The year is 1969 with the Vietnam war still going on, and at the same time a meat-packing plant in Texas goes out of business. One of the people working there, named Thomas Hewitt, is a deformed unstable person and when he gets word that he has just lost his job, he kills the foreman of the plant. Meanwhile, his crazy uncle murders a sheriff, steals his clothes and badge and starts posing as a man of the law. Driving through where all of this has just taken place, on a lonely highway, two young men and their girlfriends happen to be in a car accident and it doesn't take long before the 'sheriff' turns up at the scene. He kidnaps three of them since one of the girls flew out from the car when they crashed and is hiding just close by. The 'sheriff' takes the three victims to his home to let Thomas Hewitt (Leatherface) work on them to later feast on them. At the same, the girl who was left at the scene of the accident tries to rescue her friends together with a biker who's girlfriend was killed by Leatherface's uncle.
I have to admit that I, to my big surprise, loved the 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I'm of course a fan of the original movie, but felt that the remake had even more terror to offer, was faster and had a lot of 'go' in it as well as it looked terrific and was raw and brutal. So when I first heard about this prequel, I was excited but at the same time I feared that it would not be half as good as the remake was. Luckily, The Beginning turned out to be a great flick that had the same look and feel that the remake had as well as it was brutal and raw enough and delivered a whole lotta tension and suspense. I got into this flick right from the start and found myself being really captivated by it since it had so much to offer, story-wise as well as those brutal parts so needed for a movie like this to work.
I felt that just the story of this movie alone were a really interesting take on how it all came to be. It was simple enough but worked wonders and it was more than easy to get caught up in the terrific story-telling. But that's not all the movie had going for it, add to that those extremely nasty scenes that were truly chilling and delivered an undescribable amount of tension. I loved sitting through this, and it was very easy to give full focus on the movie all the way through since it had so much to offer on all levels. Both the uncle and Leatherface comes off as totally crazy, very unstable and most of all, very unpredictable individuals. At least the latter goes for the uncle, since you basically know what Leatherface is all about at all times, but the uncle has this tendency to seem like he actually has a heart every once in a while, but then, soon after shows that he has nothing even close to it.
 
Best thing when it comes to all those freaky and nasty scenes that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning has to offer are that they, even though it's just a movie, feel very realistic and at times you can almost feel the pain that the victims themselves are feeling. Well, maybe I'm getting a little too deep here, but I guess you know what I mean. A lot of movies out there, gore and terror movies, can have so much more nasty stuff in them and way more blood flowing, but problem is that it's not too often it all feels very genuine. But this film really captured the terror and fear in an excellent way.
It basically has the same kind of look and feel to it like the 2003 remake had, and I must say that it looks absolutely smashing. A bit dirty and raw, yet super clear if you know what I mean. The look of the movie itself, and the very surroundings of course makes it have a great atmosphere and deliver a great, yet quite eerie feel. The acting is also one thing that makes the very terror more belivable, and to say that all of the cast do a great job is not to exaggerate at all. It's not that all of the cast were just very good, but they all made their characters seem very belivable and at times you forgot that you were just watching a movie, and I truly love that feel.
I'm not a big fan of remakes, but I still think some films are definitely worth re-making, it's just that most of the remakes turns to crap with a few exceptions. I was happy when the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre turned out to be great, and was pleasantly surprised to see that its prequel was one helluva movie as well. I guess some hardcore fans of the old original didn't even give the remake a chance, and will most likely not see this one either. But I'm telling you, don't dismiss this one as some new stupid horror movie, because while it might be a new flick, it's not just a good film, but pretty close to great.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Origin
MOVIE YEAR: 2006
DIRECTOR: Jonathan Liebesman
WRITING CREDITS: Sheldon Turner
GENRE: Horror
CAST: Jordana Brewster, Taylor Handley, Diora Baird
COUNTRY: USA
RUNTIME: 91 min
RATING: 8/10
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, The Website/IMDB Click here
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, The Trailer Click here
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