SydLexia.com - The Forums :: View topic - Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Original VS Remake

Posted: Nov 17 2009 12:57 am

First of all feel free to mock me incessantly for not having seen the original until I picked it up at FYE yesterday for 5 dollars.

When I first saw the remake I thought it was fantastic, gore, chainsaws, Lee Emory, what's NOT to like, it certainly is better than some old movie made in the 70s right?

Then I watched the original last night...

HOLY FUCKING SHIT WHAT!?

The original is by far the superior scary movie, it was fucking downright creepy as all hell. The remake is fucking weak in retrospect, and despite all the gore it displays it's not even scary at all. My hat goes off to Tobe Hooper and Tim Henkel. Cheers!

What are your thoughts concerning this? Confused

Posted: Nov 17 2009 01:20 am

Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life.

Joined: Oct 01 2009 Posts: 5316

I've seen both...and yes...the first one has a creepy factor...but it's downright stupid at times...I don't think it's aged well, and it always makes me laugh how they can easily kill everyone but not that one girl.

Posted: Nov 17 2009 10:06 am

Yeah, like most slasher flicks it definitely operates under the rule of Contrived Stupidity, everyone basically does everything they should never ever ever do.

The original is just so much more creepy, something about that crazy fucking hitchhiker they pick up, or when Leatherface rushs that dude in the wheelchair, just creeped me the fuck out. The new one, despite having awesome costume and set design, was more of a Ohh look we have SHOCKING GRAPHIC GORE like Hostel. Shocking, but not creepy or scary in any way.

Joined: Oct 01 2009 Posts: 5316

Yeah...I don't get the gore factor. I have a friend who buys into that shit...it doesn't do anything for me...it's not scary, it's not shocking...it's just stupid.

I'll admit the hitchhiker is creepy...but I always thought that Leatherface was kind of a douche.

And the new design of Leatherface...totally gay.

Posted: Nov 17 2009 10:58 am

It's the lighting in the orginal that makes it scary.

Like the part when the guy "trips" towards that doorway and Leatherface molly-wops his ass in the head with the hammer, was actually pretty scary.

Joined: May 22 2008 Location: Goshen, VA Posts: 6544

Yeah, the end when Leatherface starts flinging the chainsaw around in the road and dancing or whatever the fuck he's doing really is silly in the original and distracts from the rest of a reasonably creepy movie. And yes, it has not aged very well at all.

It's kind of one of those movies you hear about a lot when you are young and therefore has gained notoriety in your head and you hype it up, but then you get a little older and watch it and are like "Wow, that was disappointing."

Posted: Nov 18 2009 01:22 am

You know, the part I do like about the remake is how they fleshed out the town back story, you know, with all the creepy hicks helping Leather's family? Good stuff.

Also, Lee Emory was a far superior patriarch as opposed to whoever that goofy fuck that ran the gas station in the original.

Thirdly, why the fuck wasn't grandpa in the remake?

Joined: Oct 01 2009 Posts: 5316

R. Lee Ermey is good in everything he's in

Joined: May 22 2009 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 353

I love the original TCM, I've probably watched it 50 times and it never gets old. If anyone has not seen the 1986 sequel you should check that out as well.

I didn't care that much for the remake, or any other Michael Bay abomination. Someone needs to stop that guy, seriously, before he taints every good film franchise that doesn't have a remake. I agree that R. Lee Emory was great in it, and he was even better in the prequel TCM: The Beginning.

Joined: Oct 01 2009 Posts: 5316

Was Michael Bay involved in this?

Joined: May 22 2009 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 353

Yep, he is also responsible for several other remakes, The Amityville Horror, The Hitcher, Friday the 13th and the new Nightmare on Elmstreet. I imagine he is pretty upset that Rob Zombie beat him to Halloween.

Joined: Oct 01 2009 Posts: 5316

God, what a douchebag....

Title: Cat of Ulthar Joined: Oct 01 2009 Posts: 93

I don't care for either.

Years ago, I loved the original, and it freaked me out as a kid, but as someone already pointed out, as I got older it was disappointing to me. I watched it recently for Halloween, and I just felt so bored through the whole thing. Also, the last twenty minutes or so of screaming almost gave me a migraine. I can remember a time when that movie had a very tenebrious tone to it, but I found myself laughing about it and not because I was enjoying it. Tobe Hooper directed it, and that doesn't really help it anyway. There is a personal bias in that I've never really much cared for slashers.

Posted: Nov 19 2009 01:20 am

The screaming is a bit much at the end.