Ok, so, the good news is that Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D doesn’t appear to be a remake/re-imagining/crap-o-la of any of the TCM flicks. Instead it appears to be a direct sequel to the original. This from the fiends over at Horror-Movies.ca:
Speaking briefly with Shock, Tania Raymonde divulged into some aspects of the new film and the character that she plays (Nikki).
“This movie takes off where the original started and stands on its own as a thriller and origin story. There’s something epic and scary about it as it delves into this disturbed mind that is not right.”
“There are a lot of unorthodox things about this movie that are original and new. I don’t think people are going to be disappointed.”
Tania also mentions that her character who is the best friend of “Heather” played by Alexandra Daddario has a lot of balls and basically kicks ass in the film and isn’t the usual slutty best friend.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D is being helmed by John Luessenhop and also stars Paul Rae, Keram Malicki-Sánchez, Ritchie Montgomery, Bill Moseley, Scott Eastwood, Tobe Hooper, Gunnar Hansen and Sue Rock.
The film follows Heather, who along with her friends, travel to Texas in order to collect an inheritance. The spin? What would you do if you found out your cousin was Leatherface, and he was now YOURS?
Tobe hooper is going to be… acting? Interesting. Can’t wait to check it out!
I have this sick sensation that TCM 3D is going to blow, but then, I always have that feeling whenever I hear about remakes/re-imaginings/rip-offs/hollywood-in-general. Blood, grue, gore, splatter…all in 3D, sure I’ll give it a shot if it hits theaters, I loved watching the MY BLOODY VALENTINE remake in 3D, but it was still a shit movie (tits in 3D was a nice touch, however). Anyway, the boys over at Shock Til You Drop got their claws on a bit of leaked plot details for the upcoming TCM 3D…
Spoiler alert! (Had to say it.)
The new film, set today, will see the authorities and some angry townspeople ambushing the Sawyer home – where Jeb Stuart is accused of carrying out his butchering.
Hooper, the local by-the-book sheriff, had agreed to give Leatherface/Jeb Sawyer a fair trial and grant him a good lawyer…. But that’s before local mayor Burt Hartman, an imposing town tough-guy, arrives with a mob to see that the murderer/s don’t even make it past their front door. Though they both want justice, Hooper and Burt have different methods. Things escalate when Burt’s mob start tying ropes to trees, prepping for a hanging, and ultimately throw a flaming cocktail into the Sawyer home… burning the place, and it’s residents (including Jeb’s father, Drayton, played by Bill Moseley), to the ground.
Goodbye Sawyers…goodbye Leatherface?
You can guess what happens next : The Chainsaw killings start up again (there’s a fun sequence at a carnival where our villain starts chopping away at the attendees) and Hooper is forced to believe that Jeb Stuart somehow survived the fire and is back for revenge. But is it Jeb? And if not, who is it? and why have they surfaced?
To entice the young ones, there’s a young heroine in the film, Heather who – Halloween H20 should maybe get a ’special thanks’ in the credits – learns she has a disturbing connection to the murderous Sawyer. Heather’s a bit of a hornbag but possibly more disturbing is her taste for things of a darker nature (not just referring to her boyfriend either) – like her art pieces which border on revolting. Still, there’s good in this family member and enough intelligence and determination to find out what’s really going on.
Kim Henkel, writer of the original TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and writer/director of TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE NEXT GENERATION has ventured into cannibal territory again with BONEBOYS. Serving as the writer and producer of the film, he’s teaming up once again with the directing duo of Justin Meeks and Duane Graves. Kim Henkel, along with being their screenwriting professor in college, served as producer on the team’s last film THE WILD MAN OF THE NAVIDAD.
The Dallas News gives a brief synopsis: The story tells of a group of people who have adopted the philosophy found in Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” in which the author suggests cannibalism ain’t so bad.
As of this writing, TCM series alumni Ed Neal and Bill Johnson are set to have roles in the film.
