Katherine Prentice
Horror has never been regarded as the most politically correct genre, particularly slashers. But in the last few years, great strides have been made and it has quickly become far more diverse.
A Quiet Place and Bird Box depicted deafness and blindness respectfully, the former starring a deaf actress. In addition, we have seen more women with agency in horror, such as Final Girls, Fear Street and Last Night in Soho. And BAME actors are being cast in more titles, most recently Candyman. But horror is not known best for its great sequels, prequels and remakes, especially not for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise.
The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is fantastic. The 1974 slasher paved the way for the most iconic villains in film history; out of Freddy Kreuger, Jason Vorhees, and Michael Myers, Leatherface was the original. The cinematography is beautiful at times and disturbing at others, an impressive balance. In short, I love this film, but it isn’t without its problems.
The usual casting of attractive young white people, with one disabled character (excluding the villain) written in as a bit of a nuisance, leaves much to be desired for modern audiences. As does the ‘have sex and you’re next’ plot line and predictable final girl ending. But, again, it was one of the first, so these tropes weren’t exhausted for audiences in the 70s. So, will the 2022 version be a refreshing take on the original?
Well, I wouldn’t hold your breath. This franchise, like many slashers, has had more than its fair share of reboots. I guess there is money to be made from iconic characters like Leatherface. And none were well received. Still, there is quite a bit of anticipation for this straight-to-Netflix rendition and some hope for a reboot that finally does the first justice. Writer Fede Alvarez is one source of hope, having written the brilliant Don’t Breathe and successfully resurrected the Evil Dead franchise.
Nobody wants more backstory to Leatherface. From the trailer, it looks like we might get the good old fashioned slasher flick – no frills, just kills – many are hoping for, decidedly more scary than the other reimaginings of Leatherface. But many also want something new from this generation of horror, which The Texas Chainsaw Massacre has a shot at heralding in; more diversity and better treatment of women. But will this happen, and will it work?
There has been a growing demand for better representation of disabled people, women, and people of colour in horror. A look at the main cast, actors Sara Yarkin, Elsie Fisher, Jacob Latimore, and Nell Hudson, hints that there have been more efforts at diversity for this film than previous ones, mainly being women and a combination of White, Jewish and Black actors. Whether or not this is enough is yet to be seen. And if it is merely a rehash of familiar tropes and cliches but with a slightly more diverse cast, the remake will feel stale and forced. Hopefully, these characters are interesting and independent. Of course, we can expect them to be treated pretty poorly, but maybe for reasons other than being female, disabled, or sexual.
Diversity in horror has progressed shockingly slowly over the decades, and it feels unlikely that this film or Halloween Kills (2021) and Scream 5 (2022) will be revolutionary. But maybe we will start seeing strides in the right direction within the blockbuster slasher, prioritising proper representation and characterisation over recycling the same stories and iconic villains.
Featured image courtesy of Michael Fenton on Unsplash. No changes or alterations were made to this image. Image license found here.