Movie Review: Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)

Synopsis: Decades after Leatherface went on his killing spree, the town of Harlow, Texas is now a ghost town. A group of young investors arrive with the intention of revitalizing the town and turning it into a trendy destination but don't realize Leatherface still lives in the orphanage under the care of the elderly Ginny.

Who's in it? The movie stars Sarah Yarkin, Elsie Fisher, Mark Burnham, Moe Dunford and Nell Hudson.

Review: I was in the mood for a Friday night horror movie and remembered seeing this film on Netflix. While I've never been a huge fan of the Texas Chainsaw movies, I did like them enough to at least feel comfortable giving this a try. 

After seeing it, my overall reaction was "meh."

I'll start out by saying the movie did a great job with the violence, definitely living up to the original in that regard with everything from Leatherface (Burnham) smashing in someone's head with a hammer to stabbing a guy with his own broken arm. The film also didn't waste a whole lot of time getting to the action and was quick to fill us in with the information we needed to know without trying to stretch things out with gratuitous sex scenes and other filler.

The main problem I had with this movie was the same one I've had with other films from this franchise. The characters almost make it a little too easy for him.

Just ask my wife. I'm sure she was getting a little bit irritated with me yelling at the TV - "Grab the gun, you dumbass!" "Move to one side instead of fleeing that chainsaw blade in a straight line!" "Why are you standing there with your cell phones livestreaming the guy with the chainsaw?" OK, I'll be honest, that last one was admittedly kind of funny but I still was much more irritated with his victims than concerned for their lives.

I also kind of feel like the movie wasted its only halfway decent character, Sally Hardesty (Olwen Fouere), who was both a throwback to the original movie (albeit played by a different actress) and probably the only one with a bit of common sense. I think it was a mistake saving her for the very end, mostly because I feel like she should have been the star of the movie rather than a supporting character.

Also, what the hell was up with that ending. Not only was it predictable, you had the survivors laughing and joking, as though they didn't just seem some of their friends brutally murdered. It was bad enough the plot sets things up so Leatherface could be legitimately be seen as a victim himself, did the movie really need to go out of its way to make everyone seem like an ass?

Final Opinion: If you are a fan of gory horror films, this movie does offer some admittedly awesome death scenes. However, the overall film and the way the victims kind of got what they deserved did take something away from it, at least in my opinion. It was OK but also not anything memorable.

My Grade: C+