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Reviews
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
Strong, but "slick", and not in a good way.
Honestly, the chainsaw remake has everything you would expect from a glossy remake: spectacular sets, dazzling cinematography, attractive performers and seamless fx. And that's the problem.
The original chainsaw was a low-to-the-ground, brutal exercise where each scene asked "how could it possibly be any more horrifying?" before upping the ante on the movie's depravity in the following scene. It was primal, and charged forward from the filmmaker's desire to affect the audience. You simply cannot make a trimmed and tight version of something that works BECAUSE it is harsh and undercooked.
Still, Scot Kosar's script nicely echoes the original, and Daniel Pearl (the original movie's DP) effectively utilizes bleach-bypass to render the film muted and brown yet contrasty. Overall, I'd recommend TCM2003 IF you haven't seen the original, or if you are a completist, like me.
Intruder (2008)
NOT A REMAKE, but interesting nonetheless.
I watched this on Netflix VOD thinking it was a remake of the 1989 Scot Spiegel film. I didn't pay attention to the plot summary, and viewed if for the better part of ten minutes before realizing it bore no resemblance to the previous movie. In fairness, there are about ten movies called "Intruder" or "The Intruder" on IMDb, so I suppose it's my bad.
This film was a curious entry into the slasher sub-genre. It had no budget and an unknown cast, but pulled off some nice, tense moments. There's a quirky suicide motif running through the movie that felt completely out of place and disjointed, but gave the movie an eerie feel that mislead me into thinking it was going to be smarter than it really was. Strange.
Ultimately, Intruder (2008) is a slam dunk if you love those back of the shelf grade z blockbuster flicks, but be warned if you expect splashy effects and production value from your entertainment, as you will find neither.