Netflix And Chill: Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)

I can't think of any BIG horror movie franchise that isn't a bit of a mess right now. The biggest problem seems to be that film-makers are trying to come up with ways to reinvigorate and rework concepts that outstayed their welcome many years ago. But we horror fans don't want to leave anything "dead" for too long, which is why we secretly enjoy seeing a main character not shoot a masked killer in the head.

It would be wrong to single out The Texas Chainsaw Massacre series ahead of many others. The original will always be an absolute classic, the remake was a film I thought was pretty damn great, and the wildly varying quality of the other films has allowed fans to argue over which instalment they prefer over others. I don’t know many people who would stand up for the last two movies in the series though, films that tried their best to reach new lows.

This film is not a low point in the series. Despite a troubled production, as well as a messy number of attempts at social commentary that are picked up and dropped with abandon, it’s a silly bit of gory fun. 

The plot is quite simple. There’s a Texas town that has gone to seed over the years, almost fully abandoned by now. It was once, and maybe still is, home to the infamous Leatherface. A group of youngsters arrive in the town, due to be followed by a bank rep and various investors. The town properties have been snapped up at auction and are due to be sold on at a healthy profit, but this leads to a confrontation that sets the chainsaw buzzing again.

Directed by David Blue Garcia, who took over after the initial directors left the project, and working with a script written by Chris Thomas Devlin, this is a film full of impressive moments. The first big kill is an absolute doozy, to use the technical term, while a third act set-piece stands out as a real highlight, and I mean a highlight of the whole series from the last couple of decades. The plot does what it has to do, but the focus often turns to real physical damage and limb removal. It's not even that bad when utilising a returning character from the first movie (Sally Hardesty, played this time around by Olwen Fouéré). Yes, we've seen this dynamic before, but it just feels a bit better here, perhaps due to the speed of the whole thing unfolding. Or perhaps it is just because a film can have someone basically saying "evil dies tonight" without making fifty different characters chant "evil dies tonight". The mis-steps aren't massive, they're just puzzling. A moment to skewer social media is casually crammed in to a huge gore scene, as is a moment in which someone pathetically tries to threaten Leatherface with cancellation. There's a strange anti-gun sentiment running through things, tied to one of the main characters being the survivor of a school shooting. These are interesting morsels, certainly more interesting than anything I expected to get from a TCM movie nowadays, but they're not made into anything more substantial. Maybe Garcia and co. decided, quite rightly, that it wouldn't do to stay away from any nasty kills for too long, or maybe it just shows what chaos could have been going on behind the scenes.

The cast is a decent mix, with most of the young leads doing solid work. Elsie Fisher and Sarah Yarkin play Lila and Melody, respectively, and I was especially pleased to see Fisher in a role that felt like such a departure from any previous movie work. Jacob Latimore is the charismatic leader of the group, and does well, and Nell Hudson is Ruth, the partner of Latimore's character and the person given the least to do in the movie. Fouéré keeps a straight face while heading towards her face-off against Leatherface, Moe Dunford is a local man who may be able to help save the lives of some interlopers, Alice Krige has a small, but crucial, role, and Jessica Allain is the main representative of the bank, which means every minute she survives is a pleasant surprise. Mark Burnham takes on the iconic, chainsaw-wielding, central role, and he's a strong performer, whether getting that chainsaw to start up, adjusting his latest extra layer of skin, or just manhandling people as if they were small dolls about to have their arms ripped off.

Some may dislike this, and some may hate it. I've already seen debate online about it, and a lot of fans have replied to others asking "what do you expect from a TCM movie that is the ninth in the series?" I think film fans can always expect a minimum of decent work, from script to camerawork and special effects, no matter where in the timeline a series instalment drops. And I think this delivers that. It's a fun mess, but at least it's fun. Which is more than I can say about Texas Chainsaw or Leatherface. The contrived final scene is terrible though, so be warned.

6/10

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The Lodgers (2017)

Bryan O'Malley can do atmosphere. He proved that with the enjoyable Let Us Prey. And he proves it again with The Lodgers, a film literally dripping with wet and gloomy atmosphere in a number of memorable scenes. He's helped himself this time around by also casting a better selection of actors for the main roles. Sadly, this time around sees him hampered by a weak script and some strange choices made that allow the film to simultaneously feel as if it is revealing secrets and moving forward while at the same time not really showing us anything or going anywhere.

The plot revolves around twins named Rachel (Charlotte Vega) and Edward (Bill Milner), living in their family home in Ireland. It's one of those big houses in the middle of nowhere, of course, and Rachel and Edward have to abide by rules set out in a very simple rhyme. Those rules include not letting others into the house, staying together, and being in bed by midnight. Yes, as you can maybe guess, those rules end up being broken, leading the pair into danger.

With nice turns from Vega and Milner in the lead roles, the latter having to be almost permanently morose throughout, and solid supporting work from the likes of Eugene Simon, Moe Dunford, and David Bradley, The Lodgers is a horror film that has had obvious care taken with almost every aspect. It's a brooding mood movie, more akin to something like Crimson Peak than, for example, The Quiet Ones, and not just because of the period setting. This is old-fashioned gothic melodrama, something that was closely bubbling under the surface of Let Us Prey, and that seems to be what O'Malley prefers in his horror (no bad thing).

Unfortunately, all of the good work from the actors, and all of the atmosphere, is undone by a weak script from David Turpin. It looks to be a first feature from him, which makes sense. Turpin is so caught up in the moodiness and vague sense of creepiness here and there that he forgets to underpin the events with anything more tangible, even as he takes the time to create friction between our two main characters and the locals (with Dunford woefully underused as a potential threat, more's the pity).

And yet . . . The Lodgers isn't BAD. It's not a film trying to be overly pretentious, or even trying to peek out from below genre robes and show that it's not really a horror at all. It's just a decent tale undermined by some weak writing, which bodes well for the day that O'Malley finally matches up his talent with a talented cast and the right script for him. He keeps doing good work, and I know that he's creeping closer to giving us something great.

6/10

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