Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a 2022 horror slasher film, directed by David Blue Garcia, with a screenplay by Chris Thomas Devlin, from an original story co-written by Fede Álvarez and Rodo Sayagues. It is a sequel to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and the ninth installment of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (TCM) franchise.

After nearly 50 years of hiding, Leatherface returns to terrorize a group of idealistic young friends who accidentally disrupt his carefully shielded world in a remote Texas town.

The cast includes Sarah Yarkin, Elsie Fisher, Nell Hudson, Mark Burnham, Jacob Latimore, Moe Dunford, Olwen Fouéré, Alice Krige, and Jessica Allain.

After the release of Leatherface in 2017, Lionsgate had plans for five more films in the franchise. However, the studio lost the rights due to the time it took to release it. Legendary acquired the franchise's rights, with Álvarez and Sayagues serving as producers alongside Pat Cassidy, Ian Henkel, and Kim Henkel who co-wrote the original film.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre released on Netflix February 18th.

THE GOOD

Whether it be Friday the 13th, which is my all-time favorite slasher franchise, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, or Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I am what you would consider to be a slasher fanatic. I love the genre and all of it’s campy glory, and I would be lying if I didn’t say that the attractive clothing optional females helped lead me to the promise land early on in life. I have been watching slashers for as long as I can remember, and I currently have quite the collection of Blu-rays including the full Friday the 13th set, not to mention the authentic Jason mask I have in my closet. Not weird at all. I even appreciate the lesser known stuff like the Hatchet films for example, which is essentially the story of Leatherface living on the bayou. So yeah, this genre is my bread and butter so I was excited to hear that the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre was coming to Netflix. I refused to let my expectations get away from me and anxiously awaited February 18th. So, was it a waste of my time or a solid entry in a storied slasher franchise? Keep reading to find out!

Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a fun visit from the legendary Leatherface, well at least its fun for those of us watching from the safety of our couch. It’s not trying to reinvent the wheel, but instead concerns itself with massively gory kills and a killer we can root for. Plus, at just under an hour and a half, this is a very easy watch that moves along nicely once things get going.

You will watch this movie to see Leatherface do what he does best, which is murder annoying Austin, Texas bred hipsters in rapid succession. That is one of the unique things about slashers, even though the killer is very clearly the bad guy, you still root for them. Growing up watching the Friday the 13th franchise I was never scared of the movies because I looked at Jason as a badass, and in my mind if you stayed away from Camp Crystal Lake you were safe. It wasn’t his fault these idiots wouldn’t leave him to spend time with his mother’s severed head in peace. Sorry if that’s a spoiler. So yeah, you will for sure root for Leatherface throughout the film, and will even have a smile on your face during some of the more brutally violent scenes, especially a scene that takes place on a bus and involved social media and cancel culture. It might be my twisted sense of enjoyment but I was smiling ear to ear during that scene, and felt like that alone is worth the price of subscription. Streaming pun, you’re welcome.

From a technical standpoint, I was genuinely impressed with the cinematography. Early on it was very meh, but once we encounter Leatherface in all of his wearing someones face as a mask glory, things really get going. I loved the shot where we are staring at a field and suddenly he appears, and proceeds to walk through the frame as we get a great shot of the field and the sky. He is the focal point throughout the film as expected, and I just thought that they included so many powerful shots to really please fans. Plus, the look was absolutely spot on. He looked the part right from the start, and for me that was huge. The makeup and special effects team deserve a ton of credit. All of the kills were fantastic and very creative which was huge for me. Not to give anything away, but the first unlucky contestant on the Leatherface gameshow is murdered by his own fractured wrist. To be fair, he did grab his hand in a very forceful manner and we know he does not like that. But seriously, the kills were great and he puts his trademark chainsaw to good use as well. For a 70+ year old hillbilly who walks like he could die at any moment, he is pretty damn deadly.

THE BAD

Okay so where do I start, first things first, Texas Chainsaw Massacre does not live up to its billing as far as franchise expectations. Sure its a sequel and you can’t expect it to be groundbreaking, but it just misses the mark more often than it should have. The biggest and most glaring issue is the screenplay as it relates to the overall storyline and the characters. I mean, I get that they wanted to make it feel cool and hip and current blah blah, but in the process the final product was basically trash. Plus the story is full of holes and inconsistencies that hardcore fans will pick up on right away, plus the timeline is a mess. It just felt lazy and too much like the easy route to take, almost like they didn’t care about the story and instead wanted to focus on the gore, which does show up in a big way. Now all is not lost and the movie is still worth watching, but if you are expecting some sort of eye-opening experience to carry the legend of Leatherface forward, you will be very disappointed.

The acting is mediocre at best for the most part, but when you’re casting for a slasher you are less concerned with traditional acting ability. You are more concerned with how good these people are at getting brutally murdered, or how attractive they might be, ideally both of those things. Which brings me to my next point which in my mind is absolutely a knock on the film and a ridiculous misstep. Now I’m not sure how to say this without sounding like a complete douche, so I will just come right out and say it, the cast was lacking that key slasher element which is a very attractive character, male or female. I mean this is a must, even if they die right away which they often do, you still need this character to exist. The babe or hunk if you will, someone that really gets that fire burning.

Look at the most recent Friday the 13th film for example, pretty much that entire cast is straight from a GQ photo shoot. Are they great actors? Not quite, but they are good enough, and the fact that they are so easy on the eyes helps make it so viewers will overlook certain things they might not otherwise. The cast of Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a C at best when it comes to level of attractiveness, and it hurts the movie. Simple. Nell Hudson (pictured above) deserves an honorable mention, but she’s no Julianna Guill of Friday the 13th (2009) fame. Plus, I couldn’t get over how much Sarah Yarkin looks like Arrested Development and Search Party star Alia Shawkat’s stunt double. For some reason, that really annoyed me.

THE VERDICT

Although lacking in quality storytelling or characters with any substance whatsoever, Texas Chainsaw Massacre still kicks it into high gear with lots of exciting kills and unlimited gore delivering to fans the Leatherface they know and love. Much of the first half hour was a cringeworthy lesson of “woke” culture, but once bodies start to drop the slasher feel is in full force. Fans will be frustrated that Texas Chainsaw Massacre could have and should have been so much better, but I still enjoyed it and felt satisfied by the ending that is sure to bring with it a follow-up film. Plus, at less than an hour and a half, it is a quick watch by todays standards.

Bottom line, when it comes to this new Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie, the good outweighs the bad as far as entertainment value, and that’s really all you can ask for. This is just straight forward slasher fun with any semblance of story placed on the backburner, yet I plan to watch it again. Honestly, I had a hard time scoring this movie, mostly because I try to rate based on genre and the slasher genre is unique in many ways. Plus, this has me really wanting another Friday the 13th movie which I will hopefully get at some point in my lifetime. Its been 13 years already, so I won’t hold my breath.