Written, Directed, & Edited By: DUANE GRAVES and JUSTIN MEEKS Based On The Journals Of: DALE S. ROGERS
Produced By: JUSTIN MEEKS, KIM HENKEL, and DUANE GRAVES Starring: JUSTIN MEEKS, ALEX GARCIA, CHARLIE HURTIN, EDMOND GEYER, STACY MEEKS, KIM HENKEL, MAC McBRIDE, BOB WOOD, JAMES BARGSLEY, PATRICK HEWLETT, and TONY WOLFORD as THE WILD MAN
A BRIEF SYNOPSIS: From Greeks Productions and the producer of the original 70’s horror classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre comes The Wild Man of the Navidad. This vintage horror tale is based on the real-life journals of Dale S. Rogers. Shot in a 70’s style B-movie aesthetic, Mr. Roger’s veracious accounts are brought to vivid, chilling life in this intelligent retelling of an old rural legend involving a small Texas community terrified for years by a mysterious creature inhabiting the nearby woods.
I first became aware of Independent Filmmakers Duane Graves and Justin Meeks when I picked up, years ago, a DVD in MediaPlay called FREAK, a film now discontinued by the distributor. I became aware of this flick whenever I read about a short film included on the disc over at TexasChainsawMassacre.net called HEAD CHEESE, an early, very strange film, from the two Texans that took place at a few of the original TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE locations. Though HEAD CHEESE could be considered very “art school” in nature, present throughout the film were genuinely eerie. and disturbing scenes. Aided by a very odd, sparse, musical score, and a mashup of 8mm and 16mm film stock, the short carried with it the look and psychological feel of perhaps the only remaining scrap of stock from some obscure exploitation film from the late 60’s or 70’s with washed out colors and a heavy grain, along with the requisite pops and scratches we’ve come to recognize with such films.
I eagerly anticipated a feature length work within the horror genre after seeing HEAD CHEESE, something I was certain could only be a matter of time. Then, last year, news came down the line about a new film the two had been working on called THE WILD MAN OF THE NAVIDAD. In fact, my very first post here at BACKWOODS HORROR was about the film (to be followed by more as my excitement and anticipation grew with every new little bit of news that came along).
Following in the footsteps of two of my all-time favorite films (THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE & THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK), adding that bit of, what I’ve often refered to on the site as, “DIRTY SOUTH” (or Southern Gothic if you will, I like my name better) atmosphere, the realistic, if sometimes dark atmosphere of the true South, I couldn’t help, even with its few flaws, but fall in love with this fantastic independent film masterpiece.
I’ll get into those flaws first, and go ahead and get them out of the way to make room for the main course, just how fucking fantastic this film is…how easily you can forget, while watching, that this film was just made, and lose yourself in the nostalgia of it, as if you’d just found a long lost drive-in treasure. A film Joe Bob Briggs should’ve written about those years ago but never did.
The only flaw in this film is the special effects makeup, and that isn’t too heavy a flaw when you come down to it. The problem is that the film, being released in the here and now, is compared to other films, all kinds of films, from the here and now with money. MONEY, boils ‘n ghouls, and imagination is what it takes to make those effects pop. With just imagination, you can generally get the point across, sometimes well, but that blood starts to really look like red paint. Now, if WMOTN were released in the late 60’s or early 70’s, then we wouldn’t have a problem with it because even WITH money, effects were limited by technology and materials. It was still a fairly new science. H.G. Lewis’s films, we can all be assured, are fantastically, ludicrously, wonderfully gory, but the effects look like play-dough and red paint. Though he was the godfather of the modern gore film, the gore and effects just don’t hold up. (I’m sure I’ll receive hate mail from nostaligic fans, but hey, take a critical, objective eye and look again). Thankfully, the gore is very light in this film, so the gripe isn’t really all that big. The only BIG gripe I have is the WILD MAN creature makeup/costume. One of the reasons THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK worked then and still, in a way, works now, is that the monster was always kept just out of focus and slightly in the shadows. You never really got a good look at the creature. We today, thanks to high-priced hollywood effects, are spoiled, always able to see the monster in our multi-screened movie houses, but NOT always satisfied with what we see. As in literature (and yes, the horror genre IS literature…if you think otherwise, get the hell outta my shack!), in film, it is often, for the most part, best to leave the monster to our imaginations when money isn’t high on the resource list. Hell, even when money’s coming out of the director’s ears, in some cases, it’s better to leave the monster in the shadows because the creature we see in our minds will almost always be far more hideous and terrible. Why? Because everyone’s conception of what scares THEM is different, thus, when the monster is shown to us, some will, invariably, scream, some will laugh, and some will just be pissed off with a look on their face screaming “what the fuck? Is that it?”
