Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (2022)

Dir: David Blue Garcia [@DavidBlueGarcia]

Marxist film theory worked to frame Tobe Hooper’s 1974 debut. It was easy to see Sally and her friends as representations of the bourgeoisie while the Sawyer family were down-trodden less than Proletariats. It is the act of the bourgeoisie kids trespassing onto the Sawyer farm that initiates the protection of that farm. We see Leatherface bewildered as to why and where these people are coming from. Had Sally and her friends waited for gas, they would have been safe. The old man even warns them, but they transgress anyway. The Sawyer family has been put out of work by the industrialization of the slaughterhouse. They are doing what they can to get by. Yes, this even includes slaughtering and eating the rich.

We fast forward to a time in the near future. A group of elitist bourgeoisie set out to conquer a ghost town in Texas. The problem is, they pounce on the sole inhabitant left in the town, before ensuring all the paperwork is in order. These terrible gentrifiers argue with the woman and call the police. While dragging her out of her home, she crumbles. It just so happens; this old woman is Leatherface’s caretaker. When she dies he reverts to his old ways, and revenge will be served. Again, the themes of Marxist class struggle are on display, and humans are treated as cattle for the slaughter. In one of the standout moments, the elitist cows await their bloodletting on a bus that resembles a cattle chute.

Leatherface is our hero, as he was in 1974. He has always been caught between an extremist family and an outside world he doesn’t understand. Under the stewardship of the old woman, he had found love and understanding. He grew into an old man, nearly forgetting his roots. As his symbolic mother died in his arms, decades of soothing nurturing vanished as well. In tribute to her memory, he removes her face and seeks out those who cause his mother’s death.

There is another party out for revenge, Sally Hardesty. She has been waiting to defeat the monster who killed her brother. As the final moments of Sally’s ride in the back of the pickup truck show, she will forever be broken from this ordeal. And she is. When Sally hears of Leatherface’s return, she gears up to hunt her nightmare. For Sally, nothing matters but the death of Leatherface. She uses people as bait and doesn’t care about the consequences. But this isn’t Sally’s story. Our anti-hero is Leatherface.

All of those that wronged Leatherface are dealt with. Through bone, flying viscera, spilled intestines, and puke, he emerges victoriously. Our other survivor, like Sally, will be someone that will live because they don’t transgress against Leatherface or flaunt an upper-class status.

Tobe Hooper hid the class struggle within the subtext of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. David Blue Garcia chose to highlight the inequality. Both films involve trespassing in Texas. It has always been the running joke that the Sawyer family did nothing against Texas law by killing trespassers. This requel [thanks Scream (2022) for the official nomenclature] works in its ability to create suspense, form unlikable characters ready to kill, and give us an actual massacre in a Texas Chainsaw Massacre film.

Reviews and comments state the characters are terrible; but, this is the point. They are created to be killed just like Kirk, Pam, Jerry, and especially Franklin. The line, “Try anything and you’re canceled bro,” is getting a lot of flack. But, didn’t you want that guy to meet the fury of a chainsaw? If so, then the screenwriter did their job. Some complain about Sally. It’s a good thing they went in a different direction or else the comparisons to Laurie Strode would have been worse. When Sally locks the kids in her vehicle to use as bait, she deserves anything that may happen to her. In the end, like all horror films before it, Massacre will elicit a divided reaction. If you enjoy the slate of requels like Candyman, Scream, Halloween, Chucky, and Slumber Party Massacre, you’re going to enjoy this one too.

Other required reading (The CineNiche guide to Tobe Hooper's nihilistic vision): The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Godless Universe & A Chainsaw Ballet

How does Garcia's Massacre rank within an ennead of chainsaws?

1.)...The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

2.)...Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)

3.)...Texas Chainsaw (2013)

4.)...Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)

5.)...The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

6.)...Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)

7.)...Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)

8.)...Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1995)

9.)...Leatherface (2017)

Speaking of all things TCM, we also recently re-created the original VHS artwork for the 1974 film as a T-shirt [TeePublic]