The Texas chainsaw massacre: The Begining

This is a prequel to the events in the remake of the original (confusing enough for you?)Essentially it tells the origins of the characters from the remake, which includes Leatherface as well as R. Lee Ermey’s character. This film also has a great look to it. It really has some nice tones for a horror movie (not exactly original but very nice). I also enjoyed several of the interesting camera angles in this one. This movie is brutal! The first 13 minutes make up for all the faults of Texas chainsaw massacre part 4. R. Lee Ermey is great in this. I liked him in the remake but this one really shows more of his character and he plays it very well.

This movie shows the beginning of Leatherface and how the closing of the meat plant destroyed the town leaving the Weavers as pretty much the only people left. Two couples are travling through town when they get in a wreck. R. Lee Ermey who has taken over as sheriff kidnaps them and takes them back to his house for dinner (to eat them not serve them). All of the TCM sequels tried to show a disturbed family but they all pale in comparison to this one. Finally we see how really crazy this family is without so much cheesy acting. This movie provides everything you want from a Texas chainsaw massacre film and more.

My rating 8 out of 10

Review by Elvis Lawson

Here is the trailer.

The Texas chainsaw massacre (2003)

This is the remake of the Tobe Hooper classic form 1974. I was a bit dubious upon first hearing about this, in part because I loved the original so much and in part because I was unsure how Michael Bay would do with it. As with many of my reviews of remakes I will be comparing this to the original as much as reviewing it in its own right. To start with I actually liked the intro much better. It is obvious from the get go that a larger budget and a modern acceptance of horror movies has given this movie a much more talented cast(not that it is full of Oscar winners). I like the plot change about going to a concert vs going to their grandparent’s old house because I always wondered why someone would vacation to such a shitty house.

The new hitchhiker added a nice touch and shot through the hole in the head was great (not the most original but great none the less) but I still prefer the original crazy guy. The first killing kept to the brutalness and ferocity of the original which I loved. The second started with the more drawn out fight scene type that are more popular. Not really sure I like showing leather face’s face. The unknown was a nice added bit of terror in the original. Was he normal or not? I mind this less I must say after the prequel but more on that in another review. There was some pretty gritty and great horror and gore scenes in this movie, particularly Leatherface wearing her boyfriend’s face as a mask. I don’t really get the little kid. I think the film could have gone along fine without him. Sure he was a bit creepy but just seemed unneeded. R. Lee Ermey is great in this film (even better in the prequel). This is also a beautifully shot film.I like the ending with the documentary but the movie ending was not great (although it had a nice startle fright) I prefer the more bleak ending to the original. Overall I would say this was a very worthy remake and in some ways outshined its predecessor. While I still prefer the original I am sure this will appeal more to a younger crowd and that is always good , as it gets more horror films the green light.

My rating 8.5 out of 10

Review by Elvis Lawson

Here is the trailer.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre 4: The next generation

Well on the outside this seems very promising. I can still remember when this first came out how excited I was. One of my favorite franchises was going to be reborn staring these two actors I loved so much in Dazed and Confused. While I remember being disappointed back then, until this reviewing I couldn’t remember why. I must have blocked this piece of crap from my memory back then and with good reason I must say. As I just mentioned, this stars Renée Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey very early in their career. Renee plays a young lady that gets stranded with her friends. They run into Mattew who is the local tow truck driver and crazed psychopath. I will admit that Mattew does a pretty good job at being a psycho but the writing is so bad that it doesn’t last long before you just want to punch the TV.

I am a man who can really enjoy a bad movie most of the time, but I have little patience for people screwing up good franchises by completely changes characters and putting things on film that don’t belong there. For starters I can’t possibly articulate how much I feel they fucked up Leatherface in this film. For starters they gave him a mullet. I could forgive that except the also turn him into a drag queen. What in the hell is that? I want Leatherface being crazy and sawing people up. I don’t want to see him putting on lipstick and wearing a dress! I will say though that this does have a good (one of the franchises best) Leatherface chase scene but that can’t come close to saving this.

This film also features some of the worse acting I have ever seen. The 2 preppy friends of hers were bad but Matthew’s girlfriend was so god awful I truly think she got the part because she would show her tits. I would chalk a bit of this up to the director as there was even some bad acting from Renee in some parts. Over all the story is so terrible I don’t know how in the hell it got a green light. They ruined the entire folklore of the franchise by making the family wok for someone and whose grand idea was it for Matthew to have a remote control leg. That may possibly be the dumbest thing ever put on film. But don’t worry about all the stupid parts because if you make it to the end it gets even worse!

My rating 1.5 out of 10

Review by Elvis Lawson

Here is the trailer.

H.G. Wells War of the Worlds

Written and directed by David Michael Latt who is building a modern B movie empire. This is not the Tom Cruise fueled remake of the original B-movie masterpiece, or even the original masterpiece. This is based on the H.G. Wells book like the others but pretty much made to ride the coattails of the Tom Cruise remake (as are lots of Latt’s recent productions) This version stars C. Thomas Howell whose career doesn’t seem to be doing so well as of late.

This version follows a similar story line to the others since they are all based on the same book. Honestly I like the non action parts of this version better than the big budget Tom Cruise remake. Sure the special effects in the big budget version were much better but these for the most part were surprisingly suitable. While not ultra realistic, I found they had a bit of nostalgia feel to them. C. Thomas Howell was not as bad as I expected him to be and was pretty believable in parts. It is obvious that this was shot quickly and doesn’t have a ton of variation of sets but in an independent movie this is to be expected and they did pretty well for what they had to work with.

So while this movie was made to take advantage of the release and advertising of the Tom Cruise remake, I feel it holds up well and is a pretty decent B-movie. If you are tired of big stories being overshadowed by bigger special effects, then this movie is right up your alley.

My rating 6 out f 10 (B-movie rating)

Review by Elvis Lawson

Here is the trailer.

Bad Taste

After watching Dead Alive I decided to break out Bad taste which is Peter Jackson’s first film and a couple before Dead Alive. I must admit that while I remember enjoying the film many years ago when I first saw it, it loses a lot when compared directly to Dead Alive. It is in much the same vein as Dead Alive in that it is a comedy with horrific circumstances. It does have a bit of gore and I must say for a small but Jackson did ok (especially nice that he did the special effects himself)

Jackson obliviously learned a lot from this film because his writing and camera direction grew quite a bit from this to Dead Alive and even more-so to what he did in the Lord of the Ring trilogy. To be fair to all parties though, this was his only movie not to be co-written with his wife Fran Walsh. It shows how much of an impact she must have (especially on dialogue)

Bad taste is about a group of guys who hunt down aliens and weird things. They come across a town than has been invaded by aliens and turned all the farmers into zombie like creatures that like to kill and eat other humans. They plan to use human meat to start a fast food franchise. Most of the movie is the final fight scene which is pretty long and a little bit drawn out. This film does have some pretty good gore and some very funny moments but those are not enough to make up for some of the acting and writing unfortunately. Compared to other movies of his it lags but in comparison to other b movies of the genre it would stand up pretty well. Absolutely worth a viewing if you are a fan of his or a fan of splatter comedy.

My rating 6 out of 10

Review by Elvis Lawson

Here is the trailer.