The Duke On "Leatherface - Texas Chainsaw Massacre III"
Published May 07, 2004
Is it Orson Welles' fault that the studio cut the shit out of The Magnificent Ambersons? I don't think so. Did David Lynch ask for Dune to be cut in half? Thank fuck it was, you might say, but still, the film released in the picture-theaters was hardly representative of Lynch's intentions.
The point is that now we can buy Touch Of Evil, for example, with a healthy dosage of re-editing and so on, so as we can see it as was intended, and everyone can agree it was a mistreated work of genius.
Thank God the same can be said of Leatherface.
One of the delights of the Chain Saw franchise is that each film treats its source material as some urban legend fit for re-interpretation. Hence, the only constant we are granted is old Dead Skin Mask himself, with the surrounding characters open to recurrent shuffling. In this case, being the case of Part III, the family are no longer under the grip of a mad father-figure who may be an uncle or a brother, but are at the mercy of a matriarchal sadist, and also Aragon from Lord Of The Hobbits parts I, II and III.
The supporting characters in this number are probably among the best in the series, fit to stand alongside the hitchhiker or chop-top or The Drill Sergeant From Full Metal Jacket. You've got the gas-station attendant with the glass eye for whom filling a petrol tank is akin to naked sexing with a ladyfriend. There's the little girl who takes delight in crushing a bloke's head with a hammer hanging to the roof, like in Nightmare On Elm Street, when Heather Langenkamp ties one above the door so as it smacks Robert England on the guts when he enters the room.
Man, those students. What fucking witty shit will they ever think of next?
In fact, even without the gore and so on, it's hard to swallow these libelous claims of flat and boring. With characters like these, how can it fail to be a mountainous stretch of excitement?
There's cool stuff going on with the "good" guys too, with the savior of our incapacitated heroine being a member of a bizarre survivalist group, a bunch of fella's who meet up on the weekends to train for in case they should be attacked by the government and aliens or communists. Compare the Sawyer family, who, whilst housing unsavory tendencies for sure, kill on account of economic disenfranchisement and the necessity of eating stuff, with our survivalist nutcase who whoops and hollers as he shoots a bloke's ear off or pumps a round or two into a woman who speaks with a voice box.
The Duke (Aaron McMullan to his parents and the clergy) is a Northern Irish writer, performer and insomniac currently residing in London. He is the creator of Mondo Irlando, wherein his scribblings and hollerings can be found. He is currently working towards the completion of his first novel, and his debut "punk / country / folk / whatever" album has recently been released by Ex Libris Records . You can also pop by His MySpace Page and maybe have a coffee and a biscuit.
- The Duke On "Leatherface - Texas Chainsaw Massacre III"
- Published: May 07, 2004
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- Section: Video
- Filed Under: Video: Horror, Video: Suspense and Mystery
- Writer: Duke De Mondo
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El Senor Duke,
I have argued for years about the supposed rationale behind the orginal Texas Chainsaw Massacre. To say it is a parable of the Vietnam War is an attempt by Tobe Hooper and company trying to add allegory after the fact - and of course such numbnut authors as Carol Clover trying to add meaning to a film that was one of the greatest flukes in motion picture history.
Anyone who has interviewed anyone even remotely attached to this film (with the exception of Mr. Tobe) knows full well the simple completion of the original TCM was a miracle in and of itself. They barely had time to finish the scenes before a tractor drove through the background, much less attempt to give us the predicatable doses of Vietnam analogy. Any film made during this period (or after the Vietnam War) could have some kind of similar parable attached to it if we were bored enough to investigate. Such parables, made up after the fact, are nonsense.
Hooper and company drove out to the country in a pickup, made a movie under incredibly low-budget circumstances and just happened to strike gold. TCM is more an example of what resourceful, hungry, young folks can do under stress, than it is a parable of the Vietnam War. They created a nightmare with a chainsaw, and mimicked several excellent horror films made previously (Deliverance, Let's Scare Jessica To Death) and unknowingly made a horror classic. Put them in the same circumstances again, and they create trash (please refer to Eaten Alive, Hooper's follow-up with the same cast members, which has anything but Vietnam War allegory, unless of course, the alligator symbolizes Charlie).
Jim, Hopper was in Chainsaw 2, not this one. I actually quite enjoyed his performance, even if it was one of those gimmie the money situations.
Chris, thanks for the considered comments. Thing is, we're talking about a film made directly after the first war to be heavily covered by the media. Images of disfigured, dismemebered soldiers filled the airwaves. In creating his own American Nightmare, its difficult to think Hooper wouldn't have ben influenced on some level by that round-the-clock carnage. Like Film Noir, which dealt with America's lack of direction folowing WW2, the horrors of the late 70's / early 80's talked about the mass slaughter of America's youth. Maybe every director didn't set out exactly to do that, but subconciously these things influence the work, and are often much more evident than the filmmakers actively intended.
Duke,
we're talking about a film made directly after the first war to be heavily covered by the media
We're talking about a film made on a shoestring budget where a bunch of kids were hoping to break into the business AND make money. The artistic pretensions bestowed upon this film after the fact are simply restrictions the filmmakers encountered because they had no money - there was no artistic intention except to freak the audience out and make a notorious film kids would flock to see.
Images of disfigured, dismemebered soldiers filled the airwaves
While there was certainly the realities of war shown like never before on TV, nothing even remotely resembled the carnage seen in TCM. I think the film Deliverance, which came out in 1972 (?), was a more accurate inspiration. There were some ugly things that happened in that movie - the ugliness was just taken a step further. I would believe Vietnam analogy in Deliverance long before I would in TCM.
subconciously these things influence the work
Perhaps, but I thought we were talking about conscious analogy intentionally created by the filmmakers. We could go all day about subconscious analogy on every film ever made, doesn't mean it's valid.
Original Invasion of the Body Snatchers was a conscious analogy of a Cold War, McCarthy Witch-Hunt America. The filmmakers set out to create such symbolism and also a damn good sci-fi/horror film.
I think Night of the Living Dead (the original) also has artistic pretentions. I think the only pretension TCM has is to scare the living shit out of the moviegoer with a recreation of a nightmare come to life.
Vietnam analogy is giving the TCM filmmakers far more credit than they deserve.....
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I think somehow, you disrespected "Touch of Evil", one of the few movies where you can actually watch a director rot from the inside out on screen.
Plus, you didn't mention that Chainsaw 3 features Dennis Hopper in one of the many roles where, if you look closely, you can see him cashing his paycheque.