In a movie that throws so much at the wall the main overarching theme is the one no one brings up.
Ever since it came out in mid February Netflixs Texas Chainsaw Massacre has been received with unenthusiastic reviews and halfhearted applause to put it mildly. Directed by David Blue Garcia the film scored a mere 33 on Metacritic and has been mercilessly bashed by lovers of the original 1974 Tobe Hooper film to which it serves as a direct sequel. Going for it Garcias movie has its beautiful cinematography its fast pace and of course its bloody but not too explicit chainsaw massacre sure to please horror fans with a penchant for soft gore.
Still the case against the Netflix legacy sequel is much stronger the list of evidences includes the misuse of the franchise original final girl Sally Hardesty Olwen Fouéré its underdeveloped and unsympathetic main characters and most of all the movie confusing approach to its central themes and its baffling attempts at social criticism. In less than an hour and 30 minutes Garcia and screenwriter Chris Thomas Devlin poke fun and point fingers at everyone from influencers to bankers throwing all they can at the wall in the hopes that something will stick. Nothing does.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre tries to be a movie about school shootings, gun control gentrification historical racism cancel culture and it fails repeatedly. However, there is one topic the film actually excels at depicting in a meaningful way: the harms that come from the loss of community. It’s a theme that we can not be sure was placed in the plot willingly by Garcia and Devlin. Unlike all other issues the film tries to debate the tension between connection and isolation is never verbalized by any of Texas Chainsaw Massacres characters. Nonetheless its a theme that is present in all the movies storylines from Melody Sarah Yarkin and Dantes Jacob Latimore business venture to Leatherfaces Mark Burnham final homecoming.
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