Editorials
‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’: The Lovable Insanity of Horror’s Strangest Slasher Franchise
It’s hard to overstate the importance of Tobe Hooper’s original Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Not only is it a near-perfect scary movie, but it (alongside Bob Clark’s Black Christmas) also ushered in a new era of horror, setting the groundwork for countless Slasher flicks. Being such an influential property, it’s not surprising that the mad and macabre exploits of Leatherface and company would become a major Hollywood franchise, though no one could have predicted the sheer batshit insanity of the ensuing sequels and reboots.
When Hooper once again revved up the saw in 1986’s darkly comedic Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2, he set a curious precedent for future films in the series by completely disregarding the style and tone of the original, instead focusing on making this strange sequel as entertaining as humanly possible. Since then, TCM movies have become unpredictable smorgasbords of bizarre and outlandish ideas, pissing off generations of horror hounds in the process. That’s why I’d like to look back on the films that succeeded Hooper’s original two Massacres, as I believe that this irreverent approach is exactly what makes the franchise so special.
2018’s Halloween may have caught some flack for disregarding an entire franchise in order to follow up on the first film’s original vision, but the TCM movies have been doing this for decades now. Part 2 may have been a definitive end to Hooper’s involvement with the series, but not even the climactic death of the Sawyer family could keep this Texan nightmare from resurfacing a mere three years later. In what would become a franchise tradition, Jeff Burr’s Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 mostly ignores the events of the previous film (and some of the first) in a quintessential Slasher flick.
In some ways, this third installment feels like a reinterpretation of the first film through the lens of a Friday the 13th sequel, complete with extreme practical gore effects (at least in the unrated version) and an insanely troubled production. Despite focusing on schlocky scares, the movie keeps some of the comedic elements of Part 2 while also providing us with a memorable performance by a pre-Aragorn Viggo Mortensen as the lovably sleazy Tex. If that’s not enough to convince you that this sequel is still worth a watch, the film also boasts one of my all-time favorite movie trailers, which makes me wish for an Army of Darkness rip-off featuring Leatherface trapped in medieval times.
Plagued by censorship and studio meddling, 3 was both a critical and box-office flop, but that didn’t stop the newly-hired Kim Henkel (co-writer of the original film) from doubling down on the exploitational silliness with Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (also known as The Return of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) in 1997. Over the years, this entry has garnered a reputation as a film so bad that the lead stars attempted to sabotage its release once they became famous, but I say it’s one of the most madly entertaining Slasher flicks ever made.
The opening narration mentions the previous sequels as minor incidents related to the original Massacre, but any semblance of continuity is once again thrown out the window in favor of unhinged creativity. The Next Generation may be an undeniable mess, but its commitment to narrative lunacy makes it insanely watchable. Matthew McConaughey is a joy to behold as the cyber-legged Vilmer, and the novelty factor of seeing a young Renée Zellweger being pursued by a gender-confused Leatherface never gets old. The madness even culminates with the film suggesting that the titular Massacre is a recurring event orchestrated by a secretive organization. You don’t have to like it, but I can’t be convinced that a movie where the literal Illuminati sponsors a family of cannibals is anything less than a masterpiece.
The franchise would remain dormant for a while after that (the Illuminati business might have been a bit too much for mainstream audiences), but evil would return with a fresh face in 2003’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake. Our own Joe Lipsett and Trace Thurman have already made an excellent case for the reappraisal of Marcus Nispel’s surprisingly grim remake on the Horror Queers podcast, so suffice to say that it’s simply one of the scariest Slashers to come out of the 2000s. Once you separate it from the gritty realism of the original, it’s easy to appreciate how this rebooted nightmare goes places that Hooper had only hinted at, reframing Leatherface as a truly terrifying figure.
The following prequel also has its share of memorable moments, subjecting us to the literal birth of Leatherface while also painting the “Hewitt” family in a slightly more sympathetic light, revealing the hardship that led to their embrace of cannibalism. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning is by no means a perfect movie, but the brutal gore and slick production value make this another entry worth revisiting, if only for the gnarly kills.
Naturally, this rebooted timeline didn’t last long (though it gifted us with some great supplemental material in the form of tie-in comic books), as 2013’s Texas Chainsaw 3D once again turned to Hooper’s original film for inspiration. This time, the story begins immediately after Sally’s escape, leading to copious amounts of three-dimensional gore and continuity issues. This may be one of the most hated sequels due to its baffling interpretation of the franchise mythology (plus some regrettably disposable leads), but I appreciate the sheer absurdity behind the decision to turn Leatherface into a sympathetic anti-hero.
