Here we go with the remakes and prequels. I hope this does not become a trend.....
So this is obviously a prequel to the TCM remake, and it's not quite as bad as you think. The movie begins with the birth of Tom, or Leatherface rather. The first ten minutes are good enough for a passable horror film. Not great but I can't complain given the film's contemporaries. But Leatherface? Screw him. It's his father Sheriff Hoyt (R. Lee Emery, you know from Full Metal Jacket?) who steals the show, has some great one liners laced throughout the film and has a more convincing menace behind him. He's a great character to watch and really helps elevate this film above some of the other shit of this day. The basic scenes of actual horror aren't too bad and it has it's share of memorable scenes, usually involving torture. Sheriff Hewitt loves to torture. And he hates hippies and draft dodgers. This makes for some interesting motivational torture toward the teens. But with remakes/prequels, you get your nuggets of shit as well.
Why oh why are we subjected to a romantic subplot? The Vietnam subplot AT LEAST is contrived to give Sheriff Hoyt his reason for kidnapping and killing these teenagers but when I watch a horror movie, I don't want to see two people in bed or in a swimming pool, talking about how many kids they're going to have. This sin is all prevalent in horror films today and was even more of an issue for me in the "remake".
The characters, and often the Hewitt family themselves, make reasonless decisions, any decisions in order to contrive the violence the screen demands. Decisions like cutting their uncle's legs off (because he was shot?). It all comes off as average, laughable entertainment at best. It has some good kills anyway. I'd give the film a lower rating if it weren't for the fact that it's noticeably better than A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (2010), TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (2003) and HALLOWEEN 2 (2009). For once, a prequel is better than an original. Or remake as it were.... The ending though is totally unforgiving and leaves us left to wonder, what was the point? TWO STARS OUT OF FIVE.
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