Kelowna man creates iconic Texas horror film prequel

In 1974, audiences watched the story of five youth whose idyllic summer afternoon drive quickly became a nightmare.

The events of that day lead to the discovery of one of the most bizarre crimes in the annals of American history, ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’.

But what came before these events depicted in the 1974 film?

Enter Kelowna writer/director Steve Merlo. He took it upon himself to expand on the original film with an unofficial prequel, ‘The Sawyer Massacre’.

“I referred to the original script quite a bit simply because I really wanted to figure out how I wanted to write these characters eight years prior,” Merlo told Kelowna10. “I took a lot of notes from the actual characters descriptions from the original.”

He didn’t try to imitate the first film, rather, he worked to pay homage to it instead. Certain iconic aspects of the original are still present - the chainsaw dance, the door slam - but with his own creativity in play over imitation.

“We tried to shoot it a little bit differently rather than the way it was shot in the original,” he explained.

To truly capture the feel of the film, Merlo went to shoot on location all the way in Texas. He said that it wouldn’t really be a Texas chainsaw massacre if it wasn’t in Texas.

With BC not able to provide a similar look, and with the prospect of moving the production to Alberta, he figured he may as well take it all the way to the Lone Star state.

Looking back on the production, he said he would have done some things differently, but is still quite proud of what he and his crew were able to create.

“The odds were kind of against us going into this movie,” Merlo said. “The way everyone stepped up making this film is probably the one single thing I could say I’m most proud of.”

The film will be released on October 21, 2022.