Editorials
[Good Scenes In Bad Movies] The ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)’ Edition!
I thought the 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was serviceable. Neither as fun as Friday The 13th 2009 (sue me, I love that one) or as abysmal as A Nightmare On Elm Street 2010. The Wolfman sort of feels the same way. He doesn’t exactly like it, but he can’t outright hate it (even if it’s of course nowhere near as good as the original). Sometimes finding a saving grace in a film comes down to finding just one scene that really hits it out of the park. And that’s precisely the point The Wolfman (@TheWolfmanCometh – on the boards) aims to illustrate here in his column!
We’re going to, on occasion, start examining good scenes that outpace the general quality of the film that contains them. And we hope you’ll come along for the ride! Head inside for his take on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2003!
Whether you actually like the movie or not, I don’t think there’s any question within the horror community of the impact that The Texas Chain Saw Massacre had in 1974 and how that impact can be felt to this day. Almost 40 years after its release, we’ve seen hundreds of copycats or movies with similar themes that involve a mentally or physically deformed individual or group of individuals who are killing anyone who stumbles into their path. I think the biggest strengths of the original, as is the case with most classics, would be factors that were seemingly outside the production’s control. For example, the poor quality of film used on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is what makes everything feel so grimy, filthy, and real (similarly to how the shark looking awful in Jaws caused Spielberg to barely show the creature). I won’t go on and on about all the reasons why the original is so good (but you’re more than welcome to by reading the review on my personal blog), but I wanted to emphasize its lo-fi feel to contrast it with what went so wrong with its remake in 2003, which cost roughly $10 million.
Using a similar style to the original, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre opens with footage “recovered” from investigators of the Hewitt household, and even got John Larroquette back to do the voiceover. From there, we see a group of coeds on their way to see Lynyrd Skynyrd, as was common practice in 1973. After picking up a hitchhiker who appears to be in need of assistance, the gang learns that there isn’t much they can do to help her, made clear by this hitchhiker pulling a gun out of her bathing suit area (the bottom parts, no less) and shooting herself in the head. When the gang pulls into a local gas station in hopes of getting help from the town sheriff, they instead receive help from R. Lee Ermey, who I’m willing to bet has never helped anyone do anything except cry over their physical imperfections. What follows is a bland series of chase scenes involving a big guy with a chainsaw chasing around Jessica Biel, and every time she thinks she’s made it away safely, we realize that the Hewitt family is quite large (figuratively and literally) and Leatherface (the most leathery-faced member of the Hewitt clan) catches up to her. She ultimately tricks him by putting a pig in a locker (huh?) and chopping his arm off. She then went on to get married to Adam Sandler and Kevin James… or something, I can’t really remember.
Being judged on its own, I can’t say this movie is awful, but compared to the original, it holds absolutely none of the fear or, dare I say, charm of Tobe Hooper’s 1974 version. Some of the cinematography was decent, causing moments where you felt like these characters really were driving through Texas in 1973 (based mostly on sweat), but that’s about it. The violence wasn’t really all that graphic, or at least not any more graphic than anything else in 2003. Then again, the original didn’t rely on gore to get its terror across, so I guess it’s a moot point. It was entertaining to see R. Lee Ermey chewing up the scenery around him, but it also really only showed just how much more talented he was than everyone else involved, making them look terrible by comparison. You didn’t care about any of the characters or whether they lived or died, but again, not too different than the characters in the original. I could see where the remake tried to go by highlighting the familial aspect of the original, but I think all the family members were just watered down versions of characters we’ve seen in other films in their generic creepiness. In fact, I think it was the almost cartoonish interpretations of the family members in the original that, when juxtaposed against the horror of the events at hand, made that film all the more successful. All that being said, there was one particular segment I found quite enjoyable.
