In retrospect, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre might just be the most chaotic franchise in horror history. We’ve seen every origin story, reboot, remake, and sequel we could imagine, and yet Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead) and David Blue Garcia (Tejano) have a brand new chapter on its way to Netflix on February 18th.

Set almost 50 years since the events of the first film, the task was a daunting one, and one they decided to approach, much like the original film, as simply as possible.

iHorror spoke with Alvarez and Garcia earlier this week, and they were clear from the beginning, that Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2022 focused on story first.

“It all goes back to the original,” Alvarez explained. “You start with the killer, Leatherface. Who are the people that he kills? In the original movie, in my mind, he represents hate and fear of what you don’t understand and what you can’t make sense of. So he kills it. In the original films that why they chose those kind of hippie, cool kids from the city that wear clothes that are completely inappropriate for people in the countryside. That’s why he reacts the way he does. He just can’t understand what’s going on. He just kills them all. There doesn’t seem to be any other reason.”

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE Elsie Fisher as Lila, Sarah Yarkin as Melody, Nell Hudson as Ruth and Jacob Latimore as Dante. Cr. Yana Blajeva / ©2021 Legendary, Courtesy of Netflix

For the new film, they decided nothing was more 2022 than hipster/influencer culture. Their protagonists have literally purchased an entire isolated town that they plan on gentrifying, turning it into a cultural oasis against the Texas landscape. Of course, there are a couple of residents still living in the town, and one of them has a very deadly temper.

“Visually speaking, I wanted to revisit the original,” Garcia added. “In my memory, I remember it a certain way but I wanted to watch it fresh right before I made this movie. I watched Fede’s Evil Dead and I watched Texas Chain Saw Massacre 1974 and this is what came out of that. They were the last images that went into my brain and I feel like they sort of combined and melded and came out in a certain way. Something with the story with the way it’s written in the original and in this film is that it starts really big and wide with the Texas sky and sweeping landscapes and then the image just starts to squeeze. It gets more claustrophobic. It puts you in a town and an orphanage and in a crawlspace and then finally in a bus and in a car. It gets smaller and smaller and smaller.”

They also began with a voice that is all-too-familiar to fans of the original 1974 film. Actor John Larroquette returned to his very first film role, narrating the events that took place in that isolated Texas town. Back then, it was a favor to his friend Tobe Hooper.

Garcia said the actor was amused that it had become such an iconic franchise, but he was happy to return to lend his voice once again.

“We did a recording session with him,” the director said. “He read the lines, the first time and I don’t think he practiced. Maybe he practiced at home. But he did it perfectly on the first take. As a director, I just have to say, ‘one more for safety.’ That’s just something you have to do as a director. John was sort of laughing. He was like, ‘I’ll give it to you but you don’t need it.’ I’m pretty sure we used the first take at the end of the day.”

Garcia also shared that it was important there be moments of levity within the film. In returning to watch the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, he notes there is an undeniably dark sense of humor to some of the scenes, and it was important to sprinkle those same moments throughout the new film in an attempt to tonally match what came before..

Meanwhile, Alvarez was focused on bringing Leatherface back to his origins, grabbing onto something he felt was missing from some of the films that followed.

“In the original film, you can see Leatherface after killing someone, he’s terrified,” the writer/producer pointed out. “Kind of running around. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s a mess. Which is very unique for a killer. You don’t really see Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers acting like, ‘Boy I really made a mess with this one.’ They’re very determined and cold. Leatherface, you can see the human behind the monster. You can see him making mistakes and regretting it and being nervous about it. So, we wanted to kind of bring that back. He’s not just a killing machine. You can see what’s going on inside him.”

Did they succeed or fail? We’ll let you decide. Texas Chainsaw Massacre hits Netflix this Friday, February 18, 2022. Look for our official review coming later this week as well as an interview with some of the film’s stars.