Available Friday on Netflix, Chainsaw Massacre by David Blue Garcia is the direct sequel to the 1974 film of the same name – and cult – by Tobe Hooper. Fifty years have passed since the original massacre, and a band of young influencers and entrepreneurs arrive in the ghost town of Harlow, Texas , with the idea of rehabilitating it and doing business. But they will cross paths with Leatherface, as well as Sally Hardesty, the only one to have escaped her chainsaw. This new episode is the ninth in the franchise, but wipes the slate clean of all the others. Again.
A direct sequel that wipes the slate clean of all the others
Chainsaw Massacre has already seen sequels, a remake, a prequel, and even “a direct sequel that wipes the slate clean of all the others” with Texas Chainsaw 3D in 2013. That was yesterday. Halloweenthe other great horror saga, went through the same process, returning Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, the first victim and survivor of Michael Myers, in the aptly named Halloween, 20 years laterto better kill it afterwards in Halloween: Resurrection.
You might be thinking of another Halloween ? Because, yes, rebelote, Jamie Lee Curtis is back, 40 years later, in the new trilogy Halloween by David Gordon Green, both a direct sequel to John Carpenter’s original film and retcon of the entire franchise. retcon for “retroactive continuity”. If you like barbaric terms, we also speak of “legacyquel”.
Welcome to the world of “legacyquels”… of what?
Theorized by the American journalist matt singer and deciphered in a video by Teleramathis portmanteau word – between legacy and sequelLegacy and Sequel – refers to all recent films that are neither a sequel, nor a remake, nor a reboot, or all of the above: Creed, blade runner 2049, Terminator: Dark Fate, Tron – Legacy, Ghostbusters – The Legacy, Matrix Resurrectionsand, of course, postlogy Star Wars. To stay in the horror and in the tradition of its meta approach, the last Scream quotes and even makes fun of the term.
A “legacyquel” takes place a minimum of time after the original film or final episode, at least ten years, reunites the original cast alongside new and young characters, for what is intended to be both a sequel and a passage from torch. For Hollywood, it is also a question of exploiting a franchise that has already proven itself, and therefore taking less risk, if not losing the new generations.
A new generation lost in advance?
Just see Steven from YouTube channel The Geek Files kindly bugger in front of the trailer of Jurassic World – The World Afterand the reunion with the trio of Jurassic Park to better understand: “Ah yes, I put them back, it’s good. From the original trilogy”. If the industry conceives these films or series (hello Cobra-Kai) as works in their own right, it is indeed better to have seen the precedents, the originals. Crossed at the exit of a multiplex, two friends, in their twenties, were discussing the latest Spiderman. One, a fan of cinema and pop culture, had seen and adored it, the other had preferred to pass her turn, because she “had not seen all the films and previous incarnations”. She was afraid of not understanding anything. It is clear that they were few in his case: Spider-Man: No Way Home became the leading superhero film in France, with more than 7 million admissions at the box office.
The universe, or rather the multiverse, of superheroes is conducive to “legacyquels” and fan service, with already what years ago X-Men: Days of Future Past and soon Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness for Marvel, and The Flash with the return of Michael Keaton as Batman for DC. Yes, the process has become almost systematic in Hollywood. The Boba Fett Bookcalled him back in the best way, or the worst, depending. The series on the bounty hunter, and cult character of Star Warsquickly turned into a best of with multiple references and guests of The Mandalorian, The Clone Wars, the original trilogy, etc. Even more telling: Harrison Ford has already revisited his three most iconic roles with Indiana Jones 4, blade runner 2049 and The force awakens. But is this a bad thing?
“It’s all true. The dark side. The Jedi. They are real”
As Rey told Han Solo, “There were stories about what happened.” To which he replies: “It is true. Everything is true. The dark side. The Jedi. They are real”. It is also the subject of “legacyquels” and ultimately of pop culture, of passing the torch between generations of spectators. From this point of view, the new Chainsaw Massacre is interesting, because it is offered on Netflix, the platform of everyone but especially young people. If the film stands on its own, it also invites us to go back to the original “evil”, Tobe Hooper’s seminal film, its sequels, including a next generation with pre-stars Renée Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey, and why not go as far as Julien Sévéon’s encyclopedic book: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre(s), 1974-2017, a horrific odyssey.
It remains to be seen how many years, generations, Hollywood can still hold on to this phenomenon. Journalist Matt Singer is already announcing a peak, or even the beginning of an end, with the majority of successful franchises revisited, a few failures (both terminator, Genisys and Dark Fate), and the limit or even the impasse for creators, like the self-criticism or even self-destruction of a Matrix Resurrections.