The unease of “Eraserhead” combined with the eerie farmhouse atmosphere of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” without being as weird or memorable as either. Arthouse pretensions slightly detract from what is just derivative enough, and just original enough, that they people who made it probably were thinking about how it would have played in 1976, and it might have been a minor classic if it had been made back then, but it’s not 1976 anymore, and they should have made something that was going to play well today in front of audiences who’ve seen a lot of variations at this point on what succeeded in 1976. Annoying couple camping on what turns out to be private land are told to leave, and wouldn’t you know it, their battery is dead… but walking up the road, there’s a farmhouse… and here, I know what you’re thinking. No, picture less violence, more of a slow-burner. The pacing, which a lot of gore fans complained about in IMDB, is actually alright, I like a movie that doesn’t show its cards all at once. But this isn’t a slow-burner that eventually ignites like dynamite, more like a firecracker. It doesn’t leave you with as much as it wants to.
