Texas Chainsaw

After innumerable remakes, sequels, prequels, and just plain ripoffs, John Luessenhop's Texas Chainsaw is the latest to take up the tale of the murderous Leatherface, jumping off from the conclusion of Tobe Hooper's 1974 horror classic. According to the surprisingly coherent script, an infant was rescued from the killer's blood-drenched home and raised without knowing about her origins. Now a svelte young beauty, Heather (Alexandra Daddario) learns that she's adopted after receiving word that her real grandmother has died and left her the family estate. So Heather, her boyfriend, and another couple pack up their van and head for “home,” picking up a suspiciously friendly hitchhiker along the way. Unfortunately, grandma's house isn't exactly unoccupied, and its hidden resident doesn't take kindly to unexpected visitors. Plenty of predictable mayhem ensues, but Texas Chainsaw is unlike most run-of-the-mill splatter flicks in that it spins a logical (if highly implausible) narrative while shoveling out the gore. The film also tries to rehabilitate its iconic madman, treating him as something of a sympathetic character who suffers at the hands of a malevolent town patriarch. Inevitably, however, this falls far short of the original's impact. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include three audio commentaries (the first with director John Luessenhop and “Leatherface” star Dan Yeager; the second with producer Carl Mazzocone and filmmaker Tobe Hooper, and the third with “Chainsaw Alumni” costars Bill Moseley, Gunnar Hansen, Marilyn Burns, and John Dugan),“On-Set Short Subjects: Five-Minute Massacres” (33 min.), the production segments “Old Homestead” (15 min.), “Leatherface 2013” (15 min.), “Lights, Camera, Massacre” (12 min.), “Casting Terror” (12 min.), “Resurrecting the Saw” (9 min.), “It's in the Meat” (8 min.), and “Texas Chainsaw Legacy” (7 min.), an alternate opening (3 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are bonus DVD, digital, and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a slightly above average horror film.] (F. Swietek)