One of the weirdest scenes in the original film is when a hitchhiker (Edwin Neal) is picked up and he proceeds to thoroughly creep out everyone in the van. From taking pictures of them that he sets on fire, to telling stories of when he used to work at a slaughterhouse, to straight up cutting people, he successfully creeps out them and the audience. The remake tried to do things a little differently, possibly knowing that they couldn’t even try to achieve the same effect that this scene had in the original, and they instead turned it into an ominous and foreboding moment. As I already mentioned, it involved a girl stumbling, crying, and bleeding her way down a dirt road. When she’s picked up, her ramblings don’t make sense. Once she tells them “You’re all going to die”, she puts a gun in her mouth and shoots out the back of her head. We see screaming and flailing, but the best part of this segment is when a camera starts in the driver and passenger seats, pulls back to see the reactions of the characters in the back seat, continues to pull backwards THROUGH the recently opened hole in the hitchhiker’s head, her head flops backwards towards the camera with a well-timed “thud”, and the camera continues out through the hole created by the bullet in the back windshield. Although the acting in that scene (if you want to call Jessica Biel frantically screaming “acting”) isn’t all that good, the practical effect is a really successful one. I have the Special Edition DVD (whoops, did I just admit to that?) and saw a little behind-the-scenes segment talking about that scene and how all it took was the prosthetic of the actress’s head and an endoscopic camera on the end of a long pole. The pole is what held the head in place, so as soon as the camera/pole rig was clear, the head flops. Simple, effective, and a cheap way to make a nice, gruesome gag that reminded me a lot of some of the shots accomplished by Raimi’s team on the Evil Dead movies. There were a few other moving parts to that scene, but that’s the gist of it. Another reason this scene is noteworthy is because up until this point, between the opening sequence and the look of the film, it really isn’t all that bad of a movie. But pretty much everything after that sequence is garbage.
Editorials
‘Immaculate’ – A Companion Watch Guide to the Religious Horror Movie and Its Cinematic Influences
The religious horror movie Immaculate, starring Sydney Sweeney and directed by Michael Mohan, wears its horror influences on its sleeves. NEON’s new horror movie is now available on Digital and PVOD, making it easier to catch up with the buzzy title. If you’ve already seen Immaculate, this companion watch guide highlights horror movies to pair with it.
Sweeney stars in Immaculate as Cecilia, a woman of devout faith who is offered a fulfilling new role at an illustrious Italian convent. Cecilia’s warm welcome to the picture-perfect Italian countryside gets derailed soon enough when she discovers she’s become pregnant and realizes the convent harbors disturbing secrets.
From Will Bates’ gothic score to the filming locations and even shot compositions, Immaculate owes a lot to its cinematic influences. Mohan pulls from more than just religious horror, though. While Immaculate pays tribute to the classics, the horror movie surprises for the way it leans so heavily into Italian horror and New French Extremity. Let’s dig into many of the film’s most prominent horror influences with a companion watch guide.
Warning: Immaculate spoilers ahead.
Rosemary’s Baby
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The mother of all pregnancy horror movies introduces Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow), an eager-to-please housewife who’s supportive of her husband, Guy, and thrilled he landed them a spot in the coveted Bramford apartment building. Guy proposes a romantic evening, which gives way to a hallucinogenic nightmare scenario that leaves Rosemary confused and pregnant. Rosemary’s suspicions and paranoia mount as she’s gaslit by everyone around her, all attempting to distract her from her deeply abnormal pregnancy. While Cecilia follows a similar emotional journey to Rosemary, from the confusion over her baby’s conception to being gaslit by those who claim to have her best interests in mind, Immaculate inverts the iconic final frame of Rosemary’s Baby to great effect.
The Exorcist
William Friedkin’s horror classic shook audiences to their core upon release in the ’70s, largely for its shocking imagery. A grim battle over faith is waged between demon Pazuzu and priests Damien Karras (Jason Miller) and Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow). The battleground happens to be a 12-year-old, Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair), whose possessed form commits blasphemy often, including violently masturbating with a crucifix. Yet Friedkin captures the horrifying events with stunning cinematography; the emotional complexity and shot composition lend elegance to a film that counterbalances the horror. That balance between transgressive imagery and artful form permeates Immaculate as well.
