Texas Chainsaw Massacre Director on Bridging Two Audiences

Netflix is dropping their upcoming horror legacy sequel/requel Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and with such a title creates a few bloody, visceral expectations regardless of one’s level of insight. Those who have seen the original film are firmly aware of its bloody and gruesome reputation – but for those who haven’t seen it, they still (at minimum) know the pop culture title for its iconic nature alone. So how does the new film aim to directly capitalize on titles like Scream and Halloween Kills?

In a new interview with ComicBook, the film’s director David Blue Garcia opened up about the generation importance – but how it can also feel somewhat accessible to newer fans that are going in blind. He explains, “I think that the original story is such a great story, and Leatherface is such a great character. He’s iconic, and he’s spawned a whole slew of copycat characters, some of whom are even more famous today, but Leatherface is the original. We wanted to honor the old film, but we also wanted to bring in new fans, and I think we did a good job.”

Garcia continues, “I think old fans are going to love this as well as an update to the old story and a direct sequel to the original that’s continuing the story. I think it’s going to inspire a lot of new fans to go back and watch the original, which is something I really want, too.”

Texas Chainsaw Massacre stars Elsie Fisher (Castle Rock), Sarah Yarkin (Happy Death Day 2U), Mark Burnham (Wrong Cops), Moe Dunford (The Dig), Olwen Fouéré (Mandy), Alice Krige (Star Trek), Jacob Latimore (The Maze Runner), Nell Hudson (Victoria), Jessica Allain (The Laundromat), Sam Douglas (Snatch), William Hope (Dark Shadows), Jolyon Coy (“War & Peace”), and Olwen Fouéré (Mandy) playing returning scream queen (and survivor) Sally Hardesty.

The sequel hits Netflix this Friday, February 18.