Editorials
Finding Blood, Guts, Family and a Fun Movie in ‘Texas Chainsaw 3D’ [The Silver Lining]
Watching a bad movie doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad experience. Even the worst films can boast a good idea or two, and that’s why we’re trying to look on the bright side with The Silver Lining, where we shine a light on the best parts of traditionally maligned horror flicks.
This time, we’ll be discussing John Luessenhop’s 2013 legacy sequel, Texas Chainsaw 3D!
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre has always been my favorite slasher franchise, and I believe that every single entry in the series has something uniquely lovable about it. Of course, some of these movies are more likable than others, and Texas Chainsaw 3D is definitely one of the least-appreciated sequels in this ever-expanding saga of blood, guts and cannibalism.
Keeping with the franchise tradition of only really acknowledging the first film when crafting a sequel, Luessenhop’s TC3D was Lionsgate Films’ attempt at distancing the series from Platinum Dunes’ surprisingly successful remake and prequel. Wanting to start fresh without necessarily re-introducing the entire TCM mythology, the studio opted to develop a new film directly following the events of Tobe Hooper’s 1974 classic.
Featuring hip casting and state-of-the-art 3D effects, TC3D was meant to make the franchise popular again while also providing audiences with a new take on an elderly Leatherface and his extended family. In this 90-minute slasher, Alexandra Daddario plays Heather, a troubled young woman who inherits a mysterious property in Newt, Texas many years after the events of the first film. Naturally, the house comes with more than a few strings attached, leading to a disturbing reckoning with a family history that simply refuses to die.
So What Went Wrong?
TC3D wasn’t exactly a box-office flop, hauling in over double its original budget, but the 19% score on Rotten Tomatoes and 4.8/10 on IMDB prove that neither critics nor audiences were all that impressed with this attempt at modernizing Leatherface. In some ways, one could argue that this legacy sequel was pretty much doomed from the start.
Not only was Adam Marcus and Debra Sullivan’s original script hastily rewritten ahead of production in order to tone things down and make the flick more marketable, but the filming schedule was also way too tight for a 3D feature on this kind of budget. In the end, the crew was forced to work 24-hour days and even had to switch cinematographers halfway through shooting, putting a tremendous strain on the project.
The original production company wasn’t even credited in the finished film, with Lionsgate scrambling to re-edit the picture on their own once the supposed final cut received the dreaded NC-17 rating from the MPAA. This resulted in a messy and disappointingly tame theatrical release of a movie that had already been streamlined for broader audiences.
Hooper’s classic may have been surprisingly light on violence when compared to modern horror flicks, but TC3D’s lack of proper gore seems a bit more egregious due to its ensemble of forgettable chainsaw fodder. Despite featuring familiar faces like Trey Songz and even Scott Eastwood, the haphazard writing makes you feel like these characters are only here to pad out the body-count. The lack of interesting characters even applies to the antagonists, with Leatherface not being backed up by other crazed members of his family this time around.
The look of the film is also rather bland, lacking the gritty aesthetics of earlier entries in the franchise while also forgoing the slick and stylish cinematography of the remake and its prequel. The lackluster visuals even extend to the effects, as the CGI-enhanced violence is often laughable. Sure, the makeup and designs are creepy enough (as long as you don’t think too much about how the props, wardrobe and casting don’t add up with the timeline), but there are few genuine scares to be found here. Viewing the picture in 3D certainly helps, making the experience feel more in line with a cheesy carnival ride, but that’s clearly not going to work for everyone.
The Silver Lining
A lot of things went wrong with the production of TC3D, but I stand by my opinion on the franchise as a whole. This may be my least favorite movie of the bunch, but it’s still a schlocky fun time if you can look past its troubled beginnings.
For starters, the movie’s intro is a loving homage to Hooper’s classic, with the Sawyer family standing by Leatherface as an angry mob gathers outside, Frankenstein-style. Set mere minutes after the end of the original film, this nostalgic scene features cameos from Marilyn Burns, Gunnar Hansen and franchise-favorite Bill Moseley standing in for Jim Siedow’s iconic Drayton Sawyer. Hell, even John Dugan is back as the vampiric Grandpa!
The rest of the film mostly ignores Leatherface’s extended family, but TC3D actually does a great job of re-imagining the iconic cannibal as an aging victim of injustice. The original film portrayed Leatherface as a helpless pawn of his own family, just doing as he was told, and Dan Yeager’s portrayal isn’t too far off from that idea. His version of the character retains the iconic childlike tantrums and mannerisms while also having grown older and bulkier, making for a downright terrifying interpretation of an iconic Slasher.
