The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
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| The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning | |
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 Theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Jonathan Liebesman |
| Produced by | Michael Bay Mike Fleiss Tobe Hooper Kim Henkel Andrew Form Brad Fuller |
| Written by | Screenplay: Sheldon Turner Story: Sheldon Turner David J. Schow |
| Narrated by | John Larroquette |
| Starring | Jordana Brewster Taylor Handley Diora Baird Matthew Bomer R. Lee Ermey Andrew Bryniarski |
| Music by | Steve Jablonsky |
| Cinematography | Lukas Ettlin |
| Editing by | Jonathan Chibnall |
| Studio | Platinum Dunes Next Entertainment |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
| Release date(s) | October 6, 2006 |
| Running time | 91 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $14,000,000 |
| Gross revenue | $51,764,406 |
| Preceded by | The Texas Chainsaw Massacre |
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning is a 2006 American slasher film that functions as a prequel to the 2003 remake of the 1974 film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Directed by Jonathan Liebesman and co-produced by Kim Henkel and Tobe Hooper (co-creators of the original 1974 film), the film went into release in North America on October 6, 2006. The film's story takes place four years before the timeline of the 2003 remake.
Originally the film had the subtitle The Origin. New Line Cinema had to pay $3.1 million more than expected in order to keep the franchise in the studio fold after Dimension Films made a pricey deal with original rights-holders. The film grossed less than half of what the original film had grossed.
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Plot
On August 7, 1939 a child is born in a meat-packing plant in Travis County, Texas. The mother dies right after birth and the plant boss abandons the newborn in a dumpster, at which point Luda Mae Hewitt discovers it while she searches for food. She names the infant Thomas and takes him to the Hewitt residence.
The film shows childhood images of Thomas, including pictures of him cutting off skin from his diseased face. It is shown that Thomas works in the same slaughterhouse where he was born and where his mother died. When the slaughterhouse is shut down by the Texas Department of Health for horrid conditions, a co-worker asks Thomas to leave before shouting "Get out of here, you dumb animal!" It appears as Thomas will kill him with a meat cleaver, but he does not, as the slaughterhouse owner looks on. Thomas later comes back, and kills the owner of the slaughterhouse with a sledgehammer. Here, Thomas finds his infamous chainsaw.
Charlie Hewitt (Luda Mae's son) learns from Sheriff Winston Hoyt that his nephew Thomas has killed. The Sheriff brings Charlie along to find and arrest Thomas. On the drive to find Thomas Sheriff Hoyt calls Thomas retarded multiple times, but Charlie says he is just "misunderstood". When Thomas is seen, the Sheriff steps out of the vehicle, and Charlie kills him with a shotgun blast to the face. Charlie then takes over the indentity of the Sheriff. After killing the Sheriff Charlie takes him home and has him butchered for stew meat, telling the rest of the family that they will not be leaving their home even as the rest of the area is being deserted.
July 1969 sees brothers Eric and Dean driving across the country with their girlfriends Chrissie and Bailey. While driving, they stop by a local eatery where they find a group of bikers. As the group pulls away from the eatery, Alex, a female biker, follows them. A chase ensues, and the group crashes into a cow and flips their car. In the process, Chrissie is thrown from the car and lands in the weeds, out of sight of the others.
Charlie Hewitt/Sheriff Hoyt arrives on the scene. He immediately shoots Alex and forces the teens out of the wreckage. He pulls Eric and Dean in front of him and demands to know which man is Dean. Eric covers for his brother and says he is Dean. Hoyt places the body of the biker in the car and forces Eric, Dean and Bailey into the car with him. Hoyt calls for his old Uncle Monty to tow the wreckage; the truck comes and also tows away Chrissie, who has hidden in the wreckage of the car.
Hoyt takes the group to the Hewitt house and calls for Thomas to butcher the body of the female biker. Eric and Dean are brought to a barn and hung by their arms from the rafters; Bailey gets tied to the kitchen table.
Chrissie ends up at the Hewitt household and sees her friends tied up by Hoyt. She runs back to the highway and flags down one of the bikers from the diner, Holden, for help, telling him about the kidnapping of Alex (Holden's girlfriend). He follows Chrissie back to the Hewitt residence and they arrive at nightfall.
Meanwhile, Hoyt sprays down Eric and Dean with water. He reveals to them he developed a taste for human flesh while a prisoner of war in the Korean War. To punish Eric (whom he believes to be Dean) for trying to avoid the draft, he wraps Eric's face in plastic wrap in an attempt to suffocate him. Dean admits that the card belongs to him, and Hoyt tells Dean to do 10 push-ups (time lengthened for abuse) and he will let him go. Hoyt then beats Dean with a billy club while he does his push-ups, eventually knocking him unconscious. Eric gets free as well and the duo approaches the house to rescue Bailey.
