Leatherface returns to the big screen this weekend wielding his chainsaw and human face masks in 3D. Early anticipation for this movie was high with promises from the filmmakers of it being a direct sequel to the original, staying true to the legend. However, as we got closer to the release, the previews and reviews seem to tell a different story. Most noticeable is that they actually dropped “massacre” from the title, simply calling the movie Texas Chainsaw 3D. In addition, the cast doesn’t look interesting nor does the story they’ve contrived which has a descendant of the Sawyer family inheriting the infamous massacre house and taking her friends out to Texas to “check it out”. Is that really the best scenario they could come up with? The most interesting scene looks like it will be Leatherface going to a carnival. We could imagine that the people at the carnival think that he simply lost his way from work at the carnival haunt.
We can’t fairly review the movie without seeing it yet but we can say that we’re becoming more disappointed to see Hollywood abusing our horror icons. Whoring them out for quick profits. We love seeing the old killers and monsters from the silver scream come back but we want to see them come back the right way. It seems it will be awhile before Hollywood will be able to thrill, scare and capture our imaginations again with the horror icons.
Fortunately, the haunt industry has done a better job in keeping the terror alive. This past haunt season, Universal reincarnated Leatherface and brought us one of the most scariest mazes of 2012 – The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Saw is the Law. Many of you will remember in ’07 and ’08 HHN featured a Texas Chainsaw Massacre maze based upon the 2003 remake. While the maze was exactly the same both years we found it to be one of the more intense mazes during those years which also featured a Friday The 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street mazes. The 2012 version was a true recreation of the scariest moments of the original. In reading our following review you’ll see why…
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Saw is the Law
Now leave it to an old horror icon to really bring the terror! This maze was one the best HHN offerings this year. There’s been a few years of silence on the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot, but now the buzz is back. Many of you will remember in ’07 and ’08, HHN featured a Texas Chainsaw Massacre maze based on the 2003 remake. This version takes us back to the original 1974 Tobe Hopper classic. Inside you’ll find the entire Sawyer family, including Leatherface, Old Man, The Hitchhiker, and Grandpa. We also get to see Leatherface wearing his different grotesque human masks. This maze keeps up a frenetic pace, with scareactors attacking nonstop. Not only do they appear, they chase you as well! The scenes fall in sequence with the movie, and overall, the maze was a very fitting tribute to the movie. One scene we didn’t see, or maybe missed because we were running in terror, was the girl being placed on the meat hook. Nonetheless, we all left this maze out of breath and delighted to have experienced and survived it! Now that we have a maze based on an original Tobe Hooper movie, we can only hope that 2013 will bring us a maze based on his other horror classic movie, The Funhouse.
Ratings:
- Haunt Design: 4.5 skulls
- Theming: 4.5 skulls
- Scare Factor: 4.5 skulls
- HHN Virgin Rating: 4 skulls
Overall Rating*: 4.5 skulls