The family dynamic between (spoiler alert) Leatherface and Heather is also a surprisingly interesting idea that harkens back to Hooper’s attempts at subverting the traditional American family. Having a seemingly rational person aid and protect a maniacal serial killer because of blood ties is an undeniably creepy concept, and totally in line with the original franchise. It’s just a shame that the movie doesn’t go for this reveal sooner, as the closing moments when Daddario accepts her fate as Leatherface’s new caretaker cement her as one of the most interesting final girls in the franchise.
It may not be Shakespeare, but this rusty old chainsaw is still worth revisiting if you’re in the mood for some dumb fun, especially if you can get your hands on a 3D copy.
Five decades ago, Stephen King published the story of a bullied girl with telekinetic powers and forever changed the world of horror.
Carrie follows a high school misfit who seeks revenge for a hideous prank by psychically destroying her senior prom. The name Carrie White has become synonymous with the concept of a formal dance thanks to a flawless adaptation from Brian De Palma. Now fifty years after the film’s release, Mike Flanagan is putting his own stamp on the troubling story.
Rather than a feature film, the writer/director will expand King’s relatively slim debut novel into an eight-episode miniseries for Amazon Prime set to premiere on October 7.
Flanagan is no stranger to the world of Stephen King. A long-time Constant Reader, he first made waves with his daring adaptation of Gerald’s Game (2017), a novel many fans considered un-filmable. His underrated Doctor Sleep merges the disparate plot of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining with King’s original source material, and his 2024 genre-bending tearjerker The Life of Chuck faithfully executes one of the author’s most metaphysical novellas.
He’s currently mired in pre-production for an expansive adaptation of The Dark Tower series, keystone to King’s connected universe, and Warner Bros. recently announced that Flanagan will helm a new version of The Mist, King’s 1980 novella which sees a small Maine town overrun by otherworldly monsters.
Considering the vast array of the author’s previously unadapted material, an obvious question arises. Why reimagine Carrie in 2026? Noting the timeless nature of the content, Flanagan expressed his desire to bring the story of a bullied girl into modern times, mirroring his approach to Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. He explained, “The only way to approach it was to build something new out of the ingredients of Carrie. Otherwise, there’s really no purpose in trying to retread ground that’s been so beautifully walked before.”
His miniseries will maintain the novel’s bloody bookends while delivering “big surprises” along the way.
A New Prom Night Nightmare
The roughly 60-second teaser introduces Summer H. Howell as Carrie White just before the moment of catastrophe. Standing in a prom dress, she smiles at her applauding classmates with an ominous crown perched upon her head. Moments later, Carrie unleashes a rage-filled scream into the night air while promgoers rush for the exit doors. But careful examination of this scene shows Carrie wearing a different, albeit dirty dress as she seems to telekinetically punish her peers.
In an exclusive first look with Entertainment Weekly, Flanagan explains that in his version of the story, “the events of that prom are going to be completely different.” An open trunk emitting a crimson glow does hint at the pig’s blood dumped on Carrie’s head, but it’s likely Flanagan’s formal dance will be a different kind of horror altogether. Despite these changes, the series may end with the widespread destruction outlined in the source material. Unlike any previous adaptations, King’s novel ends with the near-total destruction of Chamberlain, Maine. A flaming street in Flanagan’s trailer promises similar carnage no matter what prank sparks Carrie’s deadly revenge.
The Monstrous Addition of Social Media
On the opposite end of this fiery conclusion is an extreme act of bullying that brings together the story’s main cast. King’s novel begins as Carrie gets her first period while showering in the girls’ locker room. Completely unaware of the concept of menstruation, the sheltered girl thinks she’s bleeding to death. Her classmates respond with vitriolic rage. Led by ultra-mean girl Chris Hargensen (Alison Thornton), they mock the terrified teen while pelting her with tampons. Glimpses of this disturbing event reveal that Flanagan has excised the scene’s nudity while adding a seismic update. As Carrie sobs in the shower stall, Chris and her friends film the breakdown with their phones.
Other scenes note the presence of social media, bringing King’s fifty-year-old story into the digital age.
Flanagan’s adaptation promises to explore the destructive power of social media, an often invisible entity with a potential for harm rivaling Carrie’s own powers. While King’s tormented heroine suffers in front of a small group of girls, Flanagan’s version of the incident will likely become a viral video, potentially circling the globe on social media. Similar to Katt Shea’s criminally underrated The Rage: Carrie 2, which includes elements of revenge porn exploitation, Flanagan’s modern retelling will distinguish itself by exploring the nebulous cruelty of online bullying, a force ten times more powerful than the irl pranks King first envisioned.
