RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
Found a Bug? Squash It! Report Bugs Here
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon
Bookmark and Share

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
36 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:151

Fresh:54

Rotten:97

Average Rating:4.8/10

Consensus: An unnecessary remake that's more gory and less scary than the original.

Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins

Genre: Horror/Suspense

Synopsis: 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... 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 madman, one who would leave a trail of blood and terror that would forever become known as “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” New Line Cinema presents The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a terrifying journey into a heart of unimaginable darkness as five young adults are stranded in a rural Texas town, only to find themselves fighting for their lives against Leatherface and his bizarre clan. Inspired by the 1974 classic film of the same name, the new film stars Jessica Biel, Jonathan Tucker, Erica Leerhsen, Mike Vogel and Eric Balfour. Co-starring are screen veteran R. Lee Ermey, Lauren German, David Dorfman, Andrew Bryniarski, Terrence Evans, Heather Kafka and Marietta Marich. Marcus Nispel, the mastermind behind many of the most powerful images and story-telling themes in contemporary music videos and commercials, makes his feature film directorial debut. New Line Cinema presents in association with Michael Bay and Radar Pictures a Platinum Dunes/Next Entertainment Production. The film is produced by Michael Bay and Mike Fleiss. The executive producers are Ted Field, Jeffrey Allard, Guy Stodel, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller. The screenplay is by Scott Kosar (based on a screenplay by Kim Henkel and Tobe Hooper). The creative behind-the-scenes team is led by cinematographer Daniel Pearl (who also served as director of photography on the original 1974 release), production designer Greg Blair, costume designer Bobbie Mannix, special effects make up artist Scott Stoddard, special effects coordinator Rocky Gehr, editor Glen Scantlebury and composer Steve Jablonsky. New Line Cinema will release The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (rated “R” by the M.P.A.A. for “strong horror violence/gore, language and drug content”) in theaters nationwide on October 17th, 2003. [More]

Starring: Jessica Biel, Jonathan Tucker, Eric Balfour, Erica Leerhsen

Starring: Jessica Biel, Jonathan Tucker, Eric Balfour, Erica Leerhsen, Mike Vogel, Lauren German, R. Lee Ermey

Director: Marcus Nispel

Director: Marcus Nispel
Screenwriter: Scott Kosar
Producer: Michael Bay, Mike Fleiss, Andrew Form
Studio: New Line Cinema

[See More Credits]

  • Trailers
  • Pictures
  • The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Trailer
    >
1 of 1

See More Movie Trailers & Pictures

Reviews for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

You’ll have to overcome resentment towards this unnecessary remake before you can be properly terrorised but, on its own terms, it plays well.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
12/30/06
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's a gory, stylish, and occasionally scary push-button factory of shocks and shrieks remarkably better than anyone had the right to expect.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
10/28/03
Jamie Russell
Jamie Russell
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Basically, if you like gory, scary slasher-flicks, then this delivers in spades.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
10/22/03
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

Mostly this is just another lame monster-in-the-backwoods movie that makes us flinch because of the sheer gruesomeness of what's on screen

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
10/11/03
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

The best one can say is that his version is not slavishly in thrall to Hooper's: boring, fright-free and pointless, maybe, but not craven.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

By the time it comes back to its bracketing device of police crime scene footage, Niespel, Bay and Kosar's movie has very much wasted its promising start and descended into a pointless exercise.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
10/14/03
Daniel Etherington
Daniel Etherington
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

There's a simple philosophy behind a movie like this: Add more squishing, add more screaming, and it'll be better. Or at least it'll make more money.

Full Review Source: UK Critic | comment Comment
12/14/03
Ian Waldron-Mantgani
Ian Waldron-Mantgani
UK Critic

It's horrible and explicitly violent, but never authentically scary.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
01/15/04
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Inevitably, given a bigger budget, it lacks the cheap, raw quality of the earlier film that, along with George Romero's outfit in Pennsylvania, showed you could make profitable exploitation shockers on an independent basis far from Hollywood.

Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | comment Comment
04/16/08
Philip French
Philip French
Observer [UK]

If you're into this stuff, it's a fun, scary time.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
10/17/03
E! Online
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
01/09/06
Film Threat
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Biel rises above the rest of the cast, as a compelling protagonist in a role that mostly requires her to scream and run around in a tight tank top.

Full Review Source: Premiere Magazine | comment Comment
10/28/03
Addison MacDonald
Addison MacDonald
Premiere Magazine

Go you skeptics and be shocked all over again. This remake does not take a thing away from the original. It's a movie worthy of the name, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Full Review Source: Juicy Cerebellum | comment Comment
10/15/03
Alex Sandell
Alex Sandell
Juicy Cerebellum

There are so many jump-out- of-your-seat surprises that it's bound to be embarrassing for a number of moviegoers.

