Welcome to the Wednesday edition of Internet Insider, where we tell you what you should be watching. Today, we discuss the latest Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot. Scroll down to read stories about Euphoria‘s Alexie Demie and the chili recipe from The Office.
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Curated by: Audra Schroeder, senior writer
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‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ and ‘requel’ fatigue
A new Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie debuted on Netflix last week, ostensibly to bring the story of Leatherface to a younger generation, much like the recent Halloween and Scream “requels.”
I was hopeful that the filmmakers might justify making another TCM—there was already a remake in 2003, as well as more than half a dozen other franchise films. But the new generation in this film are influencers who road trip to a deserted Texas town, and while there are horror films that do the influencer conceit well (2020’s Spree is a good example), TCM does nothing interesting with it.
The original 1974 Tobe Hooper film was controversial when it was released but ultimately influential: It helped shaped the “final girl” theory, explored in Carol Clover’s formative 1992 book Men, Women and Chainsaws. Sally Hardesty, the original film’s final girl, is played in the new film by Olwen Fouéré, but her ham-fisted showdown with Leatherface is comically cut short, to the point that it’s become a meme.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre has some visceral kills and gore, but no other real purpose. There’s no focus on the cannibal family of the early films. There’s a vague school shooting storyline that feels forced. The only memorable scene is when a party bus full of influencers is sawed down by Leatherface while they attempt to livestream him, because no one is sure if he’s part of the party bus or not.
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How to make golf look like America
Lions Municipal became the first public golf course in the South to desegregate in 1950, yet the demographics of the sport haven’t changed much since then. Now that the historical golf course faces threats of closure, the #SaveMuny movement has reignited conversations about inclusion and accessibility in golf.
Two-time Masters winner and member of the World Golf Hall of Fame Ben Crenshaw joins the nationwide campaign to preserve affordable courses and, ultimately, make golf look more like America. Read more.
THIS WEEK ON TIKTOK
TikToker finds chili recipe from ‘The Office’ in Peacock’s terms and conditions
In a viral TikTok posted last week, TikToker Mckenzie Floyd (@mckenziefloyd) revealed Peacock’s secret Easter egg: A chili recipe from The Office.
“Kevin’s famous chili” is famous among Office fans, featured in the slapstick cold open to the episode “Casual Friday,” and recreated IRL by numerous people including the YouTube cooking channel Binging with Babish.
In this TikTok, Floyd scrolls through the entire chili recipe including instructions, saying she discovered it because her boyfriend always reads the terms and conditions.
“Is it because no one ever reads these??” she wrote in the video caption.
Click here to read more.
Now Playing: “The Noise of Carpet” by Stereolab
