By Geno McGahee
Heavy Metal superstar, Rob Zombie, puts together a tribute of sorts to the greatest horror film of all time: “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” In this tale, we have a foursome on the road in search of a local legend, known as “Dr. Satan.” Along the way, they stop at a rest stop owned by Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig), a crazy bald clown with a top hat. Spaulding is my favorite character of the film, and Zombie could not have cast anyone better than Haig. Sid Haig is fantastic in the role, and when he’s off the screen, the movie loses something.
The four kids leave the rest stop and hit the road yet again, and come across an incredibly hot hitchhiker, “Baby,” (Sheri Moon). She automatically annoys the two girls in the car, while impressing the two boys with her looks and weirdness. She is the bait that brings the group to her home when their car breaks down, which, of course, is due to this crazy family.
The head of this family, “Otis,” (Bill Moseley) has some things going for him and against him. His character is so unbelievable and some of the delivery of his lines is pretty bad. The family of murderers does work overall, with great performances by Karen Black as “Mother Firefly” and Dennis Fimple as “Grandpa Hugo Firefly.” I especially liked the show that they put on for their guests with Baby’s routine and Hugo’s stand up act. It was really amusing.
The four kids elect to leave after the show, but find themselves trapped and are now at the mercy of this insane family. They are tortured and the scenes are rather disturbing. One of the most remarkable scenes of the film is when Don Willis (Harrison Young) finds the house with Deputy Steve Naish (Walton Goggins) and Lieutenant George Wydell (Tom Towles). As Wydell speaks with Mother Firefly, Naish and Willis search the grounds, and upon prying the door to a shed open, they see a large group of dead bodies, and worse yet, Willis sees his daughter, “Denise” (Erin Daniels), hanging up, and barely alive.
Out of nowhere, Otis appears and kills her father right in front of Denise, and in the meantime, Mother Firefly has blown Wydell’s brains out, leaving the Deputy. Now, in the dumbest moment of the film… After seeing Otis kill Don Willis, and after seeing his handy work in that shed, Deputy Naish still drops his gun and gets on his knees, expecting mercy. I’ll let you figure out what happens to him…
Denise becomes the sole survivor, but is thrown into an underground world of Dr. Satan. The legend is true, and this doctor has been doing experiments on people, and turning them into killing machines and/or vegetables. He actually created this monster that spews slime and carries a big weapon…too big though, as it actually creates a way for Denise to escape. Denise is now free, but this is a horror movie and not too many end in a good way.
I like this movie. Rob Zombie puts forth a good effort, bringing back the 1970’s style of the horror movie. There is a lot of gore and a lot of interesting characters. The acting is very good, for the most part, and some of the scenes are very memorable. If you are a fan of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “The Last House on the Left,” you will really like this movie. It is disturbing, and the good really outweighs the bad.
Scared Stiff Rating: 7.5/10 Really Decent
