Alright, now that the detour known as The Car has come and gone, let's finish what we started shall we?
2006's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning is (to nobody's surprise) a prequel to the remake from three years prior and also marks the final time that the world of Leatherface and co. would be handled by the likes of New Line Cinema. The plot centers on two brothers and their girlfriends who are driving across the country to have some fun before they enlist in the Vietnam war. One small mishap involving a biker gang leads to them having an accidental encounter with the Hewitt family and, well, you can just guess how everything goes from here.
Unfortunately this is where Beginning's biggest problems lie: a lot of just feels so predictable and familiar. Even some of this movie's biggest twists and reveals lack the impact that they should have, and the fact that this film serves as a precursor to the 2003 film means that we know that nothing major is going to happen to any of the returning cast. And my goodness are the origins behind some of these "mysteries" just utterly lame: was there really a demand to know how the old guy in the wheelchair lost his legs, or that Leatherface used to work in a slaughterhouse? It just feels so unnecessary, as if the filmmakers wanted to attempt to spice things up a bit rather than just deliver another substandard slasher picture. Nice try, but it missed the mark for me. Beginning is also so intent on showing the audience how "mean" and "brutal" it can be that it comes across as forced and obnoxious. It can't be coincidental that this Chainsaw entry was released right after the success of flicks like Saw and Hostel, which ushered in the "torture porn" genre (side note: I REALLY hate that term), because more than ever before it loves to linger and focus on how much physical damage can be done to a human being while they are compromised or constrained. There is a sequence where R. Lee Ermey has the two male protagonists tied up while he physically and psychologically torments them, and despite the best efforts from the actor I found myself honestly getting bored by the whole affair.
There are plenty of positives to be found in this new (old?) Texas Chainsaw entry though: the cast is surprisingly solid, with Jordana Brewster making for a fine heroine and the aforementioned Ermey turning in a (mostly) wonderful slimy performance yet again as Sheriff Hoyt. Truth be told this was one of the few situations where even when I disliked a movie overall, I liked every protagonist and was genuinely sad when any of them died. Chalk that up to either deceptively good actors or me being extremely empathetic. The kills are also fairly well done, though I have to wonder if the filmmakers or writers know how a chainsaw actually works. Eh, that's horror logic for you though.
There isn't much of a reason for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning to exist. It doesn't excel in any particular area, it wants to mislead you into thinking that being "brutal" is the same as being "scary," and outside of some grisly deaths it just doesn't make for a very memorable experience. For all of the flak that films like Next Generation and TCM2 got, at least they had personality and had something to tell your friends about. For all the problems I had with the remake, it's still infinitely better than this and seems like it was made with more respect for the source material. For me, this was just another mediocre slasher "origin" story that was best left on the cutting room floor.
Of course, there are still two more flicks to go. Perhaps I'll ease up a little once those are knocked off...
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