In some ways, this bold choice is truer to the intent of Gunnar Hansen’s original character than all of the other incarnations, as Leatherface was originally conceived as a childlike figure being manipulated by an abusive family. If you can stomach some wonky CGI, this fresh take on the franchise’s main antagonist combined with a charming leading lady in the form of Alexandra Daddario (her deadpan delivery of “do your thing, cuz!” still echoes in my brain from time to time) results in some highly entertaining 3D shenanigans.
Of course, this less-dreary interpretation of the series antagonist wouldn’t last, as 2017 would see the release of one of the more somber and down-to-earth entries in the franchise with the criminally underseen Leatherface. While this is another case of a weirdly promising movie being butchered by studio interference, Leatherface still has a lot going for it with its French Extremity roots and subversive script that sidesteps continuity issues by taking place before all the other entries. Directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury (the duo behind hits like Inside and Livid), this road movie from hell is a surprisingly poignant prequel chronicling a daring escape from a 1960s mental hospital.
While the finished product isn’t quite what the directing duo had intended, bits and pieces of their original vision still manage to leak through the cracks of this strange little feature. Trying to guess which of the escaped patients will grow up to be the titular cannibal is a lot of fun, and the movie also benefits from a memorable performance by Lily Taylor as Verna Sawyer. While I’d like to see a proper director’s cut someday, Leatherface still deserves more love in its present form, and is further proof that every single one of these releases has something special about it.
Keeping with the franchise tradition, David Blue Garcia’s upcoming Texas Chainsaw Massacre will once again take us back to the original timeline, though there’s no telling what’s in store for the rumored “Old Man Leatherface”. At this point, all we can hope for is that this movie will also do its own thing, adding even more strangeness to one of the oddest Slasher franchises of all time.
At the end of the day, I can’t honestly claim that these sequels and reboots are all Oscar-worthy cinema, but I believe that each new installment brings with it a fresh take on an iconic story, and that’s good enough for me. These movies can be silly, and sometimes even absurd, but they’re never boring, and that’s why I think there isn’t a single “bad” entry in the entire Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise. Every one of these schlocky flicks is worth a watch for drastically different reasons, and I’m always looking forward to Leatherface’s next makeover.
Horror was thriving so well in the 1980s that movies like Pen Densham’s The Kiss (1988) would understandably get lost in the shuffle, only to then gain their fans later on in life. Even still, this one Canadian-American curio has had a more challenging time than others, as far as contemporary reevaluations go, which is very likely due to the movie’s limited availability—at least as of this write-up.
However, the scarceness of The Kiss, while a bit annoying, makes it like catnip for ‘80s horror completists everywhere. Hopefully, a lot of them will walk away satisfied after watching this hidden gem.
Even though The Kiss was intended as the first of several horror collaborations between Astral Pictures and TriStar, as well as the first feature produced by Densham, Richard B. Lewis and John Watson’s Trilogy Entertainment Group, it ended up being the only one produced from that former union. Once the movie was released, TriStar’s distribution jitters—they opted for a regional rollout—did the $6-million flick no favors. TriStar’s cold feet toward horror releases have been well noted, but The Kiss still did a tad better than Night of the Creeps (1986), another genre outing that flopped due to its regional opening.
Shot in Montreal, but set in Albany, New York, The Kiss—which was still called The Host just a few months before its October premiere—concerns an average middle-class family and their forthcoming situation. The uncanny problem in store for them was, in fact, set in motion some years earlier. As that hot and dusty flashback to the Belgian Congo shows, a familial curse was set upon the two Dunbar sisters well before Meredith Salenger’s teenage character was born.
Meredith Salenger, Nicholas Kilbertus and Mimi Kuzyk in The Kiss
The Kiss, which was based on a story by co-writer Stephen Volk (Ghostwatch) and penned by both Volk and Tom Ropelewski, has the outward appearance of The Stepfather (1987). This movie, though, is anything but a gender-flipped retread of that classic domestic disturber. For starters, The Kiss is far less grounded in reality—that much is clear from its unsettling opening scene. There, a trusting girl (Priscilla Mouzakiotis) is the victim of her own deceptive aunt (Céline Lomez); the movie’s titular act, and the story’s first shock, becomes the means of transferring an ancient evil from one host to another.
