'Jason Goes To Hell' Director Co-Writing New 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' Film

Here's a not-so tasty little tidbit that I'll drop on your desk before scurrying off for the beginning of the Halloween weekend. Twisted Pictures, aka the folks behind Saw, haven't forgotten that they were trying to make a new Texas Chainsaw Massacre film. I'd hoped they might forget but alas, someone wrote it on a post-it at the office. Now that the seventh and (probably not) final Saw film is out, it's time to recall the story that really preached that "the saw is family."

Two new writers have been brought on board: Adam Marcus and Debra Sullivan. The former directed Jason Goes to Hell for New Line almost twenty years ago, and the pair worked together on the Val Kilmer movie Conspiracy. What will they do to Leatherface?

Reportedly the same basic approach is being retained that we'd heard about a while back. To wit: the film will pick up right at the end of Tobe Hooper's original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, then flash-forward thirty-five years. Or, as producer Mark Burg said last year,

It's 35 years later, there's a relative going back. Why is he going back? I don't want to set it in a dusty town. How do we make it more urban but keep that feel. There will be some relatives, some new people. There's still the subtext of 'are they eating these people?' The whole idea of cannibalism, we're bringing it back.

There might be a cult involved, and there might not. Stephen Susco had written a draft at one point, but the new reports aren't clear on whether this is a rewrite from his draft, or a page-one new beginning.

I love Tobe Hooper's original movie. Love it. The picture has a grimy, awful feel, but also some truly inspired shooting and editing. It's both a fun movie and an uncomfortable, ugly one. There are many dull imitators (and a few, like The Devil's Rejects, that are actually good) but nothing quite like the original. Watch it this weekend if you're never seen it. No remake or wrong-headed sequel can ever diminish the effect of the original, but all the same it is hard to be forgiving to any new pretender. [BD and STYD]