Greats of Yester-year: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

In this section, I'll occasionally stop to revisit some of the greats of yester-year. Maybe along the way, I'll spark a moment of nostalgia in some of you all. Cause who doesn't like a little nostalgia from time to time?

For this first entry, I'll take a look at one of the great horror trailers of recent cinema, Marcus Nispel and Michael Bay's remake of 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.'

I remember seeing this trailer in the theater, having never seen the original 'Chainsaw' and not being particularly interested in the prospect of a remake, but being thrown into stunned, amazed silence as the trailer's final act unfolded. For that is where the strength lies in this particular promo --

That final movement.

The first minute and nineteen seconds of the trailer play out fairly standard, if spectacularly shot for a horror film. Horror after all is THE low-budget genre, and the look for so long was defined by Wes Craven and John Carpenter, two brilliant engineers of suspense who despite their talents, remain mostly unremarkable photographers.

But at a minute-twenty, the trailer rockets into something more interesting -- brief moments of action punctuated by creepily-flashing lights and a strange sound effect, which in the film itself is used as the sound of crime scene photographers snapping photos.

Following this, the screen goes black and we are treated to only the sound of a woman running and sobbing hysterically, followed a moment later by the sound of heavy boots making their way across a wooden floor in calm pursuit.

Over this we are erroneously told that the film is inspired by a true story. I suppose folks aware of Ed Gein know this to be true in the faintest sense of the word. For a more appropriate profile, Buffalo Bill or Norman Bates are better examples than Leatherface. But I digress...

This chilling silence is broken by the roar of a chainsaw -- the first in the trailer -- and the usual fast horror/action montage complete with unnerving music that screams: DANGER! But within this montage are equally creepy shots that, especially out-of-context, add relentless amounts of sickly twistedness to the proceedings. We catch glimpses of a heavily-eye-browed R. Lee Ermey getting sadistic pleasure as Jessica Biel cries "they're killing him!" Brief shots of what appear to be inbred family of the main villains pop up as well, and the whole thing finishes with its only (brief) look at the new Leatherface as he slams a large metal door shut.

It's a fantastic attention-getter and as trailers go, is something of lightning in a bottle. It's structure is different from its contemporaries (though it has certainly inspired its fair share of copy-cats) and the movie's opening weekend box-office surely owes its success to this piece of advertising.

Until next time.