ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - October 17th
"THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE"
released in 2003
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On August 18, 1973, five young adults — Erin (Jessica Biel), her boyfriend Kemper (Eric Balfour), and their friends Morgan (Jonathan Tucker), Andy (Mike Vogel), and Pepper (Erica Leerhsen) — are on their way to a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert after returning from Mexico to buy marijuana. While driving through Texas, the group pick up a distraught hitchhiker (Lauren German) walking in the middle of the road. After trying to talk to the hitchhiker, who speaks incoherently about "a bad man", she pulls out a .357 Magnum and shoots herself in the mouth. The group goes to a nearby eatery to contact the police, when a woman named Luda Mae (Marietta Marich) tells them to meet Sheriff Hoyt (R. Lee Emery) at the mill. Instead of the sheriff, they find a young boy named Jedidiah (David Dorfman), who tells them Hoyt is at home.
Erin and Kemper go through the woods to find his house, leaving Morgan, Andy, and Pepper at the mill with Jedidiah, where they come across a plantation house. Erin is allowed inside by an amputee named Monty (Terrence Evans) to call for help. Meanwhile, Kemper goes inside to look for Erin and is killed with a sledgehammer by Thomas Hewitt (Andrew Bryniarski), also known as Leatherface, who drags his body into the basement to make a new mask. Returning to the van alone, Erin finds Kemper has not returned, and she and Andy decide to return to the Hewitt house to look for him. Erin distracts Monty while Andy searches for Kemper, but Monty quickly summons Leatherface, who attacks him with his chainsaw. Erin escapes and heads towards the woods, but Leatherface cuts Andy's leg off and carries him to the basement, where he is impaled on a meat hook. Erin makes it back to the mill, but before she and the others can leave, Hoyt shows up. After finding marijuana on the dashboard, he orders Erin and Pepper to get out of the van, while he humiliates and tortures Morgan. Hoyt handcuffs Morgan and drives him to the Hewitt house, taking the van's key with him.
Erin and Pepper are later attacked by Leatherface, who is now wearing Kemper's face as a mask, and Pepper is killed by the chainsaw. Erin runs and hides in a nearby trailer belonging to an obese middle-aged woman known only as the Tea Lady, and a younger woman named Henrietta, who give her tea. Erin discovers they have kidnapped the hitchhiker's baby, but passes out before she could escape, as the tea is drugged. Erin wakes up at the Hewitt house surrounded by the family: Leatherface, his mother Luda Mae, Hoyt, Monty, and Jedidiah. Luda Mae informs Erin that Leatherface was tormented for his whole life because of a skin disease that left his face disfigured, and that she felt no one cared for her family besides themselves. Erin is taken to the basement, where she finds Andy and Morgan still alive (although Erin ends Andy's suffering by killing him). Jedidiah, who does not agree with his family's actions, leads Erin and Morgan out of the house and distracts Leatherface long enough for them to escape. Once they realize their victims have escaped, Hoyt unleashes Leatherface to track them down in a tense finale at the slaughterhouse!
Erin and Kemper go through the woods to find his house, leaving Morgan, Andy, and Pepper at the mill with Jedidiah, where they come across a plantation house. Erin is allowed inside by an amputee named Monty (Terrence Evans) to call for help. Meanwhile, Kemper goes inside to look for Erin and is killed with a sledgehammer by Thomas Hewitt (Andrew Bryniarski), also known as Leatherface, who drags his body into the basement to make a new mask. Returning to the van alone, Erin finds Kemper has not returned, and she and Andy decide to return to the Hewitt house to look for him. Erin distracts Monty while Andy searches for Kemper, but Monty quickly summons Leatherface, who attacks him with his chainsaw. Erin escapes and heads towards the woods, but Leatherface cuts Andy's leg off and carries him to the basement, where he is impaled on a meat hook. Erin makes it back to the mill, but before she and the others can leave, Hoyt shows up. After finding marijuana on the dashboard, he orders Erin and Pepper to get out of the van, while he humiliates and tortures Morgan. Hoyt handcuffs Morgan and drives him to the Hewitt house, taking the van's key with him.
