Texas Chainsaw Massacre:The Beginning: Witness the Birth of Fear

I am a huge fan of the Texas chainsaw massacre movies and have only seen one that I didn't like which was the next-generation. Even though I wasn't thrilled how they ended the 2003 version I still thought it was decent enough to warrant a sequel and my mouth has been watering for one ever sense.

So when I saw the trailer for The Texas chainsaw Massacre the Beginning I couldn't help but be excited about it. I know that's a bad idea because it's almost impossible for movies to live up to your expectations but I had been waiting almost 3 years to see it. So my expectations were somewhat high.

Being a prequel called the beginning I expected the story to deal a lot more with Thomas Hewitt's (Leatherface) childhood which is something that I was very interested in seeing. Unfortunately it doesn't and that's the biggest letdown of the movie. The beginning that the subtitle does deal with is the point where the Hewitt family crosses the line from poor starving unintelligent farmers to homicidal cannibals with an insatiable appetite and that's not a bad thing it's just not what I expected.

However if you do remember the characters from the first film you get to see how some of those characters ended up in the condition they were in. For instance, the old man in the wheelchair and Sheriff Hoyt's front teeth getting knocked out. Overall I thought it was a good installment even though I wasn't exactly pleased with how it ended.

My biggest concern was the acting. It seemed as if they had went out and got an actress Jordana Brewster who looks very similar to Jessica Biel which was kind of confusing to me as to what their intentions were but I actually think the cast of this movie was less annoying than the 2003 version. For those of us who enjoyed the character of Sheriff Hoyt from the 2003 remake played by R. Lee Ermey this movie will be a must-see.

He seemed to have a lot more screen time in this movie. The acting itself was decent and the only thing that bothered me which wasn't the actor's fault were those obvious laugh moments were the characters would have witty one-liners obviously intended to get a laugh. There were a couple of instances where it seemed out of place and it took away from the serious tone of the movie.

I was surprised at the lack of gore in Texas Chainsaw Massacre the Beginning. Don't get me wrong there were a few really gory scenes but for the most part you just see blood spatter and really tight shots of the chainsaw going through someone's chest. Although I wasn't disappointed by the gore I was expecting more.

Overall I recommend Texas Chainsaw Massacre the Beginning to all horror fans but it's a must-see if you're a fan of the TCM franchise. I hope it does well enough that another prequel is done leading up to the beginning of the 2003 version explaining the story of the girl they pick up walking dazed on the side of the road. I would give it 4/5 stars.