Stenian

As a comedy, this film is horrible and embarrassing. The jokes are juvenile and vomit-inducing. On top of that, Sandler's character is obnoxious and very unlikeable. Then again, he is like that in most of his films.

The story or the concept is pretty good. But I don't know why they had to transform that concept into an unfunny film that young teens will laugh at. I would've preferred if this were a sci-fi drama film with some minor dark comedic elements. It didn't have to include so much crude humor done in bad taste.

This "sci-fi drama" began to take effect in the second half, as Newman (Sandler) began to travel forward in time into the future (2017-2022 era). This was when Sandler's serious acting was more palatable - That was when the film became rather stern, dark and enjoyable. I really preferred this tone of the film. Almost as if a new writer and director began taking artistic control. I even started to like Sandler's obnoxious character. And you started to feel for the other characters as the film became rather emotional, gripping and sad in the third act.

Then I realized it was the same film I was watching 70 minutes earlier with the asinine crude jokes. Because the movie was a lot different from the first 50 minutes, which consisted of terrible humour, and that ruined the whole film for me. Someone should make a fan-edit that cuts out the painfully unfunny scenes (Asian kid at the pool, "Habeeboo", Michael farting on his boss, Michael adjusting his colour in his car, Asian executives bitching about Michael in a crude unfunny manner, etc).

This was promoted and advertised as a sad, touching film that will make you bust out in tears. I've seen it in a lot of tearjerker lists within the past decade. I've always wanted to watch it, ever since the late 2000s, but never had the chance. And so I finally did.

What was the fuss about? Look, John Hurt's performance as Merrick was good. The prosthetics and makeup on him were amazing for late 1970s/early 80s standards. I commend the film only for that feat.

I thought the way it flowed and the depiction of other characters was unrealistic and embarrassing. Am I supposed to believe that a grown-ass man will mock the titular character with his buddies like they're 15 year old hormonal teens? On top of that, they bring women and force them to kiss Merrick. What on earth was that? Was I supposed to feel emotional or just bemused and disgusted? David Lynch does these inappropriately salacious things in his films. So I shouldn't be surprised.

The movie tried way too hard to make Merrick a sympathetic character. It felt forced and unnatural to me as a viewer. Sorry, I just can't swallow the fact that grown adults in the 19th century, who already have a difficult life, will be bothered to make fun of a deformed person. And even kids are shown to ridicule him and bully him. Kids in those days would run away if they see a deformed man in a mask. But okay.

As I said, the film lacked emotionality and hardly contained any nice, memorable characters (besides Anthony Hopkins' character). Also, the ending was way too abrupt. But I won't spoil that. I believe David Lynch ruined it. Someone like Steven Spielberg would've made it better and maybe even Robert Zemeckis. Lynch tried to make it surreal and experimental, which failed for a historical drama (and this was based on a true story).

So the first half hour or so is slow and perhaps a bit boring for this generation. We are introduced to the young characters in the van, as if they're supposed to be really important and will come in handy to the plot (spoiler alert, they really won't).

A hitchhiker is then picked up and he starts acting a little psychotic by cutting his arm with a knife, before they kick him out. I thought he was a poor addition, but then I nulled that idea because he becomes a prominent antagonist by the film's climax.

So the characters begin discovering a rather peculiar looking house. The suspense begins here. And what disappointed me is how most of them are all abruptly killed and we're left with the "final girl". All the character development with them, and they're quickly slaughtered.

Leatherface is hauntingly frightening. The music is creepy and far more effective than Halloween's scary music. The climax scene with the evil antagonists exploiting and torturing the final girl is extremely well done (hence my 5 rating). For someone in 1974, that climactic scene would've been traumatizing and harrowing, as no intense sequence like that was even made by that time. It was very well directed and acted. I was taken back to the climax in 'Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire' (2005), where Voldemort and Pettigrew torture Harry and kill another main character. It was an intense scene for me as a 13 year old since the previous HP films were rather mild in emotional impact.

Speaking of acting, I do think the girl screamed way too much in the climax, that even someone in the other room in my house said "will she ever stop screaming?". Her screaming was incessant. In a summary, the film was well made for that time and extremely chilling, but the characters were abruptly gotten ridden of in an unnecessary manner and the first act seemed slow.