The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise is one of the messiest in horror. Various timelines, plot holes, and changes in the Leatherface family plague the series. We’ve never quite gotten the sequel we deserve (the 2003 remake excluded), but writer/director Donnie Hobbie makes a claim for a worthy (spiritual) sequel with his new film. Jump Scare, playing this year’s Panic Fest, uses the 1974 Tobe Hooper classic as a jumping-off point and plunges into something new, fresh, and exhilarating. From the dusty desert landscape to the clan of cannibals, it’s as though Hobbie gave The Texas Chain Saw Massacre a coat of paint.
Kye (Shannon Dang) and her bandmates head out to a secluded house to record their new album. They specialize in metal music, and the serene landscape, ironically, gives them a much-needed jolt of creativity. Conflict rises among them when a former frequent band member returns to the fold. Tensions boil over, but that’s nothing compared to the storm brewing on the horizon. Their well-laid plans are soon derailed when a group of flesh-eating humans lurks around the house’s ramshackle walls. The cannibals pounce and begin picking the band off one by one. It’s only a matter of time before they’re all consumed by jagged teeth and hungry bellies. Kye and her friends will have to learn what it means to fight for their lives.
Mixing The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes, Jump Scare pays tribute to the past while also forging a clear path ahead. Brutal kills distinguish Hobbie’s film, which, once it revs its engines, never lets up until the very end. The style! The characters! The violence! It possesses all you could possibly want. The cast—which also includes Erin Ruth Walker (as Jen), Madison Abbott (as Debbie), Chelsea Talmadge (as Val), and Casey Morris (as Dale)—also feels ripped from the 1970s. They clearly fit certain archetypes but feel far more grounded than the many faceless characters that have graced countless throwback slashers.
For his directorial feature debut, Donnie Hobbie makes it resoundingly clear that he has a unique voice worth paying attention to. Jump Scare doesn’t reinvent the wheel; it smashes it to bits and rebuilds it into something graphically grotesque and wonderfully satisfying. Riffs on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre typically fall flat at both homaging and doing something remarkable. Thankfully, Hobbie’s film does both, rather masterfully.
Donnie Hobbie’s Jump Scare feels as vintage as it does contemporary. Walking the line can be an arduous task, and Hobbie proves that it can be done. As far as one of the biggest surprises out of the festival circuit this year, Jump Scare will surely scratch your bloody itch.
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