The Duke On "Leatherface - Texas Chainsaw Massacre III"
Published May 07, 2004
These here flicks are among the smartest in horror. Hooper's original film dealt with Vietnam, with young kids being sent into a corner of the world they had no understanding of, only to be systematically slaughtered. It was a parable man, like the ones about the man who built his house on the rock, and that crazy son of a bitch who laid his foundations on the sand.
What the fuck was that beach-house building motherfucker thinking?
The second film, also by Hooper, was concerned with the sexual politics of the slasher genre, with the fine-line betwixt the final girl and the killer himself given a seeing to, with the sexual undertones heightened via scenes such as when Leatherface loses his virginity by way of simulating sexing with our heroine, thrusting his chainsaw suggestively towards her crotch. It talked about how by the end of the ordeal, the survivor is just another psychopath, presenting to us that marvelous final image of Stretch imitating Leatherface's demented dance from the original. It was also a spoof of the much less chucklesome predecessor, itself a comedy of sorts, but it's hard to laugh with all the meathook-hanging and screaming and crying and screaming. Then some more screaming.
The remake also talked about "important" things, about typecasting, for example. Fuck, man, when is that Drill Sergeant gonna play Hamlet? Those casting directors need to look beyond Full Metal Jacket, man. Thank God for David Fincher, who cast The Drill Sergeant From Full Metal Jacket as The Police Chief From Se7en. That Fincher has no truck with the typecasting.
But anyway, what The Duke recommends is that you rush out and purchase this here film by the name of Leatherface - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III. The DVD not only has the restored uncut affair, but also the theatrical release, so as you can look at it and go, "Shit, man, they cut out the blasted ear? What the fuck, man?" and other film studies talk.
The commentary on the disc is also brilliant, possibly even better than the yacking on the original TCM disc. Also, there's a smattering of deleted nonsense and an excellent documentary.
Buy this disc of the digital variety, and who knows? Maybe someone will see sense and restore the second one.
Free speech, motherf**ker.
The Duke resides at Mondo Irlando
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
- Type:
- Section: Video
- Filed Under: Video: Horror, Video: Suspense and Mystery
- Writer: Duke De Mondo
- Duke De Mondo's BC Writer page
- Duke De Mondo's personal site
- Spread the Word
- Like this article?
- Email this
Save to del.icio.us
Comments on this articleComments
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.....
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/15451)
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.