Texas Chainsaw 3D bills itself as a direct sequel to the original 1974 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. As this is the seventh film in the series that can be a very confusing claim. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre already has an official sequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2, released in 1986 and even directed by the writer/director of the original, Tobe Hooper. Next the franchise rights went to New Line who released Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3. Despite the subtitle, this film ignores the events of the second film and places itself as an ‘unofficial’ follow up to TCM. After that came Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, finally released by Columbia pictures after sitting on a shelf for years. Allegedly, it was only distributed to cash in on the appearances of Renee Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey, who were becoming famous at the time. Again part 4 disavowed the existence of parts 2 and 3, bringing the count of direct follow-ups to the first film to three.
The reboot of The Texas Chainsaw Massacreand its own prequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: the Beginning can be completely discounted because they recreate an entirely new chronology, borrowing elements from the original. Both these films were produced by Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes. After The Beginning grossed less than half the amount of its predecessor; PD announced that they would not produce a third sequel. Finally, the franchise rights were purchased by Lionsgate (the house of Saw) who now bring us direct sequel number four.
This time the filmmakers have taken the term direct sequel literally; picking up moments after TCM left off with the police showing up at the Sawyer farm. The house, the yard, and almost every other physical detail are painstakingly recreated. The Sawyers have called in more kin with shotguns and a standoff ensues. Gunnar Hansen, who played Leatherface in the original, has a cameo as Boss Sawyer and Bill Moseley (Choptop Sawyer from TCM part 2) fills in for the deceased Jim Siedow as the cook Drayton Sawyer. This piece of recasting is the first slightly jarring moment of the film because it feels like a reenactment in an episode of ‘Unsolved Mysteries’; something is not quite right, but unsettlingly familiar.
The standoff is settled by an angry mob of locals who start shooting and then burn the Sawyer house to the ground; killing everyone inside except for baby girl Heather, who is abducted/adopted by two of the angry locals. Flash forward to 2012, Heather is now grown and only becomes aware she was adopted when her biological grandmother (who knew she was abducted but made no effort to retrieve her) dies and leaves her a huge mansion in Texas. This is where the film comes up against its first major problem. The movie begins in 1974 – it is now 2012, Heather should be at least 38. The actress playing her is 26 and they dress her and all her friends in the movie like they’re 21 (a personal pet peeve with modern American horror films – all her friends are models). The film seems to be hoping very hard that no one will do the math and even goes so far as to try and cover the problem up. Newspaper headlines appear onscreen with the date of the original massacre and deliberately cut the year out of frame.
Heather gathers her boyfriend and two other friends to drive to the Texas mansion and rediscover her roots. Along the way they pick up a hitchhiker (also a model in label clothes) and decide to take him along, all the way to their destination. Once there it turns out that her inheritance includes her cousin, Leatherface, who has been living in grandmother’s basement for decades. In spite of his past troubles, Grandma has allowed Leatherface to keep his arsenal of chainsaws, hooks, and other assorted cutlery. Once Leatherface appears, the movie begins to crib liberally from the earlier films. The main group travels in a microbus meant to echo the van in the first film, the first two kills take place by the exact methods and order as in the original, and there’s even a ‘face peeling while still alive’ ala what happened to L.G. in TCM part 2. The plot then shifts from slasher to family feud drama as Heather learns that the Mayor led the shootout that killed her family and Leatherface is recast as her protector. The film tries very hard to show his noble side but it’s an ill-fitting mask for an infamous chainsaw murderer.
The bottom line is that in spite of the assertion that this is a direct sequel, Texas Chainsaw 3D is part 7 in the series. If you’re a horror lover that has stuck by horror series as they got past about part 4; you know what you’re signing up for. I’m a big fan of the series (the great lenticular poster really had me looking forward to this movie) and Texas Chainsaw 3D is far from the worst sequel, but unfortunately its silly moments and unaddressed logic gaps largely spoil the terror. Casual horror fans will find a few good 3D moments with a chainsaw, but not much else in the way of gore or scares to hold their attention.
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