Suspiria
Jessica Harper stars as Suzy Bannion, an American newcomer at a prestigious dance academy in Germany who uncovers a supernatural conspiracy amid a series of grisly murders. It’s a dance academy so disciplined in its art form that its students and faculty live their full time, spending nearly every waking hour there, including built-in meals and scheduled bedtimes. Like Suzy Bannion, Cecilia is a novitiate committed to learning her chosen trade, so much so that she travels to a foreign country to continue her training. Also, like Suzy, Cecilia quickly realizes the pristine façade of her new setting belies sinister secrets that mean her harm.
What Have You Done to Solange?
This 1972 Italian horror film follows a college professor who gets embroiled in a bizarre series of murders when his mistress, a student, witnesses one taking place. The professor starts his own investigation to discover what happened to the young woman, Solange. Sex, murder, and religion course through this Giallo’s veins, which features I Spit on Your Grave’s Camille Keaton as Solange. Immaculate director Michael Mohan revealed to The Wrap that he emulated director Massimo Dallamano’s techniques, particularly in a key scene that sees Cecilia alone in a crowded room of male superiors, all interrogating her on her immaculate status.
The Red Queen Kills Seven Times
In this Giallo, two sisters inherit their family’s castle that’s also cursed. When a dark-haired, red-robed woman begins killing people around them, the sisters begin to wonder if the castle’s mysterious curse has resurfaced. Director Emilio Miraglia infuses his Giallo with vibrant style, with the titular Red Queen instantly eye-catching in design. While the killer’s design and use of red no doubt played an influential role in some of Immaculate’s nightmare imagery, its biggest inspiration in Mohan’s film is its score. Immaculate pays tribute to The Red Queen Kills Seven Times through specific music cues.
The Vanishing
Rex’s life is irrevocably changed when the love of his life is abducted from a rest stop. Three years later, he begins receiving letters from his girlfriend’s abductor. Director George Sluizer infuses his simple premise with bone-chilling dread and psychological terror as the kidnapper toys with Red. It builds to a harrowing finale you won’t forget; and neither did Mohan, who cited The Vanishing as an influence on Immaculate. Likely for its surprise closing moments, but mostly for the way Sluizer filmed from inside a coffin.
The Other Hell
This nunsploitation film begins where Immaculate ends: in the catacombs of a convent that leads to an underground laboratory. The Other Hell sees a priest investigating the seemingly paranormal activity surrounding the convent as possessed nuns get violent toward others. But is this a case of the Devil or simply nuns run amok? Immaculate opts to ground its horrors in reality, where The Other Hell leans into the supernatural, but the surprise lab setting beneath the holy grounds evokes the same sense of blasphemous shock.
Inside
During Immaculate‘s freakout climax, Cecilia sets the underground lab on fire with Father Sal Tedeschi (Álvaro Morte) locked inside. He manages to escape, though badly burned, and chases Cecilia through the catacombs. When Father Tedeschi catches Cecilia, he attempts to cut her baby out of her womb, and the stark imagery instantly calls Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury’s seminal French horror movie to mind. Like Tedeschi, Inside’s La Femme (Béatrice Dalle) will stop at nothing to get the baby, badly burned and all.
Burial Ground
At first glance, this Italian zombie movie bears little resemblance to Immaculate. The plot sees an eclectic group forced to band together against a wave of undead, offering no shortage of zombie gore and wild character quirks. What connects them is the setting; both employed the Villa Parisi as a filming location. The Villa Parisi happens to be a prominent filming spot for Italian horror; also pair the new horror movie with Mario Bava’s A Bay of Blood or Blood for Dracula for additional boundary-pushing horror titles shot at the Villa Parisi.
The Devils
The Devils was always intended to be incendiary. Horror, at its most depraved and sadistic, tends to make casual viewers uncomfortable. Ken Russell’s 1971 epic takes it to a whole new squeamish level with its nightmarish visuals steeped in some historical accuracy. There are the horror classics, like The Exorcist, and there are definitive transgressive horror cult classics. The Devils falls squarely in the latter, and Russell’s fearlessness in exploring taboos and wielding unholy imagery inspired Mohan’s approach to the escalating horror in Immaculate.
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