Customer Reviews

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning - Unrated (New Line Platinum Series)

5 star:		(59)
4 star:		(41)
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2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

I was a bit sceptical going to a theater to watch "TCM: the Beginning". What can they possibly do to surprise me or to shock me whatsoever? - I thought. - What haven't I seen already to be touched by this? Furthermore it's the good old Texas Massacre, it's been remade once - what can there be in the prequel that was not in the three year-old remake? This "wrong time, wrong place" kind of movies which once produced a very nice example with a perfect title "Wrong Turn" seemed to tumble down into a dull routine like a genre of teen-slasher movies did a couple of years back. But... not yet. This one haven't tumbled.

Two brothers with their girfriends hit a cow making a total mess on a rural road in Texas. Sheriff arrives and soon we get to know he's not an ordinary sheriff. When he takes them to his isolated house you know already a REAL mess is about to happen. Yes, many wanted to know how Leatherface became what he's infamous for. And that's not the main interest of the film although we are told the whole story in the first 10 minutes. Surprisingly R. Lee Ermey's sheriff Hoyt steals the show here, making even Leatherface look like an innocent boy, and showing himself at his insane, maniacal best. So, like stepfather, like stepson...

What "TCM: the beginning" offers us after the four friends get into the house, is a true nightmare. You haven't seen anything like this neither in previous TCM nor in other films alike. I won't even mention the quantity of gore and all the physiological details of what's happening, but emotionally this movie just leaves you speachless. It's so dark, relentless and morally exhausting you won't believe it. It's intense to the extent I wanted to yell at times: Stop it! That's enough! Horror fans saw many good examples of brutal and vicious pictures lately, but "TCM: the Beginning" tops them all in some sense.

Besides there'll be a surprise. I won't reveal all the details, but horror movies have their own rules established during all those years of terrifying the audience. Usually if a character shows some will to live, doesn't act like a coward and helps his friends he is rewarded in the end. His life usually is saved. So if you try to figure out the ending here, you'll never guess. The makers of the prequel decided to do everything like it could happen in real life, not taking the genre's rules into consideration. This adds so much dread to the film...

I have to add that original Texas Chain Saw Massacre of '74 is my favourite horror movie so naturally I had all kinds of prejudices against the remake and its prequel. And still I adored "The Beginning". That's to everyone who also have prejudice against it - don't compare, just watch. And as a horror fan you'll see quite possibly there hasn't been a movie so dark and rigorous.

First of all, anything that came after the 1974 classic should not fall into immediate comparison. I hate it when these Internet critics take the remake, the sequels or this recent endeavor of the 'Chainsaw' franchise and line it up toe-to-toe with Tobe Hooper's masterpiece. It can't be done.

Having gotten that out of the way, I'll admit that I loved 'The Beginning' a lot more than the remake it is preceding. Afterall, everything they wanted to do in the remake is on full display here, and I can only point out one useless homage to the original that was probably intended for the remake itself (the heroine launching herself through a glass window to evade her maniacal captors). Aside from that, there is nothing about this film that I didn't like. In an hour and twenty minutes' time, I was put through the wringer and actually had to wipe my sweaty palms on the seat a few times because I was so caught up in the mayhem that unfolded, however unapologetically, in front of my eyes. Coming from me, that's a major compliment to how tense this particular installment was.

'The Beginning' takes place a few years before the remake (I would say the original but this revisits the Hewitt family, not the Sawyer family) and for a series of movies that are infamous for portraying scream queens falling under the clutches of a chainsaw-wielding maniac, this particular movie wears a lot of ambitions on its sleeve, especially when it comes to examining the psychological and situational underpinnings of this family's sick behavior. Depending on your stomach, you will either grow to understand Leatherface's actions or even pity him altogether. 'The Beginning' elevates Leatherface (Thomas Hewitt) from mere slasher status to a tragic character of, dare I say it, Greek proportions. In the longrun, he is just an accessory to another man's warped perception of the Darwin theory. There is a social-political subplot involved but unfortunately it doesn't quite live up to its potential because it disappears by the end of the second act. Needless to say, there is a plausible explanation wedged behind the cannibalism element, and it has to do with the horrors of war (though it is a past war). Again, this would have been great fodder for exploration, but it's quickly tucked away.

