Jason vs Leatherface

[cyberghostface]

Warning for gore, violence and some brief nonsexual nudity.

As a fan of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the character of Jason (not so much his films, if that makes sense) I like the central idea behind Jason vs Leatherface but I think the execution itself is very messy. For example, as you'll see, writer Nancy Collins doesn't seem to know who Jason's mother is even though that's the whole point of Jason's motivation.

Disclaimer: Three issues, a third of each.

The story opens with Jason escaping from Camp Crystal Lake (he's chained to the bottom).

















Yep, his name is 'Hitchhiker' and as you will see his brother is called 'Cook'. I guess Nancy Collins couldn't be bothered to make up names for the characters or, with the latter, use the name Tobe Hooper gave him in the sequel: Drayton.









Awww... I actually like the more 'sympathetic' approach to Leatherface as opposed to him being inherently evil. Even in the original film it was clear that he was pushed around by his family and scared of all the people inside his house. 

Cook introduces Jason to the rest of the family, which is comprised of the corpse of their grandmother and...



#2...







Later, Jason is given a brief tour of the house.



With Jason's help, they manage to kill some people for supper that night. Hitchhiker later takes Jason to see his shed where he works on all his different 'projects'.





Yep. "Doris". Not Pamela.









#3...

So Cook and Hitchhiker end up pissing Jason off for the umpteenth time, and he finally goes after them.












Hitchhiker comes up from behind Jason and whacks him on the head with a mallet. Jason falls to the floor, apparently dead. Cook asks what they should do with him, and Hitchhiker suggests they eat him.









"And he has a long, long way to go before he gets there."

So while it may seem like I hated this, I did like the characterization of Leatherface and Jason and the idea of them actually being 'friends' for a brief while. I wouldn't mind seeing someone who actually had watched the films try this again in the future although given the current state of things it's probably unlikely.

Comments

[michaelhealy]

I am far too bothered by the fact that Jason parried a chainsaw with his machete without destroying both weapons.

[crinos]

I kinda like the idea of Jason and Leatherface broing out.

Also, the Hitchhiker from TCM was actually NAMED Hitchhiker. Really plumbing the depth's of creativity there.

I also liked he tried the cutting himself thing to try and scare Jason. And Jason is like "Yeah, and? You wanna bleed, I can make you bleed."

[silverzeo]

.... I not a horror movie buff, nothing much outside some reviews of them.... BUT... I kinda wanna see the big shot Movie Slashers take down the really REALLY bad and stupid slashers of movies, like those mutant hillbillies from Wrong Turn, or the overly used CGI monster house from the Haunting remake.

[icon_uk]

The Haunting remake had such marvellous sets that it's a shame it had to get saddled with such a dull story... I'd much rather have had a walking tour through the notional house than the movie we actually got.