They must feature a combination of recognizable elements: Leatherface, chainsaws, cannibalism, skin masks. The sequels to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre are beholden to the imagery of the original.
Horror sequences often reduce the original films to empty iconography and signifiers, checklists of familiar elements to be recycled and repeated to suggest the comforts of familiarity. In some ways, the fact that it exists completely outside that franchise allows it much greater perspective and freedom. What is interesting about X is that West seems to fundamentally understand The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in a way that most of the film’s sequels do not. It’s not literally a remake or a sequel, but it is a film that exists in conversation with that classic horror. This is a story of a group of young people who wander into the vast heartland and quickly find themselves thrown into a brutal conflict with local residents who house their own dark secrets. While X is clearly a love letter to horror cinema in general and includes overt shoutouts to films like Psycho and The Shining, its primary frame of reference remains The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. West even lifts key moments from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, opening with police surveying the scene of an atrocity and featuring an early sequence at a local service station. The starting premise of both movies finds a van full of young urbanites adventuring into the rural heartland, a journey that will inevitably end in horror. Like Tobe Hooper’s iconic and classic American horror, X is set against the backdrop of 1970s Texas. Of course, West evokes The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Ti West’s X feels like a more fitting companion piece to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre than the actual sequel that was released earlier this year, David Blue Garcia’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
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