New Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie: Fede Alvarez says test screening scores were high

A few months ago, someone claiming to have attended a test screening of the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre film coming our way from Legendary Entertainment and producer Fede Alvarez posted a very negative reaction to the film online, sharing massive spoilers… which is why I’m not going to provide any links to that information here. Alvarez is currently doing press for Don’t Breathe 2, which he produced and co-wrote, and Bloody Disgusting’s Boo Crew Podcast took the opportunity to ask him about that test screening reaction. Alvarez confirmed that test screenings have been held – but said the audience scores have been high.

Alvarez told the Boo Crew,

We played it a couple times. There was someone online who said it didn’t go well; I don’t know what screening he was at… it was amazing. When you test it, you get a score, and it scored as good as [Don’t Breathe 2], which I think is better than Don’t Breathe 1. So that tells you something.”

I was hoping Alvarez was going to deny a test screening ever happened, because that spoilery reaction wasn’t promising, but at least it’s good to know that the film scored highly.

Alvarez said he and his Texas Chainsaw Massacre collaborators approached the project the same way he approached his 2013 version of Evil Dead:

It started just as Evil Dead started; us thinking, what can we do with this character and this franchise. A lot of respect for the legacy of the first movie, but we’re aware there’s a new audience out there who might not love it or doesn’t know anything about it, so we need to make sure they can enjoy it as well. That’s how the story was crafted.”

A release date for the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre still hasn’t been announced, but Alvarez said there will be news on the film soon.

Directed by David Blue Garcia from a screenplay by Chris Thomas Devlin, this Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a “decades later” sequel to the original film (watch that one HERE) and stars Elsie Fisher, Sarah Yarkin, Mark Burnham, Moe Dunford, Jacob Latimore, Nell Hudson, Jessica Allain, Sam Douglas, William Hope, Jolyon Coy, and Alice Krige, with Olwen Fouéré as Sally Hardesty and Mark Burnham as Leatherface.

The film has been rated R for strong bloody horror violence and gore, and language.