Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D does much to make you jump but doesn't freeze your heart in the same was as Hooper's classic. Courtesy Lionsgate

Texas Chainsaw 3D

James Luxford

Texas Chainsaw 3D
Director: John Luessenhop
Starring: Alexandra Daddario, Dan Yeager
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This 3-D sequel to Tobe Hooper’s horror benchmark is set 20 years after the events of the first film. The sole survivor of the original massacre, Heather (Alexandra Daddario) – a baby at the time – returns to the Texas mansion she has inherited only to find the villainous Leatherface (Dan Yeager) lying in wait.

Texas Chainsaw does much to make you jump (mainly through exploiting the 3-D medium) but nothing to make you remember it. With clunky plot points and effects, the film never freezes your heart in the same way as Hooper’s classic, for which the director John Luessenhop clearly has affection but not the materials to replicate.

Texas Chainsaw fails to revive slasher horror and, despite the franchise’s numerous questionable spin-offs, embarrasses a horror icon.