Netflix Texas Chainsaw Massacre Review: A Gory Good Time

It’s finally here as we bring you this launch day Netflix Texas Chainsaw Massacre review.

Influencers looking to breathe new life into a Texas ghost town encounter Leatherface, the legendary killer who wears a mask of human skin.

Going into this review I was of the mindset that it couldn’t possibly be as bad as the 2017 movie Leatherface and by the time the credits rolled I was proved right. I was quite impressed.

Horror movies don’t need to rely on deep storylines or mixing things up so much that you lose track of the story or you convey a message that completely alienates its audience. Oh no.

Sometimes a good horror is just mindless viewing material as we witness a group of characters we couldn’t give a rats ass about completely butchered by a mass murderer.

Jason, Michael Myers, Leatherface, Freddy Krueger in the beginning kept it as simple as simple can be and it works. This Netflix film has stripped back the layers (no pun intended) thrown caution to the wind and as long as you’ve seen the original movie you’re going to have a good time.

Everything that has happened after Tobe Hooper’s 1974 classic is ignored as 50 years after the original movie this story takes place as a group of electric car driving save the planet wannabes are hunted down by Leatherface himself.

As soon as the Tesla appears on screen and we see the cast I take the side of Leatherface and pray he kills them all during the one hour 20-minute runtime.

This movie is gory, rampant and relentless and bringing back final girl Sally Hardesty (Olwen Fouéré) gives me far too much Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween vibes for me to be interested.

You only needed to watch the initial trailer to know that they’re going down that route but thankfully that angle doesn’t take centre stage with a big showdown taking place, oh no, here we just have a good old fashioned horror that takes some strange directions in terms of narrative but who cares, I’m just here to see blood and guts and there’s plenty to see!

The story is simple as these influencers arrive in the middle of Texas to rejuvenate the town. As part of this venue they’ve purchased a small ghost town and what locals remain in the town aren’t too keen on this brand new millennial advertising of their town for financial gain.

Ahead of inviting investors to the town to buy up more of the properties they stumble across an old orphanage they find out that not everyone has left the abandoned town and that includes Leatherface himself who’s last rampage 50 years ago remains an unsolved case.

Let the chaos begin.

Social commentary goes out of the window as the horror takes priority and that’s good that this film is commentating on something we frankly couldn’t give two shits about as an audience.

Leatherface is a simple character, a product of his upbringing and audiences just wanted to sit back with some popcorn, nachos and a soda and enjoy the bloodbath.

With insanely cool kills and quite a unique looking Leatherface in terms of his makeup design, this version feels fresh and yet keeps that original simplicity without complicating matters.

Characters have been written for slaughter only with dialogue, arcs and more thrown in the trash. I can’t imagine there was a script for this flick as you could have characters completely ad-libbing from start to finish and we wouldn’t have known the wiser.

This is Leatherface’s world and we’re just along for the ride.

Netflix Texas Chainsaw Massacre review by Sean Evans