20 years later, it’s time to admit 2003's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a great horror movie remake
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Whether it’sHalloween,Saw, orA Nightmare on Elm Street, horror fans remain very protective of their favorite franchises. And rightly so, but this means any new additions have a lot to prove and therefore usually fall flat way before their release due to high expectations from audiences. In this case, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (TTCM) franchise is no different.
Now, we know that is a big statement, but as its 20th anniversary passes we look back at how the early ’00s reimagining succeeded in being a great remake, undeserving of all the bad press and two-star reviews.
Changing up the storyline
Released in 1974, Tobe Hooper’s original low-budget, gory, and depraved The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was truly shocking for its time, earning a massive cult following and making it hard for any unwitting predecessor to measure up.
It’s not just the characters or the level of gore that were explored further. Nispel’s remake also took a closer look at TTCM’s very own subgenre, ‘backwoods horror’. Kicking off in the ’70s with movies such as Deliverance, the original TTCM, and The Hills Have Eyes, backwoods horror focuses on the socio-political divide between urban and rural ways of living, often depicting the farm-folk as barbaric, violent, and unruly who view the city dwellers as ignorant, privileged, and ungrateful – easy pickings. The theme kicked back up again in the early ’00s with Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses,Wrong Turn, and, of course, the TCM remake.
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Nispel’s reimagining is the perfect example of backwoods horror and embodies everything we love about the subgenre, from the isolated rustic family who believe they are protecting themselves by doing what they deem as right, to the young, naive city slickers who are blamed for the way society treats those who live in underprivileged areas. This exploration of sociological issues makes the family’s intentions, however immoral and disgraceful they are, a tiny bit more understandable.
Hungry for more horror franchise fun? Check out our list ofthe 15 best horror movie sequels that will have you screaming this Halloween.
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