RG
Roberto Giacomelli
•August 1973. Five young people, returning from a trip to Mexico, pick up a strange hitchhiker they find wandering the road, but the girl, after uttering words without apparent meaning, takes her own life. The five, in a panic, go to the nearest service station, where they telephone the sheriff about the incident. From that moment, the young people, who have taken refuge near an old mill, will begin to fall under the blows of a brutal masked man, armed with a chainsaw, and his lethal family.
We are probably looking at the most successful example of cinematic revival in recent years, as well as the most deserving heir to Tobe Hooper's masterpiece. One thing must be clarified immediately: this new "Don't Open That Door" was released as a remake of the 1974 film, but upon viewing the film, it can be seen that it is not a true remake, but, as happened with the third and fourth episodes of the saga, a variation on the theme. In fact, in broad strokes, we find ourselves in the territories of the legendary chainsaw massacre, and, unlike the previous chapters, this new film is set in the same year as the first film, but there are too many variations to proclaim it a full-fledged remake. (The same director has stated: "If a film called 'Don't Open That Door' already exists and is perfect, you can't remake it the same way, it wouldn't make sense!").
This film deserves two credits: on the one hand, a deepening of the character of Leatherface, now entered into the imagination of psycho-killers, a symbol of post-modern horror, and on the other, a particular aesthetic care and a nod to all gore lovers.
Let's start with the good old Faccia di cuoio: in this film, for the first time, he is given a real name, Thomas Hewitt, and a face under the mask, corroded by a series of tumors that have eaten away his skin since childhood (hence the reason why he desires the faces of others, of those who have an intact one). Furthermore, in this film, Leatherface becomes the most important member of the family again, and all the sequences of terror and violence are entrusted to him (with some concessions to the equally ruthless character of R. Lee Ermey): he is the true monster of the film while the other members of the family are like an alter ego, a different fragment of his personality.
From an aesthetic point of view, the film manages to create a notable blend between two opposing characters: the elegance of the photography (cared for by Daniel Pearl, director of photography also in the 1974 film), which immerses the viewer in the sunny landscape of Texas (yet wrapped in dark and opaque tones), is contrasted by a series of macabre, morbid, and disturbing situations, which go far beyond the limit of the horror we were used to in recent years, and which bring us back to the sickest moments of the 1974 prototype film. In short, on the one hand, beauty and aesthetic research, on the other, the most brutal and animal horror.
The director Marcus Niespel, who had previously worked in the advertising and music video fields, is making his first cinematic experience, while the actors are almost all veterans of successful American TV series, from the beautiful protagonist Jessica Biel ("Seventh Heaven") to Eric Balfour ("Six feet under"), but among the cast also figure Erica Leerhsden, already seen in the sequel of "The Blair witch project", and R. Lee Ermey, famous for his performance in "Full metal jacket", in the role of the wicked sheriff.
Curiosity: The film is introduced by a narrator's voice belonging to the actor John Larroquette, the same who lent his voice for the introduction of Tobe Hooper's film.
"Don't Open That Door" was initially to be directed by Micheal Bay ("Armageddon", "Pearl Harbor") who is instead listed as a producer along with the director of Tobe Hooper's first film.
We point out an error: Among the initial sequences of the film, there is one in which the young people listen on the radio to the song "Sweet home Alabama", but the film is set in 1973 while the song is from 1974!