Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013)★★★★☆

I really liked this addition to the franchise. I liked that it serves as a sequel (in fact, it starts directly after the events of the original) while also providing some interesting and relevant background to the original.

Plus I really like Alexandra Daddario. Oh, and the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo of Marilyn Burns as Verna was just the icing on the cake! And the perfect tip of the hat to the original film.

This movie has a good pace and an interesting…I hesitate to say “twist” because it’s not quite a twist…so I’ll just say an interesting take on the story. One that works particularly well both for the horror genre itself and for this franchise specifically.

There are a lot of really well done little things throughout the film, like the dead armadillo at the very beginning. And you know how much I love creepy old abandoned houses.

Of course it’s not free of cliches or issues. I don’t really understand how Heather managed to fall down those stairs – and I fall down stairs all the time. And of course they had to pick up the hitchhiker, because that always goes so well.

But overall this was entertaining and well told with an awesome payoff. The best line of the movie? “Clean this shit up.”