‘Chainsaws Were Singing’ Movie Review [Fantasia 2024]: A Comedic Horror Musical Packed With Gore, But Lacking Charm

Photo from Fantasia Film Festival

Chainsaws Were Singing embraces its weapon of choice in the movie title just as much as in its blood-soaked kills, but the singing part? Not so much. From The Rocky Horror Picture Show to Little Shop of Horrors, the horror comedy musical genre mashup has an undeniable cult following that isn’t always so simple to capture. Sander Maran’s hyper-violent romantic musical doesn’t find much in the way of the charm it desperately desires.

Tom (Karl Ilves) quickly falls in love with Maria (Laura Niils), but their romance is cut short when she’s abducted by a simple-minded killer (Martin Ruus) wielding a chainsaw. He begins his journey to track down the blood-covered maniac and save his new girlfriend before it’s too late.

The movie opens with Maria running away from the chainsaw-wielding murderer (only called Killer) in a lush, rural setting, screaming for help from a passerby. Naturally, her pleas for help go ignored, leading to his grotesque demise. Tom chases close behind with an eccentric, albeit well-meaning friend, Jaan (Janno Puusepp). Chainsaws Were Singing switches between four perspectives, separated into chapters for Tom, Maria, Jaan, and the killer, offering a glimpse into what they’re fighting for beyond simple survival.

The musical component feels tacked on with instantly forgettable songs. If only the musical numbers got the same level of attention as the over-the-top kills. Despite the brutality on screen, Chainsaws Were Singing never takes itself seriously, maintaining a goofy, sweet core focused on its central romance within the confines of a slasher with more similarities to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre than just the killer’s weapon. Maria is terrorized by the killer’s unhinged cannibalistic family, along with other callbacks.

The actors are clearly having a blast with these ridiculously exaggerated characters and some of it is infectious. Ilves is a highlight as a lovesick Tom, who understands the assignment without fully losing the character to the story’s messy madness. However, the material doesn’t give the actors much to work with. Maran captures a gritty atmosphere, milking every drop of blood on screen for all it’s worth.

Chainsaws Were Singing runs about as smoothly as a chainsaw with an empty fuel tank. The narrative structure doesn’t work, filling out its odd characters with thinly-drawn backgrounds. Maran and Ilves’ screenplay takes comedic jabs at horror tropes, but it doesn’t succeed in incorporating them into the plot beats it pulls right out of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It’s more invested in its romance over its horror, comedy, or musical components, never really finding the right rhythm to make this outlandish film work. 

Rating: 2/5

Chainsaws Were Singing played Fantasia 2024 on July 23rd, 2024.