The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

A group of friends passing through are stalked and hunted down by a deformed killer with a chainsaw in order to sustain his poor family who can only afford to eat what they kill.

Director:

Marcus Nispel

Writers:

Kim Henkel, Tobe Hooper,

Stars:

Jessica Biel, Jonathan Tucker, Erica Leerhsen

7 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jessica Biel	...	Erin
Jonathan Tucker	...	Morgan
Erica Leerhsen	...	Pepper
Mike Vogel	...	Andy
Eric Balfour	...	Kemper
Andrew Bryniarski	...	Thomas Hewitt (Leatherface)
R. Lee Ermey	...	Sheriff Hoyt
David Dorfman	...	Jedidiah
Lauren German	...	Teenage Girl
Terrence Evans	...	Old Monty
Marietta Marich	...	Luda May
Heather Kafka	...	Henrietta
Kathy Lamkin	...	Tea Lady in Trailer
Brad Leland	...	Big Rig Bob
Mamie Meek	...	Clerk

Storyline

Driving through the backwoods of Texas, five youths pick up a traumatized hitchhiker, who shoots herself in their van. Shaken by the suicide, the group seeks help from the locals, but their situation becomes even more surreal when they knock on the door of a remote homestead. It's quickly apparent the residents are a family of inbred psychopaths, and the unlucky youths suddenly find themselves running for their lives. In hot pursuit is a disfigured, chainsaw-wielding cannibal known as Leatherface.

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Plot Keywords:

suicide | leatherface | chainsaw | group of friends | telephone | 

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Taglines:

Inspired by a True Story

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Genres:

Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong horror violence/gore, language and drug content

Details

Official Sites:

New Line Cinema [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 October 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

La masacre de Texas

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$9,200,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$370,662 (Spain) (21 May 2004)

Gross:

$562,521 (Spain) (28 May 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Line Cinema, Focus Features, Radar Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Lauren German, who plays the Hitchhiker, originally auditioned for the role of Erin.

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Goofs

When turning to go to the mill, a round-bale of hay is seen in the field. The bale is bound with netwrap. In 1973, the only possible binding would have been twine.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: The film which you are about to see is an account of the tragedy which befell a group of 5 youths. It is all the more tragic in that they were young. But had they lived very, very long lives, they could not have expected, nor would they have wished to see as much of the mad and macabre as they were to see that day. For them, an idyllic summer afternoon became a nightmare. For 30 years, the files collected dust in the cold-cases divison of the Travis County Police Department. Over ...
[...]

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Connections

Featured in Severed Parts (2004)

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Soundtracks

"Sweet Home Alabama"
Written by Edward King (as Edward C. King), Ronnie Van Zant and Gary Rossington
Performed by Lynyrd Skynyrd and Jessica Biel
Courtesy of MCA Records
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

Surprisingly good remake.

The horror/sci-fi movie critic Richard Scheib coined the term "Backwoods Brutality" to describe the slew of low-budget movies that emerged in the 1970s which had as their main theme the violent and abrupt destruction of middle-class serenity. The concept has occasionally found expression outside of the horror genre (Straw Dogs, Deliverance), but since Wes Craven's Last House on the Left (1972), it has been a mainstay of the horror genre. Even thirty years later, the basic idea continues to be remade and re-interpreted.

In my view, the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) is the most successful exponent of the genre. As it often is in the American variations of this genre, the TCM takes the so-called blue state/red state dichotomy to a grotesque extreme: the backroads of the Deep South is another country and its inhabitants exhibit uncontained contempt for every unsuspecting wayfarer. Its use of tension, which is meticulously established in the movie's first 45 minutes, and release -- the last 45 minutes -- is almost elegant in its simplicity. Throughout, violence is used in sparing and sudden bursts until the adrenaline-fueled final act, during which it is mercilessly sustained.

With some minor qualifications, this description also fits Marcus Nispel's 2003 remake. Here the enlarged budget and technical expertise have worked both for and against the film. On the one hand, a variety of new elements have been added to the story. Some, like the mysterious little boy or the ending, are so-so, while others, like Leatherface's skin mask or the "extended family," are effective. On the other hand, the professionalism and attention to detail demonstrated by Nispel and Daniel Pearl (whose cinematography here is magnificent) on down to those responsible for filming locations and set detail, is consistently impressive.

So the basic "tension-release" framework has been lifted from the original but instead of improving on it the filmmakers have saddled it with characters, situations, drama, and violence. (We learn from the DVD extras, happily, that some "tender moments" were left on the cutting room floor.) I give it a 7 because ultimately I think it works as a horror movie on its own terms -- in fact, I don't think a better American horror movie has been made since 2000 -- and Nispel/Kosar deserve credit attempting to revise the concept in minor ways for fans of the franchise. On the balance, however, the original's low-budget guerilla-like realism as well as some of its visceral power has been compromised.

Of note, finally, is the performance of Jessica Biel. Having earned her acting chops on the Christian TV show/cheesefest, Seventh Heaven, Biel has as of late found a niche playing physically tough, but likable and intelligent characters. She's quite excellent here; as it was for the original TCM's Marilyn Burns, Biel's performance is exhilarating and intense -- a kind of endurance test. But one easily believes she has the acuity and toughness to survive the ordeal.