Texas Chainsaw 3D

Those of you that know me knows that I am a supporter of the Texas Motion Picture Alliance.

Now you are asking What is that. Well Kiddies I’ll try to explain it to you.

The Texas Motion Picture Alliance aka TXMPA is an advocate for the film, video, commercial, interactive and digital media production industries in the Lone Star State. TXMPA is committed to building a strong community of industry professionals. It is charged with creating competitive economic incentives to present to the state legislature during sessions. TXMPA is also committed to educating the general public about media industry businesses and how they impact lives by pumping millions of dollars into the economy.

All of that information came from the TXMPA website www.txmpa.org

What they are trying to accomplish is they are trying to get Texas to offer the film incentives that are being offered by other states to bring productions to the state.

Now you ask what does this have to do with anything.

The new Texas Chainsaw Massacre film was shot in Louisiana. Now I have a big problem with that.

THE FILM HAS TEXAS IN THE TITLE!!!   

Three franchises that need to be filmed in Texas is DALLAS, Walker: Texas Ranger, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Well Knowing me when I hear these rumors I go straight to the horse’s mouth and I spoke to one of the Officers of the TXMPA and I gave her a piece of my mind.

It was there that I found out that the flick wasn't turned down for the incentives and that they would have loved to have the film shot here in Texas.

So after I apologized profusely for putting my foot in my mouth I had a much longer conversation with the woman about the incentives that were offered to them.

The truth is that states like Louisiana and Georgia offer far better film incentives that the other states can’t do better than at this time. The truth is that Texas needs to realize the benefits that a film’s production can bring to a community.

I’ve seen it myself in many other film productions that I have been part of over the years.

Now I did end up having dinner with a member of the original cast in 2012 and we did discuss the new film.

He did point out that the film was shot just 15 Minutes from the Texas border and that the film as a matter of fact did look like Texas.

He also pointed out his opinion of the Benefits that are offered to filmmakers in the state of Louisiana.

Now that being said I was able to finally check out the Blu-Ray release of Texas Chainsaw 3D.

Now first off this flick ignores all continuity of the previous sequels and this flick is not a sequel to the 2003 Reboot of the Franchise.

This is instead a direct sequel to the original 1974 film which picks up right where the TCM left off.

After Sally Hardesty’s escape form the House the town sheriff heads to the Sawyer family’s house where the remaining members have all converged to defend their family.

Including Boss Sawyer played by The original Chainsaw star Gunner Hanson and Grandpa who is once again played by John Dugan.

 The role of Drayton Sawyer since Jim Siedow had passed away is now played by Horror star Bill Moseley who took on the role of Choptop in Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2.

The sheriff demands that they turn over Leatherface and the family replies that he was just “Protecting our Home”.

With the urging of the rest of the family they agree to release Leatherface into custody in exchange that he receives a good lawyer for his defense to which the sheriff agrees.

At that point a band of locals appear as a lynch mob with their shotguns who proceed to open fire on the family and burn down to the house. A lone man finds a young mother who escaped the flames and she has her baby girl with her and the man kills the woman and takes the baby and gives it to his wife since they were looking to have a child. The rest of the family burns inside the house and unknown to the mob is that Leatherface is safe inside the cellar of the house.

The baby Heather grows up and moves away where she works as a butcher of the local market with her boyfriend and her best friend and then she learns that the ones that raised her are in fact not her real parents and, for the record they don’t have a good relationship.

The reason that she has learned this is the fact that her biological grandmother has passed away and that she has inherited her entire estate since she is the last relative.

Naturally she takes off to the house in Texas and she discovers that the house is a giant mansion and she is given a letter that she conveniently forgets to read.

On the way to Texas the group consisting of Heather’s boyfriend Ryan and her best friend Nikki, which you findout are having an affair with each other, as well as Ryan’s friend Kenny pick up Darryl a hitchhiker. It figures in a Texas Chainsaw film that they would pick up a Hitchhiker.

However Darryl is in actuality is looking to rob the estate and when the group goes to town to purchase supplies Darryl goes throughout the house stealing whatever he can get his hands on and goes downstairs in the cellar where he finds a locked steel door with a small hole with a tray of eaten food that has been slid out and he figures that this may be a vault with all of the money.

What he instead finds is that the room contains Leatherface who promptly takes Darryl out with his trusty sledge hammer.

Eventually the gang comes back to the house and what we get is the basis one by one takeout until Leatherface chases Heather into town and into the own carnival (Hilarious scene where leatherface meets face to face with a haunter with a chainsaw dressed as the killer in the Saw franchise) where he is stopped by the local deputy.

The movie then takes a new direction where we find out that the Sheriff from the beginning of the flick is still the town sheriff and the leader of the lynch mob is now the Mayor who upon learning that Heather is the last remaining of the Sawyer family decide to kill her and Heather learns the truth of what happened to her real family.

Heather is eventually captured and in the real twist in the flick Heather and Leatherface join forces to fight the Mayor and his minions and the real bloodbath begins.

The direction of making Leatherface into the hero of the film is a interesting step. Actually I liked that direction.

The fact is that this film takes Leatherface’s point of view in the fact that in the first film he was just protecting his family home and the people that he killed were all trespassing in his home…and that was true. 

The fact that the lynch mob attacked and killed his family also points the character in that direction especially in the truth us that the killers are all the authorities in the community.

Many people will take offence to making Leatherface the hero of the series but the truth is that it works with the character. That direction has been taken by both the Frankenstein Monster and Leatherface himself took a similar direction in Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 as well.

Despite my earlier rant about the film not being made in Texas the crew did an outstanding job in recreating the original Chainsaw house.

The original House I did attend a screening of in 2011 and the House definitely was similar in a recreation.

My issues with the recreation is that it was not explained what happened to the truck driver in the original that we are always asking what happened. The truck remains there but the driver is nowhere to be seen.

Another Texas rant that I have is the use of basements in the film. Anyone who lives in Texas knows that basements are not common here in because of the foundations in the ground going back to the Basement in the Alamo joke.

The only other issue that I have with the flick is Heather’s age. I estimate that her age is in her early 20s and If you do the math that doesn’t add up to the time that has passed since the first flick and that is just something that I feel the need to let go but it is a issue.

As I had stated earlier the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise means much for me and I feel that this movie was a great entry to the series however for a direct sequel I’ll watch Chainsaw Part 2.

The Blu-Ray is loaded with some good Special Features including 3 commentaries which one of them features the Texas Chainsaw Massacre Alumni with Marlyn Burns, Bill Moseley, and John Dugan. Also included is Behind the scenes documentaries including one that shows the recreation and destruction of the original Chainsaw house and a special look at Dan Yeager who takes on the role of Leatherface as well as a look at the making of the kills in the flick.

I would like to see all the future entries to be filmed here in the Great State of Texas and I would like anyone reading this entry to contact the TXMPA on the website that I gave you earlier in this review.

14 Dead Bodies

0 Breasts

1 Beast

1 Car Chase with a crash but no burn

Sledge Hammer to the Face

Hatchet to the temple

Chainsaw to the Belly

Body Grinding

Body Halfing

College kid Fu

Redneck Fu

Sawyer Fu

Chainsaw Fu

2 Stars (One star subtracted for not being filmed in Texas)

Check it out