TheBeginning Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Tips for Tuesday: New to DVD on January 16
Filed under: New on DVD », Home Entertainment »
January's still being pretty skimpy with the DVD treats. This week we get another slob comedy, another football movie, another action movie, another slasher flick and another video-shelf sequel to a movie that nobody really enjoyed all that much in the first place. So please, friends, rent before you buy.The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning -- So here we have a prequel to a remake of a classic, and the law of diminishing returns is in full effect. What we were promised -- a dark and nasty tale of Leatherface's icky origins -- is relegated to a sketchy prologue, and the rest of the movie is sub-standard slasher fare in every sense of the term. Points to the team for doling out the gory stuff, but with characters like this (and a pace this glacial) there's very little reason to care who gets sliced and when. Still, the mega-rabid R. Lee Ermey is always good for a few goofy laughs. Extras on the unrated edition include a producer/director audio commentary, a 46-minute 'making of' documentary, four deleted scenes and three alternate endings.
Platinum Dunes to Produce a Movie That's Not a Remake
Filed under: Horror », Remakes and Sequels »
So far the company known as Plantium Dunes, which is run by flashy director dude Michael Bay, has produced three movies: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Amityville Horror and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. Ah, and they have The Hitcher due in two weeks. That's three remakes and a prequel to a remake ... which I don't really count as an "original" concept.But according to Bloody-Disgusting.com, Bay and producing partner Andrew Form have a nasty thriller on the way called The Horsemen. In this one, Dennis Quaid will play a detective gone sour after his wife's untimely demise, only to come across some terror of truly "biblical" proportions. (Hint: The (Four) Horsemen ... of the Apocalypse?) Quaid's the man, of course, and the story sounds pretty nifty, but The Horsemen was written by the guy who did Doom and directed by the guy who helmed the patently unwatchable Spun ... so this one's a total crap-shoot. But at least it's not a remake. Plus they got Zhang Ziyi to co-star, and that's always a smart thing to do.
Also on the Platinum docket are something "brutal" called Alone, that oft-discussed remake of The Birds and ... absolutely no chance of another Texas Chainsaw Massacre entry. Which is just fine by me.
[Previous report by Marky B. is accessible right here.]
Texas Chainsaw: The Trailer to the Prequel to the Remake
Filed under: Horror », New Line », Remakes and Sequels »
In the beginning there was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) ... and it was good. So good, in fact, that it swiftly became known as one of the most effective and unapologetic horror movies ever made. The original TCM begat The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986), which wasn't nearly as good but offered an insane Dennis Hopper performance to sweeten the deal. Four years later came Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3, which was even weaker than the last one, but still had tons of goopy gore to please the bloodhounds. But 1994's The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (later renamed The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, in an effort to entice the Star Trek fans, I guess) was, far and away, the mega-nadir of the series. (So bad, in fact, that stars Renee Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey lobbied to keep the flick out of distribution!) And, sequel-wise, that was pretty much that.Flash forward to nine years later and up pops a Michael Bay-produced remake that everyone was just sure would suck eggs. Granted, some horror fans still feel that way -- but there's little denying that the remake was considerably more well-received than originally anticipated. Which brings us to the sixth and (so far) final movie in the Texas Chainsaw lesson plan: It's a prequel to the remake, it's called The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, and it focuses on the early years of Leatherface's clan. Aside from that skimpy concept, expect the new flick to be a whole lot more of the same stuff: Bleak, black-hearted, merciless horror with a whole lot of gooey gore on the side.
The director this time around is Jonathan Liebesman, working on his sophomore effort after the seriously lame Darkness Falls. The flick's scheduled to open on October 5th, and there's a brand-new theatrical trailer available -- but you can only watch it between 10pm and 4am (or you can just monkey with your computer's clock and watch it whenever). So yeah: All that blather for a trailer link. Can you tell how obsessive I am with these crazy horror flicks?
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