A very basic and formulaic entry, a world away from the pure madness and frenetic editing of Tobe Hooper's original and its sequel. Here it's a classic cat and mouse game, not bad in itself and sometimes frightening, but very limited in ambition. The setting is a Texas ghost town that young urbanites want to revitalise. There could have been potential in an exploitation of a mysterious past, particularly around the orphanage present in the city, but almost none of this is explored, neither aesthetically nor narratively, apart from a defaced photo of a young Leatherface, to leave room for plain action. The action is filmed rather poorly, gory at times but mostly with a lack of brutality in the cutting itself. Hooper did much better 50 years ago... The only moment where the film brings a striking aesthetic originality is the scene in a sunflower field, on which all the promotional material is based and which makes for a very beautiful poster by the way. But the whole part in the city doesn't really provide any magic. The gripping ending is still worth the detour.
Review of Texas Chainsaw Massacre
