Finding the bite in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
Did anybody ever notice that in the remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the actual Hitchhiker was Pepper, not the lost girl? Think about it: the girl was not looking for a ride, she was coaxed into the van. Whereas Pepper admits in dialogue she was hitchhiking, was picked up only a day ago, and everything horrible that befell them occurs shortly after they pick her up. Just like crazy Nubbins.
This is what shows how respectful Scott Kosar and Marcus Nispel are of the original film: they know they could never actually recreate any original concept of Hooper’s film. So they find new and inventive ways to redefine old concepts and characters and make an entirely new film from the same story framework. In short, the product they delivered is a very different beast from the product they inherited.
Want another example of what I’m talking about? Just look at Morgan. He’s an annoying and condescending stoner with a propensity toward being a colossal smart-ass. I don’t know about any of you, but that sure sounds like a modernization of Franklin’s whiney stupidity to me, and it just took me 14 years to figure that out.
There are even times Kosar and Nispel completely shun trying to copy the original and pounce straight onto other films, resulting in Kemp, Erin, and the others accidentally trapping an opossum in a clear nod to Ripley, Brett, and Parker uncovering Jones in Alien.
Truth is, they find ways to truly expand upon what was originally there, suggesting the deeper, psychological trauma that living amongst rampant predators inflicts upon humanity. The original was soley about the massacre itself; the remake portrays the aftermath of every other massacre before it. Take for example Jedidiah, who seems so removed from serene normality that he lives on a teetering edge of beeing feral, ticking and crawling but still in possession of language and empathy. It’s obvious he was born (or perhaps kidnapped, like the baby) into this depraved world of cannibalism and murder, much like Leatherface, such that he is perhaps the last generation of humanity that will retain sentience, a victim of the unique brand of the human predator.
Unlike the original film, which seems to imply that the family tradition of “prime meat” started with Grampa, the remake here suggests cannibalism, kidnapping, and indoctrination into this predatory state has been going on for generations. Leatherface is not the anomalous, impaired member of the Sawyer clan, but Jedidiah in 20 years; almost completely sucked of all human compassion and empathy, taught to treat human begins as food and toys until he will eventually eventually make his family proud by joining them as a perfect sadist hunter.
Even the humor is such a tonal shift away from generalized but funny comparisons between the Sawyers to a normal family, now in the form of uber-dark and twisted shock laughs, best personified in Sheriff Hoyt, played in pitch-perfect casting by R. Lee Ermey. He may whine about how liberal Hollywood has blackballed him for being a Trumpite, but with this movie, he proves he was oblivious to his treatment of him already: as a human predator only fit to play vicious roles, rarely ever breaking out of this mold in a memorable way. Hoyt is the true evil in the film (not Leatherface), engaging in casual necrophilia and exerting terrifying power over the leads, mentally torturing them in the middle act of the film. Ermey plays the role with such believability, and it’s because Nispel knows how to push a political agenda much better than Hooper; chances are that if you’re reading this and are not vegan, you most certainly are of a left-wing political stance, and Hoyt ends up reminding you a little too much of Joe Arpaio, doesn’t he? Nispel was using metatextual humor to do more than make you give up meat–he was opening your eyes to the ancient historical tradition of the invasive human species upon Nature. In other words, to recruit you into Fox News’ scary “liberal agenda,” a.k.a. reality.
It’s almost as if TCM03 is in the same class of horror film as It Follows, except that it constantly lifts the curtain to offer a glimpse of the predator’s point of view. If it has a weakness, it’s in the hobbled way it tries to meld Hollywood sensibilities into the script. Cannibalism in not depicted or even mentioned at all, instead relegated to hints and safe nods to the original film. To the trained eye, it is plainly there, but again, been watching this for almost 15 years and I’m just now noticing all of this, can’t be a good sign. The traditional score, the frenetic, music-video-style editing, the illogical nature of Leatherface’s lair, and the uninspired performance of Andrew Bryniarski as Leatherface, all of it stands out like a slightly sore thumb, but the film rolls with it’s disabilities to form as special an experience as could possibly come from this kind of cinema.
It’s not better than the original, that’s not the point: the point is that it’s a rare remake that knows it could never compete with its source, so it does something wholly distinct to make up for the Hollywood scares and old cliches. Like a millionaire’s son who aims to work honestly, it accepts that it’s father had the difficulty level set to easy, and decided to play things fair.
Reblogging because I’m watching it again and, well, realizing all of this again.