One other thing that makes 'The Beginning' better than the remake is how far it actually goes while still remaining true to implied violence. While the bodycount doesn't go beyond the bodycount from the first film, our unfortunate protagonists are subjected to elongated torture sequences and far more gruesome deaths this time around. Plasma galore. Whereas the remake was a striptease, you get to see a bit more than you would expect (which brings me to wonder what they cut from the final print that was worse; there's an additional 17 minutes of material that would have given this an NC-17 rating). However, it wasn't the violence that intrigued me but rather the backstory hiding beneath the action. Trust me, the story and the violence go hand-in-hand, so you can't strip away one layer without having to sacrifice the other.

To sum it all up, I was truly satisfied with this film. I don't know where they can go beyond this point without becoming redundant, but I am not afraid to say that this is an excellent prequel and I would pay to see it again. In fact, I will pay to see it again very soon. Devan out.

When you talk about the TV shows Desperate Housewives, 7th Heaven, CSI, The OC and even The Guiding Light wouldn't you think it strange to mention The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in the same breath? Similarly, when you say R. Lee Ermey you're usually not talking about 2003 and 2006's Texas Chainsaw Massacre films, right?

The main actors in both The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beinning (2006) were plucked right out TV. And R. Lee Ermey?...He starred in both Texas 2003 and 2006, but we all know what we really associate that guy with...the colorful Full Metal Jacket (1987) boot camp sergeant, of course.

Ah, and let's not forget the up and coming Jessica Beil (2006's The Illusionist); while the 2003 remake of Texas Chainsaw was one of her first big screen films, I expect that we'll see a lot more leading roles from this fine young talent in the future.

I was lucky enough to find a very inexpensive 2 pack on sale at Amazon for the price that just one of the disks is selling for today. Unfortunately, as of this writing I see that Amazon isn't offering the same deal, but the two pack is still available.

Enough trivia. About the movies.

Might as well start at The Beginning (2006). The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning was perhaps one of the top 5 most shockingly brutal movies that I have ever seen. Torture. Brutal murder. Intense violence. All acted out superbly by a cast that mostly made you believe that this horrible stuff was happening.

The Beginning was directed by short-resumed Horror vet Jonathan Liebesman, and he mostly kept it real. He made his actors take their rolls seriously, unlike so many Horror movies that throw in teenage camp to dumb down the shock. Liebsman had only a few "oh c'mon that would never happen" scenes versus almost an "oh my God" ever 5 minutes throughout the 96 minute Horror gala (that's like 25 'oh-my-Gods').

The over the top and stretch the imagination scenes are enough to bring the film down a notch, but I was out of breath after exposure to so much shock and awe by the time the credits rolled. So The Beginning was affectively above average.

The thing about The Beginning is that you know it's not the end. No happy ending expectations here; just a sense of dread for all who come in contact with Sheriff Hoyt's family of degenerates. The Beginning is the prequel that plays right into The Texas Chainsaw 2003 remake of the original 1974 Tobe Hooper cult classic that shocked the nation. Hooper had oversight as a producer in both Texas 2003 and 2006.

2003's remake was probably about 1/2 as brutal as the 2006 (unrated version) story of The Beginning, so that should speak volumes as to how to set your expectations. Texas 2003 continues the murderous story of the unfortunate that ventured to close to Sheriff Hoyt's jurisdiction.

Shock and awe (or should I say shock and gore) should not be confused with greatness. Both Texas 2003 and 2006 were good Horror movies. They were better gross-out movies. So all in all, if you're into Horror, these moves do indeed epitomize the genre. They are good...not great. If you are rating these on shock these two are at the top of the list. If you're looking for other impressionable films to have crossed the screen in the past 25 years or so, click on my name above and check out my Amazon Listmania List of 15 Flicks Guaranteed to Leave A Permanent Impression.

Well, it's a generic horror film, of course. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how unpredictable the plot is. It doesn't follow that sort of formula where it's obvious what's going to happen and who's going to die. The flow of events is actually quite dynamic and interesting. This makes the movie much better than one might expect.

The horror in horror movies generally comes from the threat of violence or death, and not from the deaths themselves. It's not nearly as scary to watch someone get slaughtered as it is to watch them walk through a dark alley or meat packing plant, knowing that any minute they MIGHT be slaughtered. Tension is where all true fear lies, especially in a world so jaded that even the image of a young man being patiently and methodically torn open can elicit yawns (or, at best, cringes).

