Throughout the years, originating with the first Texas Chain Saw Massacre movie made in 1974, Leatherface has been a horrifying product of mass murder that has ever since intrigued the American population. With his face made of human skin and having a bloodline of in-breds, he truly is the dismal side of Texas culture. Wielding only a chainsaw and possessing some great skills at hiding, Leatherface always seems to surprise me.

In the modern day Texas Chainsaw 3D, I couldn’t help making assumptions about how the rest of the movie would play out from the beginning. The opening credits montage, composed of clips from the previous movies, set the foundation of the movie for new viewers who weren’t aware of the terror held by Leatherface. The nostalgic scenes brought back memories for the rest of the audience. This definitely was a vivid moment in the film, as the blood and gore came rushing back to the big screen.

In the first scene, you see a clip of a mansion with several men of the same family, the Sawyers’. They’re killed by a group of townspeople who shoot the family members and burn the house down, but unknowingly allow the man they wanted to kill, Leatherface, to escape and a baby to secretly be adopted. From there, we’re brought to the present day and introduced to a group of four friends. Heather, who’s an unreasonably attractive long-lost relative of the Sawyers’, dates Ryan, who is played by Tremaine “Trey Songz” Neverson, and learns about an inheritance she has received by a grandmother she never knew. They are joined by Heather’s seemingly harmless best friend, Nikki, and Ryan sets her up with one of his friends as they take a road trip to stay at the mansion that she inherits.
After picking up a hitchhiker, the group trusts him enough to leave him at her mansion while they go furniture shopping for reasons unknown, and he ends up finding a secret door in which the horror of a confused sociopath lies. This began a series of murders that I feel came much too soon and seemed to be just as I expected, another typical gruesome tale of hide-and-seek film that has been done way too many times.
Although this made me scoff in disgust, I couldn’t take my eyes away from the screen. The 3D visuals were unlike anything I’d seen in other 3D movies. The chainsaw actually seemed like it was right in front of my face, and there was even a scene where he threw the chainsaw and the entire theater gasped and dodged to avoid the realistic weapon from hitting their face.
I didn’t go to the extremity of ducking in my chair, which made some of the braver crowd laugh at the others. Despite the enticing visuals, the hurried plot reduced the overall quality of the film, which wasn’t great to begin with.
This film truly is the epitome of modern slasher movies and is amped up by the 3D, but in saying this, I felt like it could have slowed down just a little bit. Everything came all too soon and seemed to be produced to aim towards teenagers, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I do wish that the initial horror that I felt as I watched the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre would actually scare me and not only be driven by the visual effects of over-used 3D technology.
By Luke Wyrick
What makes you love scary movies? Which is your favorite?