack of the above mentioned talent. Gunnar Hansen is in the movie and you don’t show him? I appreciate that this film will be driven more for a new audience, but older fans would have loved to see how some of the old guard of actors and actresses from the original films fit in. Leads me to believe that their involvement will be minor, perhaps in the form of a cameo.
This is one more of a slew of popular horror movies remade for 3D audiences (Fright Night, Night of the Living Dead and My Bloody Valentine being a small few). Here’s hoping the film will have more to offer when it is released than this trailer does now. If nothing else at least lets see some more Gunnar Hansen!
Grizzly Bomb 