Sheriff Arpaio’s War on Drugs and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Or: The Early 2000s Yearning to BE Eric Balfour
Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is widely regarded to be an anti-capitalist narrative. Made on a shoestring budget, Hooper’s film examines a dynastic slaughterhouse family after the industry moved beyond them. The old way was better, the new way put people out of jobs and forced them into cannibalism. Marcus Nispel’s 2003 remake retains traces of the original’s anti-capitalist streak, although most of the anti-capitalist beats of Scott Kosar’s script were left out in revisions. Originally, Kosar delved more deeply into the inner workings of the cannibalistic community. They’re but remnants in the film now, unanswered questions and details better left to the imagination. Instead, the remake plays like a more familiar slasher flick. No longer are the group of innocent teens naively investigating potential vandalism of a loved one’s grave; now they’re low-level drug traffickers, open to subsequent punishment under horror genre rules - and the whims of noted conservative me...