Erin and Pepper are later attacked by Leatherface, who is now wearing Kemper's face as a mask, and Pepper is killed by the chainsaw. Erin runs and hides in a nearby trailer belonging to an obese middle-aged woman known only as the Tea Lady, and a younger woman named Henrietta, who give her tea. Erin discovers they have kidnapped the hitchhiker's baby, but passes out before she could escape, as the tea is drugged. Erin wakes up at the Hewitt house surrounded by the family: Leatherface, his mother Luda Mae, Hoyt, Monty, and Jedidiah. Luda Mae informs Erin that Leatherface was tormented for his whole life because of a skin disease that left his face disfigured, and that she felt no one cared for her family besides themselves. Erin is taken to the basement, where she finds Andy and Morgan still alive (although Erin ends Andy's suffering by killing him). Jedidiah, who does not agree with his family's actions, leads Erin and Morgan out of the house and distracts Leatherface long enough for them to escape. Once they realize their victims have escaped, Hoyt unleashes Leatherface to track them down in a tense finale at the slaughterhouse!
[opening line]
Narrator: The events of that day were to lead to one of the most bizarre crimes in the annals of American history - the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Top: Friends Erin (Jessica Biel), Andy, Pepper, Morgan and Kemper return from Mexico and (above) have a dangerous encounter with "Sheriff Hoyt" (R. Lee Emery)
On December 5, 2001, Creature Corner.com reported that Michael Bay's newly created company Platinum Dunes (which was created in order to produce low budget films), had set its focus on remaking The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It was later announced that the filmmakers had already purchased the rights to the original film, with Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel writing a script, but it was unknown at the time whether or not that their script would be used. Director Marcus Nispel said that he was initially against the idea of remaking the film, calling it "blasphemy" to his longtime director of photography, Daniel Pearl, who had shot the original film. Pearl, however, encouraged Nispel to join the project, as he wanted to bookend his career with Chainsaw films.
Scott Kosar, who went on to write the screenplays for The Machinist and the Platinum Dunes remake of The Amityville Horror, signed on to write the screenplay. When discussing with the film's producers, Kosar felt that the new film shouldn't try to compete with the original film, as he felt that it was made under different circumstances. In earlier drafts Erin, the film's main character, was revealed to be nine months pregnant throughout the film but was removed from later drafts at producer Michael Bay's insistence. Some of the other big plot changes made in the remake included not actually mentioning that the Hewitt family are actually cannibals, and even increased the size of the family seven - but omitting Grandpa from the story-line. Another notable difference was the remake did include the infamous dinner scene from the original TCM, where all the Hewitt family tries to eat their victims.
Actor Andrew Bryniarski, who starred in Bay's Pearl Harbor and stayed friends with him afterwards, personally met with producer Bay at a Christmas party and asked him for the role of Leatherface. Another actor was cast for the role before Bryniarski, but, on the first day, the actor was hospitalized and fired for lying about his physical abilities. Without an actor for the film's main antagonist, the filmmakers called and asked if Bryniarski still wanted the role, which he accepted. To prepare for the role, Bryniarski ate a diet of brisket and white bread in order to get his weight to nearly 300 pounds (Bryniarski would later reprise his role as Leatherface in the film's prequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning in 2006).
TRIVIA: Dolph Lundgren was first considered to play Leatherface, but he turned them down so he could spend more time with his family.
Top: Erin and Andy investigate the Hewitt farmhouse;
Above: Hiding somewhere in the house is Thomas Hewitt (Andrew Bryniarski), the infamous killer, Leatherface!
Kirsten Dunst, Katie Holmes and Jessica Alba were considered to play Erin, before the role was accepted by Jessica Biel. Erica Leerhsen, who plays the role of Pepper, was cast after a memorable audition, where she screamed so loudly during her screen test that people in other parts of the building called the police to report that a woman was being attacked. Jonathan Tucker, Mike Vogel, and Eric Balfour joined the cast as Erin's friends Morgan, Andy and Kemper respectively. To play the murderous Hewitt family, the filmmakers cast legendary actor R. Lee Ermey as Sheriff Hoyt, with David Dorfman, Terrence Evans, Marietta Marich, Heather Kafka, and Kathy Lamkin as Jedidiah Hewitt, Monty Hewitt, Luda Mae Hewitt, Henrietta Hewitt and The Tea Lady (most of the actors playing the Hewitt family, along with Bryniarski, would reprise their roles in the later prequel).
