My Texas Chainsaw Massacre sequel idea...
Jun 15, 2020 10:06:44 GMT
mikediastavrone96, DeepArcher, and 4 more like this
Post by chris3 on Jun 15, 2020 10:06:44 GMT
So I'm an amateur writer. I finished my last script a few months ago and have been dealing with a nasty bout of writer's block throughout this whole pandemic. I've accumulated multiple story ideas but haven't gained footing with any of them and now I'm starting to get frustrated. I've been toying with taking a month and doing something fun and low-stakes, like a fan script for a pre-established franchise, just to relax and try to find my groove again. And I've had this really bonkers sequel to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) in my head for the past couple of years. I figured I'd post the broad concept here and anyone who reads it can tell me if it's worth dedicating a month to pursue or if it sounds like a dumb idea. You can be honest since this is just for fun and isn't one of my original scripts. I'm a huge fan of the Tobe Hooper masterpiece but my idea is very different and if anything more tonally-similar to the divisive 1986 dark comedy sequel. In typical TCM franchise fashion, my sequel ignores all of the movies except the original classic. It's called The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Returns:
So what do you guys think? Obviously I'd be going for more of a dark comedy tone than straight horror, but I think it seems like something wacky enough to maybe work. Any and all feedback is appreciated. Thanks for reading!
We open in 1973 as a voice just like the one from the original narrates over a montage of 8mm crime scene footage taken from an infamous white Victorian house surrounded by austere farmland. The macabre events of the first film have made national headlines and seared their way into public consciousness on a level not dissimilar to the Manson murders from the previous decade. The cannibalistic Sawyer family has disappeared, abandoning its morbid house of horrors to a baffled police force. The perpetrators have vanished, but the murders across the Texas landscape continue throughout the fall of '73. The "Texas Chain Saw Massacre" remains a fixture of the national zeitgeist. Where are the cannibalistic clan hiding? South of Odessa, it turns out. It's here that our particular story begins as we're introduced to a mysterious, eccentric and extremely wealthy family newly embarked on a rapidly-booming fast food business venture. Having recently purchased an abandoned meat-packing factory and its vast, desolate surrounding acreage, the patriarch of this ominous family (we'll call them the McCarthys) takes three of his sons on a road trip to inspect the new land. They soon find the psychopathic Sawyers squatting within the grungy premises. In the ensuing terrifying encounter, a rabid Leatherface murders one of McCarthy's children before both Leatherface and the Cook (and of course old Grandpa Sawyer in the corner) are restrained by the older McCarthy sibling and father McCarthy himself. Shell-shocked by the murder of his son, father McCarthy quickly realizes who they've just apprehended: the ghoulish murderers making headlines all year. His son asks if they're going to call the police or if he can shoot these psychos dead. "I have another idea..."
Cut to modern day. The McCarthys are now among the richest families in the nation, their fast food company having expanded into a full-blown international empire during the intervening decades. Yet as their fortune has grown, so have their perversions. The McCarthys, it turns out, have their own secret Jeffrey Epstein-esque Pleasure Island where the wealthy elite can vacation and secretly indulge in all manner of deviance. On most nights things are as expected: masked orgies complete with high-end prostitutes and designer drugs, etc. But there are a few weekends a year overseen by one of the more hedonistic members of the McCarthy family (this is Billy McCarthy, the youngest son and witness to his brother's murder at Leatherface's hands decades ago) when the uber rich can pay to witness a special, ultra-secretive ritual entitled: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Returns.
Dallas, Texas. Our protagonist is a young runaway named Alma who has just begun turning tricks in downtown Dallas. A businessman in a limo (a recent client of Alma's) offers her a mysterious proposition that involves a private jet, a weekend trip to an island paradise, and $10,000 cash. She accepts, is driven to the plane, parties on the flight with the other newly-hired groupies, who then upon arrival are all bound, gagged, and sent into a dark compound on the south side of the island. At sundown, dozens of spotlights suddenly illuminate the vast forest surroundings of the island. The games are about to begin.
Billy recounts his childhood experience to the rich guests who have paid to embark on this dark adventure. He reminds them of the news stories from the seventies, and how officially speaking The Texas Chain Saw Massacre remains unsolved. "For you see, my father never called the police back in 1973, and my brother never shot those psychos dead. Instead... they've been held captive all these years, alongside the offspring of the whores we bred on them..." And with that, Billy McCarthy drops a curtain to reveal a chained-up, fat, aged Leatherface (still garbed in his rotted mask) sprawled on display like King Kong in front of the curiosity-piqued rich degenerates. Next to him are the bones and rotting cloth remnants of the Cook. Billy proclaims to the stunned onlookers, "Yes, he's quite out of shape these days, but worry not. His three sons are fierce, agile, and ready for a good old fashioned HUNT..." As if on cue, three chainsaws rev to life in the outdoor distance.
Cut back to Alma. The gates to the compound suddenly open and the captive women are sent screaming into the dark night, ready to be preyed upon by the chainsaw-wielding offspring of Leatherface himself. Across the island, hundreds of cameras livestream the pursuit to the rich onlookers who bet upon the outcomes.