Unfortunately, that’s just the sort of look I probably had stamped all over my face when the WILD MAN was revealed as a sort of man-boar with crazy lower teeth, or tusks, who happens to be a giant of a man covered in deer skins with antler hands. What the fuck? Of course, if the monster hadn’t been shown, many jaded-ass filmgoers and critics who’ve been spoon-fed their creature-features for years where the monster is ALWAYS shown will say “HEY, where’s my MONSTER!” and that might just be why the filmmakers here decided to show it. Unfortunate, I say, for I subscribe to the school where what is not shown, when set up properly, is often invariably far scarier than what is. Never underestimate the fucked up imagination of the general audience. An audience whose life experiences and nightmares are often far worse than what any filmmaker could dream up or create. The only reason this was such a big problem with me is because I loved the rest of the film so damn much. If it were a giant, flaming piece of shit, then that monster wouldn’t have come off as such a disappointment because I was already disappointed by the rest of the film. Not the case here, shitty monster makeup aside, I fucking LOVED this flick!
As is the case when one is attempting to express love, however, I’m having a difficult time formulating it into words. (Maybe that’s why we often only see critics bashing films, because they just aren’t talented enough writers to say anything positive if they truly enjoyed a film. Perhaps it’s unfashionable. Luckily, I have terrible fashion sense). The overall atmosphere of WMOTN is really what won me over. With skillfull camerawork (including a few tricks I won’t give away that have us thinking the entire time that these guys found some stash of fast filmstock from the 70’s, perhaps reels of Kodak 800 left over from AIP’s glory days, and then fed it through an ancient ARRI), fantastic editing, spot-on direction, and glorious writing, Meeks and Graves have perfectly transported the viewer into their dream world. A world of rusty, worn out cars, always in some state of repair or disrepair. A world of the corner bar, a cement cube with a worn neon sign the owner’s probably exceedingly proud of, with an interior of mismatched tables and chairs, wooden bar, and cold beer from a cooler that says Coca-Cola on the side of it and would’ve looked at home in any country gas station from the early 60’s to mid 80’s (or, if you grew up where I did, it looks at home in the corner store now, still sitting there with the coldest cokes and nehi’s in bottles you ever had). The small, Southern town, where everyone seems to know each other. Where important meetings are often held at that cement, dusty watering hole. Where the sun always seems to cast more of an orange-brown hue over everything than the bright white we often see in movies. That small town where the locals take care of their own, where myths and legends are often spoken of in hushed tones, winks, and nods. Everyone knows, but no one’s saying a damn thing, and all hell to outsiders who want to come poking around, stirring things up. A place where things are the way they are, as they’ve always been, and you’ll be damned if you try and change it now.
Though there is an obvious exploitive bit throughout the film in regard to the moonshine sub-subplot, these boys are from Texas and they didn’t go too overboard like someone who’d never been around that sort of crowd would, and thus, the exploitation in that regard is kept at a minimum, thankfully. But that isn’t to say this couldn’t be classified as an exploitation film in the highest regard. If WMOTN had been released during the bigfoot craze of the 70’s that started with THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK, and included BIGFOOT, SASQUATCH, NIGHT OF THE DEMON(1980, towards the end of the craze), and CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE, among other, lesser flicks, it would’ve no doubt been a hit at the drive-in, and perhaps the grindhouse circuit. For that, I love it, it’s MY kind of movie. I think the kids who love the torture-porn flicks today might not view it in such a gloriously dusty light, but you know what? Fuck ‘em, because their idea of a good movie is comparable to watching flies struggle till they die on flypaper, their wings beating furiously, trying in vain to escape this sticky, terrible hell they’ve unwittingly wandered into. There’s no story, no atmosphere, no real characters you can care about or relate to, it’s just gore and death for their sake alone and it’s BORING AS ALL FUCK! WMOTN has story, it has atmosphere in spades, and it has genuine, down to earth characters every man and woman can relate to. It is a finely woven tapestry of small town life and small town people, their concerns, fears, triumphs, all blending together to create a living, breathing picture of that life all brought to a critical mass as it starts to unravel when people start dying due to an old legend that is more than a legend, THE WILD MAN OF THE NAVIDAD is on the loose, he’s pissed as hell, and he’s out for blood.
