In the era of retcons, reboots, and requels, it was only a matter of time before The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise followed the trend. Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a direct continuation to Tobe Hooper’s 1974 original. This slasher had the potential to redefine the franchise with its bigger budget, technological advances, and a fandom rooting for its success. Nevertheless, Texas Chainsaw Massacre is merely an ambitious letdown.

The Dangers of Social Media

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Everything nowadays can be captured through mobile devices and uploaded onto social media platforms–even a chainsaw-wielding madman about to cause some serious carnage. For all the negative backlash this film’s received, this scene is one of its highlights. Paying homage to the goriness of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, Leatherface massacres a bus load of people, excluding the film’s leads, Lila and Melody. In what is a heavy-handed commentary on social media’s grip on society, the passengers decide to document their impending deaths on their mobile devices over trying to escape. This message is conveyed more credibly in movies such as Nope (and just about every modern found footage film), but it is still entertaining to watch.

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Confronting Trauma

Texas Chainsaw Massacre addresses relevant social issues through its final girl, Lila. As the plot unfolds, it is revealed that Lila survived a mass shooting and is traumatized at the sight of guns. Lila’s trauma is relevant considering the mass shootings occurring in the U.S. throughout these past couple of years, but for Lila’s healing to result in handling guns is outlandish and contradictory to the real issue at hand: gun control.

Sally Hardesty-A Final Girl’s Return

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise has had a different “Final Girl” in each of its installments, yet, Sally Hardesty remains the most memorable due to Marilyn Burn’s portrayal in the 1974 original. Sally Hardesty returns for Texas Chainsaw Massacre, this time portrayed by Olwen Fouere. Olwen’s performance is interesting in its own right, but doesn’t reflect Sally Hardesty’s essence. This isn’t Fouere’s fault–the character itself is poorly written. While final girls such as Laurie Strode and Sidney are well-equipped to handle the respective killers of their franchises, Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s Sally is mitigated to a caricature of her original characterization - impulsive, crazed, and simply out of character. This Sally Hardesty lacks the character development embodied by a final girl.

The Dark Side of Gentrification

Gentrification is a controversial topic all across the board; some people adamantly support it, others oppose it, and some are indecisive on its benefit to society. Texas Chainsaw Massacre uses it as a plot device to advance its narrative, but instead does itself a disservice. Melody travels to Harlow, Texas, in order to gentrify the area and make a profitable investment. This in and of itself isn’t the problem; it’s the recklessness with which Melody and her friends carry themselves. From poor legalities to the dismissive attitudes towards the townspeople, this is a one-sided approach to gentrification that is quickly forgotten the moment Leatherface reappears.

Unsympathetic Characters

Texas Chainsaw Massacre presents an ensemble of hallow and reprehensible characters. While final girl Lila is written sympathetically, she takes a backseat to Melody and her gentrification agenda. The first act of the film has Melody confronting the elderly Ginny, the proprietor of a rundown orphanage. Despite Ginny insisting she has legal ownership over the property, Melody and her friends instigate an argument that results in Ginny having a heart attack and her resulting death. While Melody expresses remorse about the event later in the film, most of the group seems ambivalent to the death they just perpetuated– only to ironically meet their demise shortly after. Side characters such as Richter and Ginny herself are standouts in their short screen time, credible in their motives–unfortunately, the film is already too saturated with one-dimensional characters to allow them, and even Lila herself, to achieve their full development.

Humanizing Leatherface

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Similarly to Michael Myers, Leatherface isn’t driven by a set motive: he’s a cannibal strictly operating on his family’s orders. Texas Chainsaw Massacre reinvents the wheel by giving Leatherface justification behind his killings: revenge. Between the events of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and this film, Ginny and Leatherface develop a mother-son dynamic, Leatherface living with her in the abandoned orphanage for almost fifty years. When Ginny dies due to Melody’s actions, Leatherface reverts to his usual maniacal instincts–this time driven by revenge. Revenge itself is a common trope seen in countless slashers, but The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise isn’t one of them up until this installment.

Not only is Leatherface out for revenge, he enacts it in strategic manners, orchestrating elaborate traps for his victims–this is entirely out of character–Leatherface is an impulse killing machine without a moment’s hesitation. Perhaps this is Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s biggest setback–mishandling its franchise’s titular villain.