Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Year: 2003
Grade: C+
Country: USA
Director: Nispel
Review(2003) – it’s nice that i watched these two films on the same day because they’re both an homage to the same film and genre. wrong turn is deliverance meets texas chainsaw massacre; and texas chainsaw massacre 2003 is a loose remaking of the 1974 original. as is true with most genre films the key is in the execution. wrong turn executed well and texas chainsaw massacre didn’t quite as well (though texas chainsaw massacre did have wrong turn beat in the t and a category). wrong turn, though 20 minutes shorter than tcm, takes time to establish atmosphere when necessary. another success of wrong turn, relative to tcm, is its superior villains. the original tcm had great villains – leather face, the extremely old patriarch, etc. but this version doesn’t create the villains quite as well (though r. lee ermey was effective). wrong turn, thanks to stan winston (aliens, thing, terminator 2), did a great job of creating truly awful villains. some similar details went into creating the atmosphere – both had record players playing at the end of the record, both were big on rusted, old cars, and both used glass jars filled with body parts, etc. to create a creepy atmosphere. another interesting similarity between the two is the way they used sfx. wrong turn used sfx more frequently and most of the time it was done well. actually the worst effects shots were the most basic ones – the process shots. some of the more creative effects shots were the arrow impaling the sheriff in the eye and the axe to the dome of one of the female characters. in tcm the most notable effects shot was extremely subtle – jessica biel jumped through a hole in the wall to hide from leather face. the hole in the wall had digitally inserted splinters to make it safe for biel to dive through, while making it look imposing. tcm seemed to have a social subtext. it took place in texas and pitted the hippie victims against the traditional values villains. tcm had a blair witch ending which didn’t seem to really add much to the film. wrong turn . texas chainsaw massacre.