Director Nispel favored shooting the TCM remake in Texas, having previously shot three films there, and production began in July 2002 in Austin. Nispel intentionally shot in a different style than the original's "documentary-style", using more traditionally narrative elements, as he did not want to make a shot-for-shot remake, as in Gus van Sant's Psycho remake, although he did include references to the previous film, especially John Larroquette, who returns in his role as the film's narrator. Nispel also re-shot a sequence from TCM's third movie, Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990), where Leatherface takes off his mask and shows his true face (the scene had been cut from Leatherface as the producers wanted to keep the films R rating). The weather during filming was extremely hot and humid, making it more difficult for Bryniarski, who did all his own stunts as well as wearing a "fat suit", which increased his near-300 lbs to 420 lbs. The suit also heated up quickly so that the actor had to ensure that he drank a lot of fluids before a shoot. Leatherface's mask was also a problem; the mask was made out of Silicone and was difficult for the actor to breathe through during the action sequences.
To avoid an NC-17 rating in the USA, the more graphic shots of Morgan's death were cut. The original version of the scene featured the shot of the chainsaw slicing into his crotch and then having intestines and blood falling out of him. The cut version cuts away when the chainsaw is about to cut him and totally cuts out the intestines falling from his body. The hitchhiker death scene was also cut severely. The original scene has her ear flying off of her head and blood and brain matter being more dark in color and more in amount flying out of her head.
[last lines]
Narrator: The crime scene was not properly secured by Travis County Police. Two investigating officers were fatally wounded that day. This is the only known image of Thomas Hewitt, the man they call Leatherface. The case today still remains open.
Top: Director Marcus Nispel on set with producer Michael Bay;
Above: Nispel lines up a shot on set
Released in over 3,000 screens, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre grossed over $10 million on it's opening day and concluded its North America opening weekend with $28,094,014, ranking No. 1 at the box office. Eventually grossing over $107 million at the box office worldwide, the remake was another hit for Bay's Platinum Dunes. Critics however, were less favorable of the remake, with Roger Ebert giving the film a rare 0 stars out of 4, calling it "A contemptible film: Vile, ugly and brutal. There is not a shred of reason to see it. Those who defend it will have to dance through mental hoops of their own devising, defining its meanness and despair as 'style' or 'vision' or 'a commentary on our world'." Peter Travers from Rolling Stone panned the film, awarding it 2/4 stars, stating, "Director Marcus Nispel, acclaimed for his ads and music videos, has a sharp eye and the good sense to hire Daniel Pearl, who shot the first Chainsaw. But all the bad-rehash mojo from Friday the 13th to The Blair Witch Project has infected Scott Kosar's script. Hooper went for primitive, Nispel goes for slick. Hooper went easy on the gore, Nispel pours it on" and called the film "soulless". Leonard Maltin awarded the film 11/2 out of 4, complimenting the film's intensity but criticized the lack of likable characters and the lack of humor which was present in the original, stating, "Once it kicks into gear, it's brutally unrelenting toward its unappealing characters and the audience."
Despite the reviews, Platinum Dunes produced a prequel three years later, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, before the rights to the TCM franchise were purchased by Lions Gate. In 2013, Lions Gate released a "stand alone" movie, Texas Chainsaw 3D, starring Alexandra Daddario, Tania Raymonde, Trey Songz, Scott Eastwood, Keram Malicki-Sánchez, and Dan Yeager as Leatherface. Although not as well-received as the other films in the TCM series, Lions Gate is set release the latest installment in the franchise, Leatherface, sometime in 2017, marking the first time a film in the TCM series will be filmed outside of the US.
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE: 36%
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