Movie review
February 18, 2022 · 83 min · R
Woke Score
Lower is better
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Woke representation / casting
One Black actor plays a lead entrepreneurial role in a group of four in a modern setting, but the diversity reads as incidental casting rather than emphasized identity signaling or quota-style focus; no "brilliant minority" tropes or story-driven justification needed.
Woke political dialogue
Features a brief mocking scene of cancel culture ("you're cancelled bro") and a school shooting survivor backstory, but these serve horror beats without activist speeches, lectures, or identity politics framing.
Identity-driven story themes
Centers urban hipster influencers clashing with rural Texas locals over gentrification and cultural disruption, with the narrative clearly favoring the locals and portraying the young idealists as annoying outsiders who get what they deserve.
Western institutional / cultural critique
Includes light satire on influencer culture, social media, and vague nods to gun violence/school shootings, but avoids modern activist critiques of patriarchy, whiteness, or systemic issues and leans toward pro-local, anti-urban-elite vibes without clear ideological push.
Review
The 2022 film serves as a direct sequel to the 1974 original, with Leatherface returning after nearly 50 years to attack a group of young urban entrepreneurs and influencers who buy up properties in a remote, decaying Texas ghost town called Harlow with plans to gentrify it into a trendy hotspot complete with restaurants and art spaces. The story follows their arrival, clashes with wary locals, removal of a Confederate flag from an old orphanage, and eventual confrontation with the killer amid social media use and personal backstories including one character's survival of a school shooting. Modern elements like influencer culture, cancel culture attempts, and urban-rural tensions appear through plot points and character behavior but stay secondary to standard slasher violence and kills, with the narrative often portraying the young city visitors negatively.
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. No identity-driven swaps, reinterpretations, or DEI alterations to Leatherface, Sally Hardesty, or source material; Sally returns as an older white survivor in a new plot.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Pre- and post-release online complaints specifically called out Gen Z elements, the cancel scene, and modern updates as woke pandering or cringeworthy, though many viewers pushed back arguing the film mocks those same elements; complaints treated it as pushing identity or progressive messaging even if execution differed.
Creator track record context
Newer team members show no activist patterns; original creators carried classical left-leaning social critique from the 1970s era focused on capitalism and politics, not modern DEI, queer, or identity-driven work.
Production