If you dream of a time where films actually took you out of your life for a while and put you, ever so slowly and craftfully into the life of the story onscreen, films that made you think, made you wonder, and offered story, atmosphere, and character over simple, bland gore and violence alone (though, don’t get me wrong, WMOTN has plenty of violence, but when it happens, you CARE that it’s happening, you’re INVESTED in the story, you care about what’s happening), you’ll love this movie. If you love films like THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK, and all of the other films I’ve mentioned already, then WILD MAN OF THE NAVIDAD is for you. I can’t recommend this film enough. MEEKS and GRAVES are a pair of talented filmmakers and I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us next. When this film hits DVD August 11th, 2009, show your support for some damn talented independent horror filmmakers and buy it. You’ll be supporting a couple of guys who have the potential to make the next TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, the next great independent film that, unlike the torture-porn trash we keep getting so often today, will live on. These are the kind of filmmakers we want making the kind of movies we want, the kind of movies people will still be talking about in hushed tones saying “have you SEEN this?” I remember, growing up, how it was something of a right of passage to have seen films like THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, and THE EVIL DEAD…independent films that changed the face of horror. While WMOTN isn’t quite it, I can see the edge of the storm and I say, let it rain blood!
Finally, at long last, the much anticipated (especially by me) WILD MAN OF THE NAVIDAD is coming to DVD. You’ll be getting a review of the film right here on BACKWOODS HORROR very soon. Below are the DVD specs and some new art (including the packaging art) along with a brand new IFC trailer. CHECK IT OUT!!!
But first, a quick synopsis for those of you who may not be aware of this indie gem:
In 1975, the small town of Sublime, Texas had an encounter with a creature so horrifying that it remains legend today: Deep in the woods along the Navidad River, someone – or something – has left its lair to rip a trail of ferocious carnage through the local population. Is it man, monster or Lone Star myth? And in a rural community commanded by the Bible, corrupted by moonshine and ruled by rifles, can anything stop the vengeance of a beast unleashed?
Here are the Special Features:
Audio commentary by directors Duane Graves and Justin Meeks
Sad news today that veteran actor Lou Perryman passed away on April 1st.
Known as a long time collaborator with Tobe Hooper, Perryman was best known as L.G. from “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2″ as well as behind the camera work on many films such as “Poltergeist”, “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, “The Blues Brothers”, “Boys Don’t Cry” and many others. Perryman has been a long time resident of South Austin, Texas.
A South Austin neighborhood is on edge after police discover a body inside a small home. Now a man is behind bars in connection with that murder, after he reportedly showed up at the Travis County Justice complex with information that led police to the crime scene.
The story does not identify Perlman as the victim, but his daughter has already taken to her Facebook page announcing her father’s death, as well as confirmed to the horror site linked above that her father was the victim in the above mentioned story. Nothing is official at this point and no charges have been filed, but all signs are starting to point in the same direction.
You have got to be fucking shitting me. Really? What the FUCK kind of world do we live in where some piece of motherfucking shit goes and kills L.G.? MOTHER FUCK!!! It’s a good thing it’s Texas because I want that fucker to fucking FRY! Torture the fucker first. What the fuck, man. This is just…it’s too fucking much.
I first told you guys about the film THE WILD MAN OF THE NAVIDAD way back in June of last year. Well, finally, the film will be available to be seen by (just about) everyone (by just about, I mean me, because I can’t gain access to IFC for some damn reason). The film will be showcased on IFC tomorrow, FEB. 4th, so check your local listings. In the meantime, check out some creamy video goodness…the trailer and a ‘behind the scenes.’ Man, this one looks to be a good one. If you like THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK, NIGHT OF THE DEMON(1980), or CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE, you’re just about damn primed to watch this one. Check it out!
