The film was only on one screen at this
theater and by 10:30, the 10:50 show had
not sold out yet. Getting into the 432
seat auditorium, the venue was roughly
half filled, but a good flow of people
were still outside at the ticket booth. By
the time the lights dimmed, the theater
was full, with the gender ratio being
split right down the middle. Most of the
crowd was under 25, but there were a
decent quantity of patrons over that
demographic age as well. And surprisingly
enough, there were even some cheers going
into the air as the lights dimmed, which I
have never seen happen before at this
multiplex.
First trailer up was the teaser to
Barbershop 2, which was getting some
giggles and one moment of solid laughter,
but overall nothing special in reactions.
The Matrix Revolutions followed, which
had a few people clapping lightly at the
load-up, but the remaining duration was
left to silence.
Alien: Director's Cut came next, with
some people clapping loudly at the
introduction, with a lot of enthusiastic
comments at the end.
The next preview made quite a stir in
the room. Given its rather unusual
introduction making it look like some
perfume commercial, the ad was retrieving
giggles and several "What the hell?"
reactions. However, once the Resident Evil
(Apocalypse) logo hit the screen, people
got the picture, even though folks were
not overly enthusiastic.
Next up was Dawn of the Dead, which
received a few claps at the finale, but
most of the crowd sat in silence.
Return of the King followed, which
withdrew a silent reception until the
title hit the screen, at which point a
light and very short applause gave way.
The Butterfly Effect finished off the
trailers, which didn't retrieve obvious
responses, but the audience didn't seem to
care too much.
As Texas Chainsaw Massacre was getting
into gear and our protagonists were given
screen time, the audience appeared
skeptical toward whether or not they'd buy
into the experience or if they were about
to watch some corny little horror film.
Pretty soon, however, the audience shut
up, and they shut up pretty quick - the
film had them (and myself included).
The tone (in the auditorium) soon
turned to silence as people seemed gripped
and ready for what was to come, with the
unknown elements in the story acting as a
killer for many moviegoers. It was also
obvious to me that many of the folks in
that room had not see the original, as
this remake loosely reflects the pattern
of events of the first, and so some of the
surprises can be known for familiar fans.
There are probably up to five main
jumps in this film, and three of them got
me pretty good. One huge startle midway
through (involving the sheriff) killed the
entire theater, with more screams than I
can remember in a long time (somewhat
similar to the basement reaction in
Signs). The jump also had many people
trying to jumpstart an applause.
The film in general had the audience on
the edge of their seat for most of the
running time, with a lot of gasping and
nervous fidgeting. One moment nearing the
finale got a solid round of applause, with
a light one sparking once the end credits
hit the screen. But once this ended,
people were quite spooked. One guy who
looked to be in his early 30's came out
commenting to his female companion (in a
teasing manner), "Are we going to sleep
tonight?"
In terms of box office comparisons,
Underworld was only on one screen (when it
opened) here and had filled its auditorium
for the 10:00 hour on opening night (I
didn't attend it, though). However,
Underworld was in a slightly smaller
auditorium and had a line to get in by
10:00. I don't know if there was a line
for Texas Chainsaw Massacre given my later
arrival, but it wouldn't surprise me if
there had been one.
American Wedding offered two showtimes
at this hour region on opening night, with
my 9:40 show selling out in the room of
which Underworld later occupied. The 9:40
of Wedding happened to have a line that
snaked around the mall even though it
didn't form very early, but I'm doubting
that Texas Chainsaw had a big line
beforehand. With that being said, a
first day gross in the region of $9.5 - 12
million would not surprise me.
Having been a good fan of the original,
I was quite iffy on a remake whose origin
had made part of its impact due to the
gritty style of its time. I walked into
the remake assuming that it could either
be as bad as Freddy vs Jason, or could end
up being pretty good but probably not
better than the original TCM.
For those that got spooked by The Ring
(what a coincidence that the kid
from Ring is in TCM), this Texas Chainsaw
remake might perform similar treatments in
its scare factor. However, Chainsaw's
methods are fairly intense, and some of
its factors do override the original on my
scale (even if there is a conventional
feel).
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