Horror sequel offers the same tired tropes, now on demand LONDON: Believe it or not, this is the ninth movie in the slasher franchise, and proof (if more were needed) that ticking all the boxes on the horror movie checklist does not automatically result in a passable film. Almost 50 years after the events of Tobe Hooper’s seminal film, a group of young, trendy entrepreneurs arrive in the abandoned town of Harlow, Texas. As they stop at a gas station, the quarter read about the legend of Leatherface, the infamous murderer who stalked the unfortunate victims in the 1974 movie. Scoffing at the local legend, Melody, Lila, Dante and Ruth arrive in town and launch their scheme to gentrify the dilapidated streets, turfing out the elderly owner of the local orphanage and her hulking adopted son. When the old lady dies, her enraged son returns to town hellbent on punishing those he deems responsible. With a chainsaw. As subtle storybuilding goes, there’s a lot to be desired. But then, to be fair to director David Blue Garcia, he’s not trying to craft a finely balanced character study of the class divide between rich city dwellers and rural working-class folk. He’s trying to show you what would happen if a maniac swung a chainsaw onboard a tour bus while oblivious millennials try to livestream it. To that end, at least, this movie is a success. Sadly, by any other metric, it’s pure trash. There’s no character development, no engaging dialoge, not even the building of any tangible sense of tension. Even a character cameo from the 1974 original feels shoehorned in and anticlimactic. “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” is simply buckets of blood, gratuitous violence and predictable jump scares. It’s hard to watch – just not in the way it was intended.