If you’re itchin’ for more from the dastardly duo of Duane Graves and Justin Meeks, search out an early directorial effort HeadCheese, shot on locations of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It’s a rather creepy flick.
SOUTH TEXAS BLUES is a unique project that is one part documentary, one part period drama and one part cinematic recreation.
SOUTH TEXAS BLUES is the amazing true story of the making of one of the most infamous films of all time, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. In the summer of 1973, a small inexperienced crew of independent filmmakers set out to create a horror film. Little did they know that during that sweltering Texas summer they would also create a horror movie legend.
With South Texas Blues, Christopher P. Garetano, director of the critically acclaimed documentary Horror Business and the upcoming docudrama The Horror of Dante Tomaselli, will create a motion picture experience like no other as he explores the reasons why The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is so terrifying. Intense endless nights of shooting, injuries, unbearable temperatures, madness, accidental formaldehyde injections and marijuana brownies.. }
The outrageous true stories that surround the creation of the film will be illustrated in a way that has never been seen before in a motion picture. The story of the production from the first inspiration to the last day of shooting will be faithfully recreated according to the testimonies of the survivors.
During many of the pivotal dramatic moments of SOUTH TEXAS BLUES, the action and actors will literally freeze as if time stands still. Then one of the actual survivors of the cast and crew will walk back into this frozen moment in time and explain what they were feeling when the moment originally occurred. Also through our working prop camera (which would normally be indented as a prop only) we will precisely recreate the most memorable moments of the original film, using the same grade of 16mm film stock, lights, and lenses that were used for the original classic.
South Texas Blues is a dream project for director Garetano who plans to keep the recreations as faithful as possible to the testimonials. Garetano explains:The original dinner scene was such a long 36 hour shooting nightmare that when you watch the scene, you can feel the intensity of the moment. I’m going to show you what happened on that set, the real moments that created the incredible intensity for Tobe Hooper’s camera. There was rotting meat on the table, a funeral pyre of burning animals outside that filled the house with putrid smoke and smells. People were exhausted, throwing up, there was screaming and absolute madness amongst the cast and crew. This will all be meticulously re-expressed in my film.
A book of the same name (SOUTH TEXAS BLUES) will be written by film critic/journalist Elaine Lamkin (BLOODY-DISGUSTING.COM) who will co-produce and co-research the film with Garetano. The book will be an intense chronicle of the making of this unique motion picture as well as a historical retrospect on the phenomena of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Filmmaker Dante Tomaselli (Satan’s Playground, Horror) is also on board as an associate producer. Edwin Neal (who played the maniacal hitchhiker in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre) will come on board as a consultant, as well as many others of the surviving cast and crew.
Sounds like it could be fun. Check out the video below for a little more information on the genesis of what could be an amazing flick about one of the best horror movies of all time.
Happy Birthday to me (September 30th if any of you out there in horror land want to send me a card, or a Blu-Ray player), with the release of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre on Blu-Ray. What does this mean? It means I’m going to have to buy a Blu-Ray player now. I’ve been holding out, but this seems to be about the most “ultimate” edition of the movie I could have (at least for now, heh). Here’s the scoop from our pals over at Bloody Disgusting:
Dark Sky Films has revealed new information about their upcoming Blu-ray release of THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE which is due to hit store shelves on September 30th. Blu-ray.com writes that the video specs have not been released, but audio will come in the form of 5.1 DTS or 2.0 PCM (it is unclear if the DTS will be Master Audio or not). Labeled as a “Ultimate Edition”, this release will feature over three hours of special features, including: Brand new featurette with actress Terri McMinn, created exclusively for this release, Feature-length commentaries with director Tobe Hooper, cinematographer Daniel Pearl, actors Gunnar Hansen, Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Allen Danzinger, and art director Robert A. Burns, Featurettes “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre: The Shocking Truth” and “Flesh Wounds”, Theatrical trailers and TV and Radio spots, A tour of the Texas Chain Saw Massacre House with Gunnar Hansen, Deleted scenes and outtakes and Blooper reel and still gallery.
Remember Kiddos, save your pennies for September 30th.
