Genre: Horror, Murder, Teenage, On The Road, Psychos, Slasher, Cannibals, Disturbing, Suspense, Police, Gore, Kidnapping, Haunted House, Serial Killer
Tagline: Inspired by a True Story
Plot: On August 20th, 1973, police were dispatched to the remote farmhouse of Thomas Hewitt, the former head-skinner at a local slaughterhouse in Travis County, Texas. What they found within the confines of the cryptic residence was the butchered remains of 33 human victims, a chilling discovery that shocked and horrified a nation in what many still refer to as the most notorious mass murder case of all time. Wearing the grotesque flesh masks of his victims and brandishing a chainsaw, the killer, known as “Leatherface,” would gain infamy when sensational headlines were splashed across newspapers throughout the state of Texas: “House of Terror Stuns Nation – Massacre in Texas.”Local authorities would eventually gun down a man wearing a leathery mask and declare they had their killer, which abruptly closed the case; however, in the years that followed, many close to the grisly murder case would come forward to level accusations that police had botched the investigation and knowingly killed the wrong man. Now, for the first time, the only known survivor of the killing spree has broken the silence and come forward to tell the real story of what happened on a deserted rural Texas highway when a group of five young kids inadvertently found themselves besieged by a chainsaw-wielding
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 Rather than exhilaration, this bilious film offers only entrapment and despair. It's about as much fun as sitting in on an autopsy.--Dave Kehr (The New York Times)
Get ready to be brutalized! For those looking for a heart-stopping horror flick, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Marcus Nispel's directorial debut, is well worth the price of admission.  --Guylaine Cadorette (Hollywood.com)
The higher production values rob this Texas Chainsaw Massacre of some of the eerie immediacy of its first incarnation. Nevertheless, after the slow, deliberate start, there's plenty to keep both casual horror viewers and die-hards involved.  --James Berardinelli (ReelViews)
This movie is made with venom and cynicism. I doubt that anybody involved in it will be surprised or disappointed if audience members vomit or flee.  --Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times)
Basically, if you like gory, scary slasher-flicks, then this delivers in spades. It maintains a tense atmosphere throughout and definitely ratchets up the terror factor towards the end. Not for the squeamish though and it’s still hard to see the point ofremaking it.  --Matthew Turner (ViewLondon)
Fans of the series should be pleased by a well-executed retelling of their favorite story while newcomers looking for an intelligent "slasher" picture will enjoy the dimensional characters and well-conceived plot. --Derek May (MovieWeb)
It's a very well-made movie that is a nice homage to the original, but would've been even nicer if they had a different script or actors...except for Jessica Biel and her tank top, of course. --Brian Gallagher (MovieWeb)
It's a gory, stylish, and occasionally scary push-button factory of shocks and shrieks remarkably better than anyone had the right to expect. Yet, it begs the question: if the filmmakers could churn out something this decent, why didn't they shoot an original script, or even a sequel to Hooper's 1974 classic instead of a remake? --Jamie Russell (BBC Films)
Director Marcus Nispel knows how to ratchet up the tension. His remake is a far, far better-looking thing than the original. There's also more humor, especially in the over-the-top performance of drill sergeant-turned-actor R. Lee Ermey as the loudest ofthe inbreds.  --Jack Mathews (New York Daily News)
There are a few neat scenes and shots scattered throughout, including R. Lee Emrey’s performance as the whacked out Sheriff Hoyt. But it’s not worth sitting through all the screaming to get to them. Just go rent the original again.  -- (FilmThreat.com)
Going head to head with one of the greatest horror films of all time is bound to end in bad blood, but while this reimagined 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' is no real match for the original, it has just enough mad mayhem and hysterical helter-skelter to satisfy most horror-fiends - and a film about a terrifying family of mad Texans wielding ruthlessly lethal power from a big white house has never seemed more pointedly political. 7/10--Anton Bitel (Movie Gazette)
A splatterfest remake that relentlessly assaults the senses and mind with no discernable redeeming social value, is poised to make Quentin Tarantino eat his lunch this weekend - and probably cause more than a few unwary audience members to lose theirs.  --Lou Lumenick (New York Post)
The new Massacre hacks away everything different and inventive Tobe Hooper’s original film did for the horror genre.  --Sean O'Connell (FilmCritic.com)
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| Written by |
Tobe Hooper
The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre |
 | Kim Henkel
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III |
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| Cast |
Jessica Biel
Blade: Trinity, Cellular, The Rules of Attraction |
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 | Erica Leerhsen
Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, Anything Else, Mozart and the Whale |
 | Eric Balfour
What Women Want, America's Sweethearts, Secondhand Lions |
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| Music By |
| Mel Wesson
King Kong, Mission: Impossible II, Black Hawk Down | |
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| Has the confidence and capability to wriggle under your skin and freak you out for 98 minutes, if not torment your dreams in the dark of night. 72/100 --Terri Clark (Apollo Guide)
...the first half of the film is somewhat entertaining and a few of Nispel's innovations are enjoyable (including a shot that starts with a screaming Biel and travels through the dead hitchhiker's skull until finally emerging outside of the van). But really, the film never improves upon Hooper's vision, so why bother? --David Nusair (Reel Film Reviews)
I will give the filmmakers credit for taking a story that has, in fact, been done a zillion times over, and still creating something that rings scary, gory and unsettling. 7/10--'JoBlo' (JoBlo.com)
The filmmakers not only pulled it off, they pulled it off in style and made a movie that would have my girlfriend covering her eyes for the entire film starting early in the picture. 8.75/10-- (CHUD.com)
Marcus Nispel does a damn good job on this film and while the script may stick by a few too many hallmarks of the genre to be the great reinvention that Dave seems to think… it is nice to see it abandon completely that self-referential bullshit that SCREAM plagued Slasher horror with for far too long.--Harry Knowles (Ain't It Cool)
Chainsaw is produced by Michael Bay, which explains its soullessness. But nothing explains the flaw in this bad boy: How can a movie scare you when you’ve seen it all before?-- (Rolling Stone)
For all his jump cuts and fast moves, Marcus Nispel pulls it off, it could’ve been a disaster. As it stands, it’s arguably the best Chainsaw since Hoopers sequel and it’s scarier than that one was.--Sonny Fernandez (Diabolical-Dominion.com)
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