Here it is folks, the first episode of Tranny Trash. And boy does it show. Luckily, this should be the only time any editorial mishaps occur.
After their 2003 attempt at remaking Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and a 2005 remake of The Amityville Horror (review coming soon), Platinum Dunes gave in to fan demands and decided it best to develop a prequel to their first big hit with Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, as directed by Darkness Falls‘ Jonathan Liebesman. Of course, we all know that Darkness Falls was a horrendous piece of shit, even without the Puppet Tooth Fairy of Death, so it wouldn’t be too surprising if The Beginning was equally horrendous and shitty. Lucky us, it would seem that Darkness Falls was indeed a fluke, and that the South African director really does know what he’s doing.
Tags: cannibalism, gore, horror, sequel
Here we are at the beginning of our Platinum Dunes marathon, leading up to April’s month-long Wes Craven coverage, in turn leading up to my April 30th review of the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street. Here we have the first film produced by Platinum Dunes: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the 2003 Marcus Nispel-directed horror flick based on the 1974 classic. As it will be with all further entries spread over the next few months, I’ve already gone over the original film and it’s sequels, and now it’s time to get into the remake. Is it good? Is it bad? Does it strike fear into our pitiful hearts or does it suck the paint off a Cadillac? Let’s dig in and find out…
Tags: gore, horror, platinum dunes, torture, violence
Apparently not happy with the direction of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series after the original’s release, co-writer Kim Henkel decided to take over and direct the fourth installment of the series, aptly titled Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. After a tumultuous release history with Columbia Pictures resulting in a change of title to Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, the film was dumped into a handful of theaters and faded into obscurity. Unfortunately, this would be much more surprising if Henkel wasn’t a fucking lunatic.
Damn it, Jeff Burr. Just when I’m starting to like you after Stepfather 2, I go back and watch Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III and remember just how damn flawed you really are. It’s gonna fucking suck when I review the Pumpkinhead series…
After 1974’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, director Tobe Hooper quickly found himself on a bumpy road through Hollywood. Working interchangeably on schlock like Eaten Alive and The Funhouse while also developing classics like Salem’s Lot and Poltergeist, he cemented his mark while also proving himself to be a highly flawed director. Some might say he was simply given the proverbial shaft by the Hollywood system, who wouldn’t allow him the budget or creativity he required, but it’s nonetheless obvious that his talent behind the camera was like a game of throwing darts. As his career continued, this became more and more factual, with films like The Mangler and later Mortuary coming off more as meaningless drivel than the work of a master of horror. Finally, the two episodes of “Masters of Horror” he directed, which apparently gave him complete creative control, were terribly uneven, with “The Damned Thing” being laughably stupid and “Dance of the Dead” feeling like a hollow shell of another film. The man has not had a well-received career post-Chain Saw, so it only made sense in the middle of his career for him to return to his roots in 1986 with the underrated gore-com The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.
Tags: BBQ, cannibalism, chainsaw, gore, Leatherface, sequel, Tobe Hooper, tom savini, torture, violence
In 1974 John Carpenter’s slasher opus Halloween hit theaters and became an instant horror classic, jump starting the slasher genre and becoming the most popular number one horror flick on fans’ lists. That same year brought the release of the less cited but equally popular and influential Texas Chain Saw Massacre, directed by future horror icon Tobe Hooper. While some lists calling it one of the scariest films ever made may be a tad bit overblown, it should nonetheless be agreed by all parties that TCM is a legitimately great horror flick. Anyone who disagrees is probably an asshole.
Tags: classic, cult classic, Gunnar Hansen, horror, independent, indie, Marylin Burns, murder, sadism, Tobe Hooper, torture, violence
What does one’s mind conjure when it’s thoughts wander into the realms of Cthulhu? While some may say dark tales of oceanic terror and tentacled beasts, and others might refer to multi-layered sci-fi literature; director Daniel Gildark thinks of something else: gays. Yes ladies and gentlemen, a 2007 horror film entitled Cthulhu was distributed by Regent Releasing, under their Gay & Lesbian department. I suppose Mr. Gildark took the whole tentacles thing a tad too far.
Tags: cthulhu, dagon, dream cycle, gay, homosexual, lovecraft, mythos, queer
Halloween: a time for ghosts and ghouls and other creatures of the night to take over the streets of the nation and terrorize the townsfolk into giving them sweet, delicious treats. While this may not have been the original intent, it is definitely the most beloved form of the holiday, and one which has become perverted by the teeming masses of parental group soccer moms and increasingly brain dead little children. Over time the holiday has become pussified, with trick or treating beginning before the sun even goes down and children dressing up as Johnny Depp in one form or another instead of the more appropriate dude-with-axe-in-cranium. Luckily, some people still understand the holiday and celebrate it in it’s most enjoyable form, and one of those people is writer and director of Trick ‘r Treat, Michael Dougherty.
Tags: Anna Paquin, anthology, Brian Cox, comedy, Dylan Walsh, film, gore, halloween, horror, Michael Dougherty, murder, review, trick 'r treat, trick or treat