Full Review Source: Citysearch | comment Comment
10/16/03
Allison Austin
Allison Austin
Citysearch

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Movie Gazette | comment Comment
11/04/03
Anton Bitel
Anton Bitel
Movie Gazette

Reminds us what the “slasher flick” genre is all about and why we used to love it so much

Full Review Source: Tooele Transcript-Bulletin (Utah) | comment Comment
10/17/03
Audrey Rock-Richardson
Audrey Rock-Richardson
Tooele Transcript-Bulletin (Utah)

It is its own nightmare -- recycling the past in a frightful present.

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
10/17/03
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters

My predominant thought was that we need less talking and more chainsawing.

Full Review Source: Broomfield Enterprise | comment Comment
11/02/03
Dan Marcucci and Nancy Serougi
Dan Marcucci and Nancy Serougi
Broomfield Enterprise

While it can't really compare to Tobe Hooper's brilliant original, this Michael Bay produced remake is surprisingly decent.

Full Review Source: Movie Boeuf | comment Comment
10/24/03
David N. Butterworth
David N. Butterworth
Movie Boeuf

It is, first and last, a hardcore genre movie. The teens are hot, horny and high. The massacr-teers are grotesque, angry and out for blood. The air hangs heavy with death. And you’re never quite sure what’s coming next.

Full Review Source: Hot Button | comment Comment
09/30/03
David Poland
David Poland
Hot Button
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
all

Latest News for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

January 31, 2008: Platinum Dunes, New Line Announce Plans for New Nightmare on Elm Street
In a move that should surprise no one, New Line has announced a partnership with Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes banner to reboot the Nightmare on Elm Street series. More...

November 14, 2007: Marcus Nispel to Direct Friday the 13th Reboot?
You can't keep a good man down. Nor, apparently, can you keep an undead, hockey mask-wearing lunatic off the big screen. According to The Hollywood Reporter, director Marcus... More...

May 09, 2007: Jessica Biel: "Street Fighter"?
Remember that pretty rotten Jean Claude Van Damme movie that was based on a video game called "Street Fighter"? Well, you can bet the producers of the new version wish... More...

January 18, 2007: Box Office Guru Preview: "Hitcher" Aims to Terrorize Moviegoers
After a busy MLK frame which concluded with the Golden Globe Awards, Hollywood lets the dust settle this weekend as only one new film enters wide release - the horror remake... More...

See All

More DVDs

Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
36% 36% Angels & Demons
25% 25% Four Christmases
68% 68% Funny People
95% 95% Star Trek
14% 14% The Ugly Truth

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
32% 32% Terminator Salvation
44% 44% Night at the Museum: B…
86% 86% A Christmas Tale
60% 60% Paper Heart

More New Releases…

What’s Hot On RT

Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Twilight Saga: Eclipse

5 facts straight from the cast.

Disney Animation

Disney Animation

We chart the studio's classics.

Avatar

Avatar

An exclusive look at the human hardware.

Eric Bana

Eric Bana

The Star Trek star talks cars with RT.

Other News

  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Spielberg Hops Away from Harvey Source: Variety
20
  • Tarantino Could Have Directed Green Lantern Source: MTV
24
  • Will Duvall be Gilliam's Don Quixote? Source: Collider.com
26
  • No Hobbit Until 2012? Source: The Wrap
22
  • Don't Hold Your Breath for Hancock 2 Source: HitFix
42
  • Peter Berg Talks Battleship Source: CHUD
2
  • Summit Ponders Twilight Finale Source: Variety
159
  • First Look at Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Source: USA Today
56
  • Jeremy Renner Talks Hawkeye Possibilities Source: Superhero Hype
14
  • Todd Phillips Talks The Hangover 2 Source: Entertainment Weekly
18
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Total Recall: Natalie Portman's Best Movies
69
  • Five Favorite Films with Jason Reitman
47
  • 10 Horrifically Profitable Films
45
  • Critics Consensus: Everybody's Fine Is Just OK
45
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: Vampires and Football Break Thanksgiving Records
42
  • Five Favorite Films with Jesse Ventura
39
  • Sundance 2010: RT's 10 Most Anticipated Movies
30
  • Awards Tour: National Board of Review Winners List!
25
  • Weekly Ketchup: Tron Team to Remake The Black Hole
24
  • RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Terminator Salvation and a Smithsonian Battle
22
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • Director Ruben Fleischer Talks Zombieland
2
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
17
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
12
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
22
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
8
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
22
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
9
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
  • Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine; Possible Sequel
28
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • The Texas Chainsaw Massacre at Rotten Tomatoes
  • The Texas Chainsaw Massacre at IGN
  • The Texas Chainsaw Massacre at AskMen

Fresh Links

Featured
RT on YouTube
RT on YouTube External Link

Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.

RT on Twitter
RT on Twitter External Link

Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.