Texas Chainsaw Massacre Director Confirms No Violence Had to Be Cut for Netflix

Throughout the history of the horror genre, films have undergone edits or censorship for certain sequences that take the terror to shocking heights, but in the case of David Blue Garcia's new Texas Chainsaw Massacre, he didn't have to tone anything down for its Netflix debut. Even with the brutality that is seen in theatrically released films, filmmakers will go on to release uncut or expanded versions of films that contain things too intense for theaters, though Garcia recently pointed out that producer Fede Álvarez actively encouraged him to keep making the violent sequences even more excruciating. The new Texas Chainsaw Massacre hits Netflix on February 18th.

When asked by ComicBook.com if he had to cut down any of the more visceral sequences, Garcia admitted, "Quite the contrary. I was constantly 'toning up.' When you work with Fede Alvarez as a producer, he's made some very, very shocking and gory films, and he's a master at that. I remember my first day on set, I had to shoot one of the kills for a minor character, and Fede called me the next day. He had seen the dailies and he was like, 'Hey man, great job on that kill, but I want you to do it again. I just want you to go a little further, a little more blood, and then once you think you've got enough blood, put more.' That was my direction for the rest of the movie. We were just constantly trying to one-up each other and get the craziest kills, the most creative kills, and just really fire a lot of blood from a squib or whatever."

The filmmaker would go on to compare his approach to violent sequences to an unexpected and much sillier property when it came to how much time he'd spend on all of the trauma.

"It was a lot of fun to create that, and also working in the editing room and really enhancing those kills, and forcing the audience to look again, you know what I mean?" the filmmaker pointed out. "Just when you think you're going to cut away from the violence to the reaction, no, we're cutting back, and we're going to show you, and you've got to keep watching it. That was our goal. It's like when you watch those old Family Guy episodes, you think the joke is over, but the camera just doesn't cut, and Peter Griffin is still holding his knee, you know what I mean? We just wanted to go so far that it became uncomfortable. So, that's what we did."

Netflix describes the new film, "Melody (Sarah Yarkin), her teenage sister Lila (Elsie Fisher), and their friends Dante (Jacob Latimore) and Ruth (Nell Hudson), head to the remote town of Harlow, Texas to start an idealistic new business venture. But their dream soon turns into a waking nightmare when they accidentally disrupt the home of Leatherface, the deranged serial killer whose blood-soaked legacy continues to haunt the area's residents -- including Sally Hardesty (Olwen Fouéré), the sole survivor of his infamous 1973 massacre who's hell-bent on seeking revenge."

The new Texas Chainsaw Massacre hits Netflix on February 18th.

Are you glad there isn't an extended version of the new sequel? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

0comments