'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'
(Jessica Biel, Eric Balfour, Jonathan Tucker / R / 95 mins / New Line)
Overview: This remake of the 1974 horror classic follows five 20-somethings who find themselves stranded in a small Texas town, where they encounter a chainsaw-wielding maniac known as Leatherface. The killer has spent years sawing people up and constructing masks out of his victims' skin, with everyone in the town looking the other way. With no one to help them, the outsiders must find a way to escape before meeting a grisly death.
Verdict: For the new generation of slasher fan, the remake is a true gross-out with plenty of satisfying frights and does an impressive job of capturing the nasty dread of the original. But, in truth, in the new version elegance is gone, but the relentlessness has been amped to the max and it hacks away everything different and inventive Tobe Hooper's original film did for the horror genre! In reflection, and trying to remain passive, a long march to the slaughterhouse that seems to take forever to get going and, once it does, goes nowhere is probably the longest amount of time my eyes have been glued to a screen without receiving some form of cinematic fright cookie! But, in the long run, if you're into this stuff, it's a fun, scary time!
Reviewed by 'Speed' Geist