A Completely Reimagined White Family
In addition to modernizing these canon events, Flanagan hints at updates to Carrie’s oppressive upbringing at the hands of her mother, Margaret White (Samantha Sloyan). Dead before the novel begins, we never meet Carrie’s domineering father Ralph, known to carry a bible alongside his gun. Flanagan’s White household will be an altogether different beast. In his version of the story, Carrie and her mother have been hidden away in the unassuming home, forced out of hiding by Ralph’s unexpected death. Perhaps we will finally meet this elusive man whose shadow hangs over his wife and child. Considering the White family’s fundamentalist lifestyle, this reimagining hints at tradwife culture and a home ruled by staunch patriarchal control.
Whereas King’s Carrie has been tormented by her classmates since Kindergarten, Flanagan’s Carrie will be a wide-eyed newcomer to public school, eager to make friends and engage with her peers. We glimpse Carrie cozying up to Chris and the equally popular Sue Snell (Siena Agudong) as she navigates a new social scene. Of course, we know this kindness is part of an elaborate plot designed to lull Carrie into a false sense of camaraderie, setting up an atrocious act of public humiliation. These brief moments of feigned compassion put Sue’s own complicity into question. Will Flanagan’s version of the character find the courage to defend Carrie from vicious bullies or will she succumb to peer pressure and join in the mob mentality?
Perhaps the biggest deviation from King’s original text is the relationship between Carrie and her mother. King’s Margaret White is a horrifically abusive religious zealot whose worldview has been hardened by internalized misogyny. She shames Carrie for menstruating, locks her in a closet to “pray,” and regrets not killing her child in infancy. She’s also responsible for Carrie’s social ostracization. Known to berate her neighbors for their “sins,” Margaret forces her daughter to live by an extreme code of conduct and disallows any potential friends lest they corrupt the girl with their worldly ways.
Flanagan’s version of the character is perhaps just as much a victim as Carrie herself. Also trapped inside her home, his Margaret is overly vigilant, her own trauma manifesting as strict control. Describing a more sympathetic depiction of the iconic villain, Flanagan explains, “Our Margaret White is a woman who fiercely loves her daughter and wants to protect her from this world … [She] doesn’t know how to do that and thinks the way to protect her is to close her off; not punitively, but to create this private utopia.”
Despite this potential softening, Sloyan’s Margaret may still have a sharp edge. Though she has appeared in many Flanagan projects, from Hush (2016) to The Fall of the House of Usher (2023), she is best known for her role as the abhorrent Bev Keane in the poignant saga Midnight Mass (2021). Perhaps inspired by King’s Margaret White, Bev is pious and sadistic, willing to punish anyone who does not adhere to her warped approximation of Catholicism.
Flanagan specifically wrote Margaret with Sloyan in mind, likely remembering the actress’s eerie ability to create deceptive empathy and shift our allegiances on a dime.
Expanding Stephen King’s Telekinetic Universe
While most of King’s story deals with an unthinkable prom night in Chamberlain, Maine, large sections of the semi-epistolary novel see experts debating the nature of telekinesis. Do Carrie’s frightening abilities represent a new phase in human evolution or is the prom night carnage merely a fluke? King settles the debate with a shocking denouement in which a young mother recounts her infant daughter’s ability to dangle her crib toys in midair. We’re left to wonder if she will become another tormented girl who surprises the world with metaphysical strength.
Flanagan plans to build out this brief scene while amplifying themes of female empowerment. After introducing our main cast of characters, episode two will open with an unrelated story in which we meet another girl with the TK gene. Each subsequent chapter will expand this world, building out a roster of telekinetic young women. Considering King’s fondness for stories about powerful kids, often described as possessing “the shining,” Constant Readers will no doubt have their eyes peeled for various Easter Eggs nodding to the author’s vast catalogue.
Giving Carrie Her Own Voice
Perhaps the most striking distinction in Flanagan’s new trailer is the extent to which we hear Carrie’s voice. The sneak peek is fully narrated by the titular prom queen as she demands accountability. “I want to know why,” she explains while detailing Chris’ elaborate plan. Aside from the aforementioned coda, King’s book essentially ends with the aftermath of the prom night tragedy, leaving little time for Carrie to reflect. His shifting narrative does bring the reader into her fragile mind, though not before she’s been cowed by relentless cruelty. We watch Carrie sink into bloodthirsty revenge, but never hear a considered desire for justice or repair.
Flanagan’s original monologue allows Carrie to voice her pain and mourn the life she could have had. We’re also treated to a mug shot-style photo of Chris with a bruised and bandaged face, implying that the mean girl will have to answer for her senseless sadism.
Flanagan is known for filling his series adaptations with heartwrenching speeches that cut to the heart of his thematic intentions, and this teaser seems to follow suit. After years of fans, critics, and scholars analyzing Carrie’s pain, perhaps his modern retelling will offer the titular anti-hero a chance to finally speak for herself.
You must be logged in to post a comment.