Texas Chainsaw Massacre Review: 5 Ups & 5 Downs

2. The Messy, Thin Script

Even the film's defenders surely won't have too much praise for Chris Thomas Devlin's mess of a screenplay.

Beyond the aforementioned sloppy social commentary, the script is full of woefully stiff dialogue, and an abundance of the cliches audiences have been conditioned to expect from the series and indeed the genre.

Of course there's the suspicious gas station confrontation and an ominous police traffic stop in the first act, because would it be a southern fried slasher flick otherwise?

The script's biggest failing, however, is probably its inability to make the audience connect much with the characters.

Even Lila (Elsie Fisher), a school shooting survivor who attempts to overcome her trauma while battling Leatherface, feels like an underdeveloped cipher of a person rather than a defined character in her own right.

Yet its the scant characterisation of Sally Hardesty herself that's sure to rankle most fans. Why even bother bringing her back at all for such a flat, damp squib of a part?