[REVIEW] Screamfest 23: Teques Chainsaw Massacre

To stand up to Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) is a standard that all slasher films of the last sixty years aim for. But to name one’s film as a direct reference to this iconic piece of horror history takes plenty of guts. Teques Chainsaw Massacre, also know as Masacre En Teques in its native Spanish, is a Mexican slasher film from director Rodrigo Hernández Cruz. Known as an influential film professor and jury panelist in Mexican cinema, Hernández Cruz debuts with an ambitious, technically ambitious slasher that aims to stand up to its referential title.

Virginia (Tatiana del Real), a screenwriter desperately hoping to make it despite her lack of on-set experience, is pulled into an ill-prepared shoot when hastily recruited by her AD friend Tania (Florencia Ríos) onto an auteur’s high-budget, though script-less film. The female filmmakers find themselves ostracized and ridiculed by their male peers and low on funds, forcing them to agree to the job. To her added chagrin, Virginia finds herself a lackey for Carlos Reynaldo (Juan Ugarte), the very director who caused their university to pull funding for Virginia’s own feature project.

As Tania tries to rouse a crew that refuses to listen to a female assistant director, Virginia flirts with the handsome Martin (Jerry Valázquez), the film’s star and a man that everyone except Virginia recognizes as a homosexual. Despite the insistence of nepotism producer Jordi Betancourt (Francisco de la Reguera) on a speedy production, the shoot very quickly falls off the rails due to Carlos Reynaldo’s ineptitude and misogyny. Oh, and the fact that a vicious masked killer is killing the crew off one-by-one.

The premise of Teques Chainsaw Massacre mirrors the grassroots, indie filmmaking of the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre in a way that hooks you as a horror fan. Hernández Cruz manages to modernize your standard slasher formula, blending in social commentary about the machismo that bears down on female and minority filmmakers. During the film’s world premiere at the 2023 Screamfest in Los Angeles, CA, the theater frequently roared with laughter at the film’s clever dialogue and situational comedy, before gasps would fill the room as the killer preyed upon the crew with brutal, gritty violence. Toeing the line between slasher and horror comedy can be difficult, but I found it quite refreshing that the film’s slasher lacked the campiness of other slashers, instead causing pain and seeking revenge with determined focus.

It is clear that Hernández Cruz recruited the best talent in Mexican indie cinema to help with the project. The film is visually intriguing and well-shot, with sharp, intentional editing that creates a tense, though humorous thrill ride. Blood-drenched practical effects make the film’s brutality visceral, as the film’s cast gives their shrieking-all as they’re decapitated, impaled, and mangled. As the film continues its festival run, I very much hope it achieves wider distribution as I can’t wait to watch it again.

Teques Chainsaw Massacre had its world premiere on Friday the 13th in October 2023 at Los Angeles’ Screamfest.