 |
| Images courtesy of Arrow Video |
Is it humanly possible for a prequel-film to a horror film
franchise to be considerably meaner and nastier than what supposedly came
afterwards? Well with Darkness Falls and
Wrath of the Titans director Jonathan Liebesman’s four-years-prior
prequel film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning working from a
story and screenplay by Sheldon Turner of X-Men: First Class, the answer
is an unwavering yes. A movie which cost
the studio New Line Cinema more than the first given Dimension Films offered to
buy the franchise rights out from under them that didn’t do poorly but made significantly
less money than the first reboot, The Beginning is an origins story film
that isn’t needed or necessarily contributing to the lore of Leatherface but it
gives actor R. Lee Ermey ample room to go nuts onscreen and explain how he
acquired the title of Sheriff Hoyt.
Mostly, Leatherface is around but it’s Sheriff Hoyt’s show in this
frankly sadistic prequel.
Opening in 1939 a woman dies giving out-of-wedlock birth to
a boy in a Texan slaughterhouse, abandoned and left for dead in a dumpster
before a young Luda Mae Hewitt (Allison March) discovers him, takes him home
and names him Thomas (soon to be Leatherface).
Thirty years later, Thomas acquires work in the same slaughterhouse he
was abandoned in and following a health department shutdown Thomas kills his
boss before taking a chainsaw at the same time Charlie Hewitt (R. Lee Ermey)
kills a local Sheriff and assumes the man’s identity, now stalking the area
armed with a shotgun and police car. Jumping
up to the 1960s on the cusp of the Vietnam War, we find a new ragtag group of
brothers, Eric (Matt Bomer) and Dean (Taylor Handley), who are traveling across
the country with their girlfriends Chrissie (Jordana Brewster) and Bailey
(Diora Baird) to enlist in the military.
However, following a run-in with a violent biker gang, the foursome unintentionally
crosses paths with the Sheriff Hoyt who has his own plans for the teen
posse.
As aforementioned, this is mostly R. Lee Ermey’s film with
some Leatherface in it who gradually acquires his weaponry and title but like
most origins stories its not as interesting as seeing Ermey hold court
onscreen. Still a mostly motiveless
serial killer and cannibal, Leatherface again played by Andrew Bryniarski does
get some kills in including scalping an entire head of hair with its face off
even cleaner of an operation than the surgery scene in Face/Off, much of
the film is devoted to Ermey antagonizing and taunting the kids. There’s something of a rescue mission afoot
as one of the kids gets dragged back to the house after hiding in a jeep being
towed by Uncle Monty (Terrance Evans) while Leatherface slowly but surely finds
his serial killer mojo. One factor that
sets this iteration apart from the first movie is the sense of nihilistic
hopelessness. Where the first offered
something akin to a glimmer of hope, The Beginning is like a metal-toed
leather boot stomping your head in on the pavement. It doesn’t relent until its over.
Featuring modestly monochromatic and burning hot sunny brown
tones by Battle: Lost Angeles cinematographer Lukas Ettlin, breaking
away from Daniel Pearl’s more polished and less scorching visuals, and again a
score by Steve Jablonsky, The Beginning looks and sounds generally nice
and early scenes with the quartet of teens hanging out in a hotel and swimming
pool is a nice reprieve from the grungier grimy plantation household and open
rocky road terrain. The cast is
generally good with Jordana Brewster assuming the role of scream queen here
while cast members from the 2003 film reprise their roles here. R. Lee Ermey all but walks away with the film
by himself, one of the film’s virtues as well as shortcomings as he tends to
take precedence over Leatherface in these proceedings, but he's so entertaining
onscreen you don’t find yourself caring much that the film is somewhat short on
the chainsaw wielder.
Opening on October 6th 2006, following in the
footsteps of the 2003 film’s Halloween release, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre:
The Beginning costing over $16 million (a significant jump up from the
smaller budget of its predecessor) went on to gross $51.8 million at the box
office. Not a bad number but far below
the expectations set forth by the Marcus Nispel film. Critically it fared even worse with it
receiving a nomination for Worst Prequel/Sequel at the 27th Golden
Raspberry Awards in 2006. As a result of
the film’s modest success and lukewarm critical reception canceled any plans
for a third Texas Chainsaw Massacre film. Despite this, it didn’t affect Jonathan
Liebesman’s tenure with Platinum Dunes or friendship with Michael Bay as he
went on to do the 2014 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot which earned
him a Golden Raspberry nomination but went on to gross $485 million. While this one doesn’t get as much rewatches
or discussion as the 2003 film, it still packs a mean sadistic punch with Ermey
having a ball. Unnecessary but certainly
far from being the unwatchable dreck critics and audiences will lead you to
believe it is.