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning is robbed of much of its tension primarily because it is a prequel. Therefore, it's not a spoiler to point out that none of the film's murdering psychopaths will be caught or killed (otherwise, the movies later in the timeline wouldn't make much sense). Anyone who figures this out can use similar logical connections to pretty much guess how the whole thing will turn out.

I'll give you some help. It's 1969, a small town in Texas has just folded because its slaughterhouse has closed down, and the Hewitt family (featuring placid Uncle Monty, clueless Luda Mae, the lumbering mental defective Thomas, and grizzled patriarch Charlie) refuses to evacuate the premises. Along come brothers Dean and Eric and their sweetly accomodating girlfriends, Chrissie and Bailey. All four are ludicrously attractive, have legitimate (if not marginally boring) personalities, and are on the road for one last hurrah before the brothers are shipped off to join the Vietnam War (a splinter of a sub-plot that is meant to shoulder roughly 95% of the film's emotional merit).

Guess what happens? That's right! People die! Charlie Hewitt (played by a hammy R. Lee Ermey) takes charge of his family's survival. Since their only means of support was the now defunct meat-packing plant, he decides that they will now have to live on a steady diet of bikers and hippies. Those are his words, not mine. Thus begins the Hewitt family's reign of terror (based on a true story, the movie tells us, via a way-too-ponderous narrator).

Movies like these, where the ending is pre-ordained and the premise lacks corners for surprises to hide in, well, they have to rely on stylism to make up for a lack of a story, they must use skillful aplomb to take the place of a plot. I won't deny that the filming is measured to a gritty perfection and that the cinematography adds the right kind of sandy smear to the scenes. Also, the movie is not just graphic, but blissfully and consummately so. I have a hard time remembering ever before having seen such graphic gore, such explicitly rendered violence. Maybe I just don't get out much.

However, as movies like "Lost In Space" or "Starship Troopers" can teach us, a preponderance of special effects (even those executed perfectly) does not a good movie make. I have no doubt that some people will eat this film up (so to speak); you will too, if all you really want to see are the vivid murders of mostly innocent people. This is obviously one of the movie makers' primary goals, and in that sense the flick is a triumph. However, as a horror film, its central purpose should be to frighten, to keep the audience on edge, to amp the tension and keep it on the edge of the breaking point. "TCM: The Beginning" has no tension, no edge, no breaking point, no fear. It has psychopaths who (for the purposes of the story) cannot be caught or killed, it has huge vats of blood and exposed tendons and veins, it has torture, dozens of mutilating weapons, and a guy who is known affectionately as "Leatherface."

For some, I guess that may be just enough.

It seems to be suddenly, every horror fan wants to know how their horror heroes (idols?) became the way they were. You know, going on the killing spree, generally being bad boys. We've had Rob Zombie's Halloween movie, where we see how Michael became the big bad boy - blame it on the parents - and in the Jason movies, we've seen it during the movies. There's not a special movie just to tell what happened to Jason.

This movie is pretty much your standard slasher film. There is absolutely nothing that makes it stand out from everything else. You've got the army guys about to go and sign up, and their girlfriends dressed in very little. You've got all the blood and gore - the one thing I will give this movie is there are some inventive, and slow, deaths. Bleurgh! And of course there is the fact it's a cast of virtual unknowns, unless you know Jordana Brewster from The Faculty, and The Fast & The Furious, but I haven't seen the latter.

Two brothers are off to fight in Vietnam, and having one last road trip with their girlfriends. One doesn't want to go in the army, the other one thinks he does. Along the way they come across some strange things, and get involved in a serious car crash. They should be safe when the sheriff comes along - shouldn't they?

The 'prequel' bit is all over in the first 15-20 minutes, introducing Leatherface's messed up family, and his birth, and being abandoned. Then it goes into the standard story.

Really, the film is just here to push the boundaries on how much blood & gore an audience can endure. What's included in this? I won't ruin it, but it is pretty brutal at points. Lots of blood, lots of gore. Hey, it's a horror film.

I do think horror films have to keep pushing the boundaries, in order to stay fresh & new, but I just don't think The Beginning succeeds here. It's nothing the audience hasn't seen before, and you'll be shocked at the gore, but that's about it. Horror flicks have had their day if they can't be fresh & new. Enjoyable, but doesn't leave you feeling satisfied afterwards.