The third act of course finds Leatherface and his sons getting unleashed upon the loathsome rich antagonists. The depraved rednecks and the depraved elites spray the screen red with blood. Imagine the Eyes Wide Shut orgy getting interrupted by a very pissed-off Leatherface and you get an idea of the batshit insanity of the climax. Amidst the carnage, Billy McCarthy shoots Leatherface in the head, killing him. He surveys the wreckage of the vacation premises, stumbling upon sole survivor Alma, gun-clad and standing over the corpse of Leatherface's last remaining son. Alma sees him and points the gun at his head. Billy fires his gun on instinct. Empty. He then tells Alma that if she drops her gun he'll pay her a million dollars cash, have her flown back home on his jet, and keep her on the McCarthy payroll in perpetuity. She agrees. Cut to her alone in the cabin of a private jet, descending back into Texas with a suitcase of hush money and a chainsaw for a trophy.
The denouement: The hidden seventies gem "Shoes" by Reparata and the Delrons (look it up on YouTube, it rocks) plays over a montage beginning with the fresh corpses of the victims on McCarthy Island getting wrapped up by island service-workers. These bodies, as per instruction, are then delivered to a private McCarthy abattoir, mixed in with the meat, packaged up, shipped to the nearest McCarthy Fast Food restaurant, purchased in the drive-thru, driven home, and enjoyed during a perfectly idyllic Texas July 4th family celebration. Cue credits.
Cut to modern day. The McCarthys are now among the richest families in the nation, their fast food company having expanded into a full-blown international empire during the intervening decades. Yet as their fortune has grown, so have their perversions. The McCarthys, it turns out, have their own secret Jeffrey Epstein-esque Pleasure Island where the wealthy elite can vacation and secretly indulge in all manner of deviance. On most nights things are as expected: masked orgies complete with high-end prostitutes and designer drugs, etc. But there are a few weekends a year overseen by one of the more hedonistic members of the McCarthy family (this is Billy McCarthy, the youngest son and witness to his brother's murder at Leatherface's hands decades ago) when the uber rich can pay to witness a special, ultra-secretive ritual entitled: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Returns.
Dallas, Texas. Our protagonist is a young runaway named Alma who has just begun turning tricks in downtown Dallas. A businessman in a limo (a recent client of Alma's) offers her a mysterious proposition that involves a private jet, a weekend trip to an island paradise, and $10,000 cash. She accepts, is driven to the plane, parties on the flight with the other newly-hired groupies, who then upon arrival are all bound, gagged, and sent into a dark compound on the south side of the island. At sundown, dozens of spotlights suddenly illuminate the vast forest surroundings of the island. The games are about to begin.
Billy recounts his childhood experience to the rich guests who have paid to embark on this dark adventure. He reminds them of the news stories from the seventies, and how officially speaking The Texas Chain Saw Massacre remains unsolved. "For you see, my father never called the police back in 1973, and my brother never shot those psychos dead. Instead... they've been held captive all these years, alongside the offspring of the whores we bred on them..." And with that, Billy McCarthy drops a curtain to reveal a chained-up, fat, aged Leatherface (still garbed in his rotted mask) sprawled on display like King Kong in front of the curiosity-piqued rich degenerates. Next to him are the bones and rotting cloth remnants of the Cook. Billy proclaims to the stunned onlookers, "Yes, he's quite out of shape these days, but worry not. His three sons are fierce, agile, and ready for a good old fashioned HUNT..." As if on cue, three chainsaws rev to life in the outdoor distance.
Cut back to Alma. The gates to the compound suddenly open and the captive women are sent screaming into the dark night, ready to be preyed upon by the chainsaw-wielding offspring of Leatherface himself. Across the island, hundreds of cameras livestream the pursuit to the rich onlookers who bet upon the outcomes.
The third act of course finds Leatherface and his sons getting unleashed upon the loathsome rich antagonists. The depraved rednecks and the depraved elites spray the screen red with blood. Imagine the Eyes Wide Shut orgy getting interrupted by a very pissed-off Leatherface and you get an idea of the batshit insanity of the climax. Amidst the carnage, Billy McCarthy shoots Leatherface in the head, killing him. He surveys the wreckage of the vacation premises, stumbling upon sole survivor Alma, gun-clad and standing over the corpse of Leatherface's last remaining son. Alma sees him and points the gun at his head. Billy fires his gun on instinct. Empty. He then tells Alma that if she drops her gun he'll pay her a million dollars cash, have her flown back home on his jet, and keep her on the McCarthy payroll in perpetuity. She agrees. Cut to her alone in the cabin of a private jet, descending back into Texas with a suitcase of hush money and a chainsaw for a trophy.
The denouement: The hidden seventies gem "Shoes" by Reparata and the Delrons (look it up on YouTube, it rocks) plays over a montage beginning with the fresh corpses of the victims on McCarthy Island getting wrapped up by island service-workers. These bodies, as per instruction, are then delivered to a private McCarthy abattoir, mixed in with the meat, packaged up, shipped to the nearest McCarthy Fast Food restaurant, purchased in the drive-thru, driven home, and enjoyed during a perfectly idyllic Texas July 4th family celebration. Cue credits.
So what do you guys think? Obviously I'd be going for more of a dark comedy tone than straight horror, but I think it seems like something wacky enough to maybe work. Any and all feedback is appreciated. Thanks for reading!