I started out loving movies because of horror movies. The classics first of all, on the late, late Saturday night horror show on channel 13. This was before cable so we only had five or six channels to watch. No VHS even to fill in the lonely gaps on weekends. What we did have back then, in almost every television market in America, was our own late, late horror show, featuring some local goof ball dressed up as a ghoul, vampire, or misbegotten creature. They'd introduce that night's lineup of horror movies, and during the breaks enact some chicanery with other goof balls in monster makeup. On cheap sets filled with the garish leftovers from Halloweens past. Kids like me ate that shit up. It was a lot of fun and something to look forward to all week. Anyway, that was how I got into horror movies. Once the Horror Hosts went the way of the dodo birds, cable took over and we went from a handful of channels to a hundred or more. Video stores opened in the 80's, and suddenly we could watch all the great horror movies we'd heard of but never seen! Truly, we didn't think it could possibly get any better. That's how most of us saw the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I saw it a drive in, and man did it give me nightmares. It felt all too authentic and real. The sequels came along in search of that same visceral vibe, but always fell far short. This latest outing does as well. The reason why seems patently obvious to me. The original is more frightening because of its lack of production. The photography is gritter and more in touch with the rural settings. The cast is likewise more realistic to what you're watching unfold. No calender models here. Just real people, facing real terror. The more money you spend on movies like this, the farther away you're getting from the truth. The original also has no agenda, unlike this one, with the victims being mostly of liberal persuasion. Myself, I always find that sort of subliminal storytelling to be insulting. Just tell me your story without the sermon, all right? I've ranted enough in the past about CGI in horror films to give that more or less a rest this time. But seriously, will they ever learn? Movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre only work with visceral effects. Namely, tangible, practical effects that can be felt and seen without the aid of computer graphics. No one but children are being fooled by CGI anymore, and filmmakers in this genre would be well served to remember that when bringing back to life classics like Chainsaw. To be fair, I did see some practical effects here and there, but not enough to deceive me about the rest. I won't get into the fact that the plot was stolen from the past few Halloween movies, because all horror movies borrow from one another. But it didn't do this franchise any favors by stealing an idea that wasn't particularly fresh in the first place. Poor Leatherface, he doesn't even rate his own story arc. He comes in a distant third to Michael and Jason, with Freddy on his heels.