PLOT: a group of kids traveling through Texas fall prey to a chainsaw-wielding madman and his morbid, cannibalistic family (sound familiar?)

MY REVIEW: It's definitely not original. It's certainly not scary. But it sure is freaking fun! This is no-holds-barred, extremely gory entertainment...kind of like "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" was. I see this movie as a combination of the rest of the entries in the series. It has the suspense of the first movie, the campiness and fun of the second, the action of the third, and the weirdness of the fourth. The acting was surprisingly good, it moves along at a lightning-quick pace, there's tons of suspense, and the ending is literally jawdropping. Anything bad? Well...it's just way too similar to 2003's remake, right down to the music and style of filming. Watch this movie first, then the remake back to back...it will feel like a huge horror extravaganza!

ACTING: Jordana Brewster did her thang as the lead girl. Nothing really stood out, but she was alright. Nothing else really stood out with the rest of the cast, though I have to commend R. Lee Ermey for his once again outstanding portral of the demented Sheriff.

GORE: if this movie were a sandwich, it would be a sloppy joe! We get sledgehammers crushing legs, bashed in heads, numerous chainsaw impalements, skinned off faces, meat sliced off arms, people chopped in half, slashed open throats, heads blown off with a shotgun...and a lot more!

OVERALL: 4/5 it ain't perfect, but it sure is fun

This brutal, harrowing film is so far removed from PG-13 retreads of tepid Japanese ghost stories that it might as well come from another planet. This movie is not tailored to make 12 year old girls shriek and then giggle for twenty minutes. It is designed to grab you by the throat, expose you to shocking brutality, and deliver a glimpse at unbridled madness that will stay with you long after you vacate the theatre. This baby is not for the squeamish; it wishes to manhandle the viewer as it puts him/her through the wringer of uncompromising, hardcore horror.
The creep factor is high as you spend some time with the denizens of this hell-house in Texas. This creepy, off-kilter tone sometimes reminds you of [dare I say it?] the original Tobe Hooper masterpiece. Of course, the original can never be equalled, but this film does do its job, which is to creep you out and gross you out, very well indeed. It stands tall alongside Leatherface [TCM 3] as well as the 2003 shocker. In some ways it is more extreme than the '03 remake, which I also enjoyed quite a bit. If you were able to cope with that one, I think you will dig this one as well. Your visit to the Hewitt home will scare the wits out of you but isn't that what you came for?
I continue to be somewhat amused by those viewers who find films like this to be an indication of sickness and depravity in those who go to see them. Do they include themselves? One has to wonder what they were expecting when they wandered into a film called Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. They must have had a vague suspicion that it wasn't going to be a smiley-face kind of flick. For the rest of us, who know what it is we are in for, this movie delivers the goods in spades. I must recommend it for your [admittedly extreme] Halloween viewing pleasure. If this doesn't scare you just a bit, nothing will.

Let me start off by saying that I have seen a many number of horror films over the last 8 years. When I mean many, I mean I have seen about 70% of all the horror movies made over the last 8 years. So when Texas Chainsaw Massacre The Beginning came out, I went and saw it in the movie theatre. AFTER ABOUT 10 MINUTES INTO THIS FILM, I COULD EASLY SAY THIS MOVIE IS NOT FOR EVERYONE.

The people who made this film accomplished a very rare thing. THEY MANAGED TO CREATE THE MOST BRUTAL, GORY, RAW, AND VIOLENT FILM I HAVE EVER SEEN! There are probably some people who can't even sit through watching a film this violent. All of the camera, music, and photography work are nothing short of perfect when it comes to shooting violence and brutality. I really have never seen anything like it in all of my life. All of the violence seems to just jump right out at you while you're watching this film. EVERY SCENE THAT INVOLVES VIOLENCE IS SET UP TO BE HEARD AND SAW UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL.

I'm not saying this is a great horror movie because after seeing it I realized there can be too much violence and pain in a horror movie. Nowadays isn't that what some fans want though? Don't some fans want to be totally shocked and scared the hell out of when they watch a film? That is why I give this film 5 stars because it manages to show you the most violence and brutality that a horror film can have to offer at this point in time.

I'm a huge fan of all the TCM films and this one is right up there at the top! Plenty of gore (can't wait to see the new unrated scenes), sweet babes, and lotsa chainsaw!