Home › Reviews › In Theaters › “Chainsaws Were Singing” falls short on its promise but is well worth the price of admission. [Fantasia International Film Festival]

“Chainsaws Were Singing” falls short on its promise but is well worth the price of admission. [Fantasia International Film Festival]

By justin waldman on July 27, 2024 • ( 1 )

When a movie is pitched as “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) meets Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) meets Les Misérables (2012),” there is something that immediately grabs my attention because a musical that is zany and over-the-top gory and graphic while being sophisticated and grounded peaks the intrigue. While we have seen something similar-esque before in Anna and the Apocalypse (2017) in terms of a horror musical that has some truly hilarious moments, nothing can really prepare one for what director/co-writer Sander Maran (Monsterland) and first-time screenwriter Karl llves have created with Chainsaws Were Singing. There is truly something so poetically beautiful about the chaotic landscape created in this genre-bending film, but the problem lays mostly with the script in that it is too long by a good mile. A tighter 90-minute version of this would’ve certainly kept the beat and tempo they were going for, creating something more palatable for the overall result.

L-R: Laura Niils as Maira and Karl Ilves as Tom in CHAINSAWS WERE SINGING. Photo courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival.

The story is broken into different chapters which eventually intersect, but it also pivots from the central story in the second act, and that’s where it drags a little too long. The story is supposed to focus on Tom (Karl Ilves) and Maria (Laura Niils), who we are introduced to in the first act, as they’re both looking for something else/answers to life after they’ve fallen on hard times (to put it lightly). However, they’re inevitably separated by a lunatic killer, simply named Killer (Martin Ruus), wielding a chainsaw. Each character is introduced separately through their own chapters amply named “Tom’s Story” and “Maria’s story,” respectively, in the first act. The second act focuses on the The Texas Chainsaw Massacre aspect of the story where Killer has brought Maria home and she has to find her way out of his home and off his cohorts’ land to ensure she doesn’t end up becoming another brutalized victim. This part of the story is way too long and doesn’t match the rest of the tone of the film as much, inevitably dragging it down a tad, but it still keeps the audience engaged, just to a lesser degree.

The largest issue with the script penned by Maran and Ilves is that this is being promoted as a cross between a comedy, a slasher, and a musical, and while the comedy and slasher are clearly evident, the few musical numbers in the near-two-hour production are lacking. It has musical numbers, but they are far and few in between, so there is a slight misdirection and disappointment that this is not a full-fledged bloodied musical about lost lovers separated by a deranged man with a chainsaw killing people.

L: Martin Russ as Killer holding the chainsaw in CHAINSAWS WERE SINGING. Photo courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival.

However, it goes without saying, if the performances were also lacking in Chainsaws Were Singing, then nothing would be singing from the audience, but thankfully the cast all bring their A-games of madness to the forefront and create something for the audience to get behind. While the outlandish premise of the movie is getting the audience in the door, it is that Evil Dead-esque (1981) level of performance from both Ilves and Niils that keeps the audience seated to see if they reunite and to find out how they take down Martin Ruus’s Killer (in his acting debut). Everyone knows exactly what movie they’re making and they are having an absolute ball, resulting in its faults being nearly forgiven.

If Chainsaws Were Singing focused more on the singing aspect and cut down the second act to be something more centralized and focused on the overall gesture of the film, it would work for audiences more. However, the performances from co-writer Ilves and Niils bring the zany concept to life and engage the audience to see something that is simply fun and simplistic in its story in a world worth getting lost in, even if it detours itself on the way. Chainsaws Were Singing may not get an encore, but it is certainly worth the price of admission.

Screening during Fantasia International Film Festival 2024.

For more information, head either to the official Chainsaws Were Singing Fantasia International Film Festival 2024 webpage or theatrical website.

Final Score: 3.5 out of 5.