The month of October could mean a number of things, but for many horror fans, it is a 31-day countdown to the day of horror itself. Waiting in the anticipation of Halloween and all of its spooky festivities often leaves such fans searching for ways to kill the time in between. It should come as no surprise, then, that October is also the month where horror movies are in great demand. The first of these major horror movies to be released is the sixth installment into the long-standing Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise. Simply titled, “Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning,” this movie serves as a prequel to the original 1974 movie and its 2003 remake. How well it actually serves its purpose to the franchise is another story altogether.
In much the same way as previous “Massacre” movies, this film opens with a group of teenagers taking a road-trip through the Deep South. This time around, two brothers (played by Matthew Bomer and Taylor Handley) and their respective girlfriends (Jordana Brewster and Diora Baird) are traveling through the back roads of Texas one last time (in more than one way) before the brothers are shipped off to Vietnam. Of course, their plans are forever altered when the teens get into an accident that calls for the local sheriff (once again reprised by R. Lee Ermy) to enter the scene. So begins what is basically the rest of what this film has to offer.
It has long been a strong belief and questionable theory amongst horror-film aficionados and gurus alike that the prequel is the one last resort of a dying franchise or the desperate attempt at quick cash off of a well-known name. If this theory is to hold true, then this “Massacre” film, ironically titled “The Beginning,” is where it should end.
It is not to say that “The Beginning” greatly suffers from sub-par acting, poor plot and a lack of overall terror, but that it presents nothing new that previous “Massacre” films haven’t done already. Where the franchise stands as of now, it is no longer a movie where you can sit and watch and expect great surprises or shocks that develop throughout the viewing. In the simplest of terms, this film runs in the same horror-movie routine and what you expect to happen will most likely happen.
What might be most disappointing about this film is Leatherface himself. The origins of Leatherface and the Hewitt family haven’t clearly been known up to this point, but this prequel manages to answer all of the questions that have been forming since 1974 in the first 10-15 minutes of the film, greatly lacking in details, of course.
Worst of all, they took the sheer terror of the character of Leatherface and watered it down as you come to find that Leatherface is nothing more than a dumpster baby “adopted” by Luda Mae Hewitt who grows up bullied and outcast because of his deformity.
This is not to say that “The Beginning” is not worth the time. There are but two saving graces to this film: the gore and bloodshed that will undoubtedly ensue and the head of the Hewitt family/local Sheriff Hoyt. Ermy returns once again, this time in a starring role, with a new set of comedic one-liners of southern tough-love that works all too well in this case. Not only does Ermy allow relief from the numerous moments of torture and gore as well as the overall slow-moving story, but the character of Sheriff Hoyt is made much more enjoyable with more time allowed on screen.
Still, if there is one reason to stand above the rest that this should be seen, it is for the gore alone. “The Beginning,” while void of any kind of original plot or story, has all new ways that one can experience death by chainsaw. When it comes right down to it, “The Beginning” is a bloodbath from when the “terror” begins to the very not-so-surprising end.