The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Horror Masterpiece Gets a 2021 Remake
Photo Credit: Still image from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
By: Ashley Welling
In 1974, the face of horror changed, and quite literally at that. Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was released to some decidedly mixed reviews, but soon became one of the defining works of the horror genre. Built from the anxieties of an America grappling with escalating crises and uncertainties, the film ripped the veil from the audience’s eyes and forced them to stare into the leathery face of the evil they feared most. Now, the original film that rattled the masses is set for a 2021 reboot.
A Brief (and Violent) History
Photo Credit: Still image from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
As Joseph Lanza discusses in his book, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Film that Terrified a Rattled Nation,” overpopulation, food shortages, climate change, decreasing arable land, the Vietnam War, and the oil crisis dominated U.S. headlines in the 1970s. Hitchhiking, a formerly popular pastime of America’s youth, became increasingly renowned for its dangers. The term “serial killer” was coined, and the likes of Ed Gein, John Wayne Gacy, and Ed Kemper were given the label. Kemper was arrested just a year before The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was released, and just like Leatherface, he had a history with hitchhikers, cannibalism, and mother figures.
The realities of the world came into sharp relief and it struck panic into the hearts of people around the world. Hooper and Henkel played on those insecurities, creating a monster and nuclear family unit that, although isolated from the world around them, still embodied all of its fear. The film is a masterwork in building a politically-charged atmosphere and experimenting with the idea of letting audiences’ imagine the violence instead of directly showing them.
It will be interesting to see if the 2021 Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, which is advertised to be a more direct sequel of the original, will be able to push the boundaries of horror the way Hooper and Henkel did all those years ago.
Ready, Set, Reboot
Photo Credit: Still image from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
The remake is already off to a rough start with the global pandemic pushing production back and the original directors being fired over creative differences a week into production. But before we go thinking this is a bad omen, remember that Hooper and Henkel’s production was rumored to be cursed, so the reboot may not be so different from the original after all.
The newly-hired David Blue Garcia is set to direct. A native Texan, Garcia is an experienced cinematographer who gained his first director credit on the 2018 film, Tejano, the story of one man’s violent, bloody journey from South Texas to Mexico. Because the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre backdrop speaks so specifically to the crises of Texas and the industries that it’s known for, we’re excited to see how Garcia uses his love of his home state to make the atmosphere all the more rich and complex. Also of note is co-producer, Fede Alvarez, known for directing the Evil Dead remake and Don’t Breathe. We love his reimagining of the Evil Dead and we’re thrilled to see how his influence takes shape here.
Details are sparse, but we know the story is set to follow two sisters, played by Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade), Sarah Yarkin (Happy Death Day 2U), as they come face-to-face with a 60-year-old Leatherface, quite a bit older than the 20-year-old, not-so-gentle giant of 1974. Could this be Leatherface all grown up? We’re excited to find out.
What remains to be seen is how Garcia, and lead writer Chris Thomas Devlin, will build a world that’s just as horrific in 2021 as it was for audiences in 1974. Our anxieties are different, our fears have changed, but one thing is for certain, they have a lot of panic-inducing material to choose from. Economic catastrophe, widespread unrest, police brutality, a pandemic, climate change, tyranny, rampant racism, and more have dominated newsfeeds and left us feeling collectively exhausted from the stress. It will be interesting to see how, or if, it’s all incorporated.
That’s a Wrap
Building a world that speaks to the anxieties of the modern-day while paying homage to such an iconic horror film is the challenge the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2021) faces, but with a talented cast and crew at the helm, we’re thrilled, and a little terrified, to see how it comes to life.