In the present day, Salenger’s role of Amy Halloran, a religious schoolgirl, is dealt a harsh blow in life once her mother, Hilary Halloran née Dunbar (Pamela Collyer), suddenly dies in a freak accident. But rather than a complete stranger sweeping the Halloran widower (Nicholas Kilbertus) off his feet some months later, Joanna Pacula’s character is that chosen temptress. Here, Pacula plays the grown-up version of the afflicted girl last seen in the movie’s opener. Since Amy’s mother is insistent about there being no reunion between estranged sisters, and she even contemplates buying a gun shortly before her tragic demise, it’s presumable that Aunt Felice poses a threat to her family.
The Kiss isn’t a movie ever too concerned about its own predictability. The audience is indeed often one step ahead of the story here, but also keep in mind how every one of those steps is loud. Take, for instance, the death of Amy’s mother; the Halloran matriarch goes out in garish, gruesome fashion, as a supernaturally commandeered truck sends Collyer’s character through a store window first, then leaves her one leg short. The directorial enthusiasm truly comes out in horrific moments such as these.
The Kiss is always sure to revel in its characters’ ills and misfortunes. So if the plot doesn’t impress, then its lurid parts should. Amy’s mother’s exit scene was proof of an eager, first-time horror director proving his worth. Then, bestie Heather (Sabrina Boudot) survives to tell the tale of a bizarre escalator mishap that, despite showing relatively less gore, spikes viewers’ empathy meter. The wilder bits of this movie, however, commence with that inevitable hookup between Felice and Amy’s bewitched father; their kitchen coitus is paralleled by Amy’s feverish classroom terror. The outcome there is a disquieting cross-cut of sex magic and a young woman’s menstrual onset plus hallucinations.
Sabrina Boudot in The Kiss
From foam appliances to bladders, that parade of special effects in The Kiss casts its own spell on the audience. Felice’s familiar, a visibly malevolent cat, was realized here with several models, some more articulate than others. Admittedly, the demon cat’s not as convincing as most of the effects here, but accepting that artifice, as opposed to fighting it, will make the whole experience way more enjoyable. As for the makeup used to manifest Felice’s inner villainy, it is more minimal and subtle than one might like; yet the work done to turn Pacula into an antithesis of herself is nonetheless compelling.
The otherworldly perils and dreadful goings-on wouldn’t work half as well as they do in The Kiss without the story’s contrast effect. Finding frights in picturesque, extremely ordinary settings was something that took off in the ‘80s, thanks to that sweeping shift to locales like the suburbs. And Amy’s home, a replica of a real Montreal suburban house, is the ideal battleground for any proper good-versus-evil story. It’s also prime real estate for this movie’s satanic panic-inspired horrors.
Because of their ostensibly similar plots, The Kiss has been compared to The Exorcist (1973). Except in Densham’s movie, the sinister, non-Christian entity targeting a teen girl lies within something less apparent and, perhaps, more devastating upon its exposure. To an outsider, Pacula’s Aunt Felice is too beautiful and unobjectionable to ever suspect of being a monster. More suspicious is how quickly she rips into the fabric of the Halloran home. Felice’s mere presence upsets the “texture of family life,” according to the director.
The demon cat in The Kiss
Taking out Amy’s mother and best friend, and distracting her father, would suggest The Kiss is playing by a different set of rules. It is initially leaving its adolescent target unsupported in a rather grim scenario. In contrast, though, this story offers up a surrogate parent who does her best to fill in the holes of Amy’s eroding home life. Mimi Kuzyk does good work as that family friend and doctor, Brenda, who guides the lost child without also steering her in any one direction; she is naturally skeptical of Amy’s accusations until it’s almost too late to do anything about them. So although The Kiss does an admirable job of undoing the main character’s support system, it never leaves her without a lifeline. This dark movie, in spite of everything that’s transpired, doesn’t deprive itself of light and hope.
The Kiss is a potent mélange of familiar ideas. If not for the director’s surprise flair for horror, though, the movie would have been less effective. What a shame that Pen Densham didn’t continue with the genre. As for Joanna Pacula, she is, too, owed credit as the wicked vixen opposite Meredith Salenger’s pitiable Amy; she never fails to be unsettling in her role. Pacula makes Aunt Felice a sexy yet intimidating character.
For horror that steadily doles out madness and menace, while also delivering a flashy and ghastly conclusion, The Kiss is certain to please. Yes, it’s cheesy all the way, but most favorably, everyone involved plays everything straight. That kind of commitment goes a long way with this movie.
The Kiss
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