During the rescue Eric is beaten with Hoyt's shotgun and Dean is caught in a bear trap. Bailey finds the tow truck and begins to drive away, however Thomas hooks her in the chest with a meat hook and drags her from the truck. Eric is taken to the basement and strapped to a wooden table. Thomas skins one of his arms, exposing the muscle and tissue and his screams are heard from the house.
Holden enters the house searching for Alex but ends up shooting Monty in one of his kneecaps and surprising Hoyt in the process. Hoyt leads him to "the girl" (actually Bailey instead of the dead Alex). Thomas knocks Holden down on top of the chainsaw. Then, encouraged by Hoyt, Thomas starts up the chainsaw, killing Holden. Chrissie finds Eric and tries to free him from the table, but cannot release the metal straps nailed to the table. Thomas comes downstairs and Chrissie hides under the table while he runs a chainsaw through Eric. Thomas then skins Eric's face and puts it on as his own.
Chrissie escapes from the basement to find the front door open leading to freedom, but reconsiders after hearing Bailey's desperate screams and decides to save Bailey who has been tied-up on the second floor. Chrissie attempts to untie Bailey, but Hoyt and Thomas catch her and bring her downstairs for dinner. Hoyt has cut Bailey's teeth and tongue out prior to dinner, Luda Mae stands behind Bailey cutting her hair and then Thomas proceeds to slit Bailey's throat with a pair of scissors then grabs Chrissie and brings her downstairs.
On the way to the basement, Chrissie manages to stab Thomas in the back with a screwdriver and escapes by jumping out a window with Thomas in pursuit, chainsaw in hand. As this occurs, Dean regains consciousness at the dinner table. Distraught at Bailey's death, he assaults Hoyt by smashing his head repeatedly into the solid concrete porch and heads off to help save Chrissie (Hoyt losing his front teeth in the process).
The trio's chase takes them to a nearby farm where Chrissie hides in a slaughterhouse. She finds keys and a knife (as well as the dead supervisor's body) in the slaughterhouse office and runs to a different room as she hears Thomas approaching. She slits his face with the knife, but is dragged to the floor. Dean interrupts and Thomas impales Dean with his chainsaw as Chrissie looks on in horror. She then makes her way to an automobile and drives off into the night. Chrissie, desperately looking for help, sees a Deputy who has pulled over a citizen. As Chrissie heads to safety, Thomas suddenly appears in the back seat and gores Chrissie to her death with his chainsaw. The car loses control and crashes into the Deputy and citizen, killing both of them.
The film closes as Thomas walks slowly back along the dark road while the narrator recounts the number and gruesomeness of the murders that will follow.
Cast
- Jordana Brewster as Chrissie
- Taylor Handley as Dean
- Diora Baird as Bailey
- Matthew Bomer as Eric
- Lee Tergesen as Holden
- Cyia Batten as Alex
- Andrew Bryniarski as Thomas Hewitt/Leatherface
- R. Lee Ermey as Charlie Hewitt/Sheriff Hoyt
- Marietta Marich as Luda Mae Hewitt
- Terrence Evans as Monty Hewitt
- Kathy Lamkin as Tea Lady
- Lew Temple as Sheriff Winston
- L.A Calkins as Sloane
Reception
Upon release the film met with highly negative reviews. On "Rotten Tomatoes" the film as of 2009[update] holds a low 13% positive approval rating, with consensus stating: "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning is full of blood and gore, but not enough scares or coherent story to make for a successful horror film." However, R. Lee Ermey again received some credit for his performance as Sheriff Hoyt.
Box office
In the US, the film opened on $18,508,228 averaging $6,563 at 2,820 sites[1] ranked #2. Overall in the US, the film had a final grossing of $39,517,763.[2] As of 2009[update] the film has a worldwide gross of US$51,764,406.[2]
Soundtrack
| The Texas Chainsaw Massacre | |
|---|---|
| Film score by Steve Jablonsky | |
| Released | October 3, 2006 |
| Genre | Soundtracks Film scores |
| Label | Varese Sarablande |
The album reproduces the soundtrack to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. Steve Jablonsky composed the original music.
- Track listing
- Main Title
- Birth
- Fired
- Chainsaw
- Officer Hoyt
- Bike Chase
- Chrissie Alone
- Mama's House
- Ten Push Ups
- Attempted Rescue
- Preparing The Victims
- Chrissie Finds Eric
- Eric's Death
- Face Removal
- Dinner
- Meat Factory
- Dean's Death
- Epilogue
References
External links
- Official site
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning at the Internet Movie Database
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning at Allmovie
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning at Rotten Tomatoes
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