FANTASTIC FEST: ‘Chainsaws Were Singing’ Outstays Its Welcome

Horror and comedy are siblings. The horror-comedy itself is a bit trickier to nail, and Chainsaws Were Singing tries to add another component, christening itself a horror-comedy-musical. Sander Maran‘s very independent swing for the fences was shot over the span of about ten years, and its brash mixture of toilet humor, gore, and silver-screen musicals already has its own cult following going, likely bolstered by winning “Best Horror Feature” at the 2024 Fantastic Fest. For all of its do-it-yourself charm, Chainsaws Were Singing falls onto its own chainsaw by letting its own bit drag out far past its prime.

For the first few minutes, Chainsaws Were Singing is a riot. After finding love, couple Tom (co-story writer Karl Ilves) and Maria (Laura Niils) have their romance interrupted by a maniacal chainsaw-wielding Killer (Martin Ruus). Upon their separation due to Maria’s kidnapping by Killer (yes, that’s his name), Tom teams up with a oddball named Jaan (Janno Pussep) to track her down. The road trip comedy and increasing cartoonish nature of the gags, such as a street cop firing his gun and accidentally causing unbelievable levels of squib-embellished violence to everyone but the intended target, fires on all cylinders. Yet, after its opening stretch, Chainsaws Were Singing runs out of gas.

That’s not for lack of trying. Everything about Chainsaws Were Singing is aggressively in the audience’s face. Sometimes, that can be a good thing. Jan Andresson’s gore effects are the sort of gloriously over-the-top fare that splatter film fans will be all over. Similarly, director/producer/writer/cinematographer/editor Sander Maran has a great love for Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, and The Evil Dead, evident in direct references designed to get a knowing “a-ha!” from horror audiences. There’s an overall scrappy, homegrown vibe to Chainsaws Were Singing that’s difficult not to love.

What keeps that goodwill from persisting is that Chainsaws Were Singing is a lot, and not in a good way. The plot is split in far too many directions to maintain interest. An attempt is made to dive into the psyche of Killer, which is taken bizarrely seriously. Some bits that are funny the first time, like the hillbilly “brotherly lovers” Pepe (Ra Ragnar Novod) and Pelle (Peeter Maran) go on so long that it kills what made it funny in the first place.

The number of subplots becomes unwieldy, and a detour into a strange forest cult prompts more snoozes than sat-forward engagement. Either a joke gets repeated, extended, or reformatted so many times it just sounds like noise, or the story gets added in an extraneous fashion that prompts a sigh.

The “musical” aspect of Chainsaws Were Singing is a gimmick. The songs earn a few half-hearted laughs here and there, yet when you look at a function of a musical they’re purely window dressing. Either the songs much have a catchy melody or advance the plot. They do neither. If you’re not amused by a splatter comedy suddenly breaking into song the first time, it’s not gonna work the eighth time.

It’s abundantly clear that Sander Maran and company made Chainsaws Were Singing as a labor of love. By that turn, it’s difficult not to admire the work put in. I got a kick out of being handed a medal at one of the film’s screenings for “surviving” sitting in the front row all throughout the credits. There’s no escaping the idea that this feels like watching someone’s home movies. Which there’s nothing wrong with on principle. The thing is that Chainsaws Were Singing feels like watching a bunch of friends do their inside jokes for the camera, or throw every idea they’ve ever had for a comedy on screen.

For some, that’ll work like a charm. Chainsaws Were Singing absolutely feels primed to find its audience and more power to them. For this critic, Chainsaws Were Singing is more akin to watching a YouTube sketch a friend made and trying to laugh along to show your support. A horror-comedy that outstays its welcome quickly, Chainsaws Were Singing is a bigger independent filmmaking accomplishment than it is an enjoyable film.

Chainsaws Were Singing screened at Fantastic Fest and does not yet have distribution.