Amazon.co.uk Review
The 2003 version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre adheres to the pure-and-simple slasher-movie formula: introduce a gaggle of sexy young people, make vague gestures to distinguish them--Jessica Biel wants to get married and doesn't like pot, so she's our moral compass--then start hacking them to pieces one by one. The visual palette includes grimy crucified dolls, fly-specked pig carcasses, body parts floating in murky jars, a tobacco-chewing redneck sheriff and many slender beams of sunlight cutting through dank, dusty interiors. The camera lovingly photographs Biel's tank-topped bosom and sculpted abs as she's running in terror from a bloated, chainsaw-wielding, human-skin-wearing maniac. This remake lacks the macabre comedy of the original; it's all about the nauseating sensation of waiting for something to jump out of the dark. --Bret Fetzer
Customer Reviews:
There is only one Tobe Hooper.......2008-02-28
I am reviewing the 70s legendary "video nasty" not the remake as Amazon seem to have messed up the synopsis. I went to see this film about 7/8 years ago at the pictures. When it was re-released with all the other video nasties. This is definetly the best of all of those films it is just completly relntless although in my opinion not overly violent on the eye. The scariest part of this film is what you don't see and the tremendous sense of panic and peril in almost every scene. Even at the end you just know that something else could and probably will happen. In my snippet review I compared the film to se7en which I stick by just look at the interiors of the house.
The plot a group of teenagers pick up a hiker who proceeds to jokingly self harm and when he is chicked out of the van he marks it with his own blood. This marking attracts the attention of the service station that they stop at. This family station serve home made treats which several of the teenagers have a part in! Can the last remaining terrified teenager escape?
Realistic and creepy.......2008-01-11
I thought that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was very good considering that it was one of the first slasher movies (the only proper slasher made before this, I think, was Black Christmas).
Four teenage friends drive to Texas to stay in a delapidated old house (ostensibly for a holiday together). The suspence starts pretty much from the start of the movie when the teens pick up a hitchhiker who turns out to beone of the backwards locals, and of the Leatherface clan, leading to a tense fifteen or twenty minutes in their van. The first death scene in the movie comes as a big surprise as it seems to come out of nowhere and was totally unexpected, which was a good idea because it gives the effect of making you jumpy afterwards, waiting for the next kill.
As usual with a slasher movie (and I apologise if this next part is a slight spoiler) most of the friends get killed off and we are eventually left with the last girl. There is a very suspencefull scene where she is being chased through the woods by a chainsaw-weilding Leatherface. And the "Dinner" scene near the end of the movie was scary and disturbing and it is very realisitic (so that it almost feels as though you are watching a snuff movie) and the last minute of the movie (I wont say what happens, wouldn't want to spoil it for people who havent seen the movie yet) is very creepy and quite a disturbing ending.
One problem I have with the movie though is that the body count is low. I wouldn't call 5 deaths a "massacre" and also, only one of these deaths is with a chainsaw so it certainly wasnt a chainsaw massacre either. I also heard that most of the movie wasn't filmed in texas either, quite ironic to called it "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" :P.
Although the movie is quite frightening - and some people will no doubt find it disturbing - I'm not sure why there was previously only a "cut" version available or why there is a quote on the front of the DVD that claims "If ever there was a movie that should be banned this is it" as it wasn't very violent and the violence that is there isnt too graphic.
Overall, a good horror movie I would reccomend to fans of the genre. It is, after all, a classic and, in my opinion, one of the scariest.
By the way, for some reason amazon posts these reviews on the page for both the origional Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the 2003 remake, which is why confusion is caused before reviews for the origional appear on the page for the remake and vice vera.
Its NOT the remake.......2007-09-07
Its not the Remake!
This is the original version for goodness sake, it even says so: Original Uncut Edition [1974]!!!! Most of these reviews are simply misleading and referring to the wrong film.
PEOPLE!.......2007-08-23
Just saying: this is not a review. I'm just helping following reviewers... this is the REMAKE! Not the origional 1973 version!
Trouble is, the origional is rubbish, but people are getting confused and rating this one very low, infact this remake is very good, and so is it's prequal.
ONE OF THE GREATEST HORROR FILMS EVER MADE.......2007-08-06
After receiving word that their relatives' graves may have been robbed, Sally Hardesty, (Marilyn Burns) her invalid brother Franklin, (Paul Partain) and their friends Jerry, (Alan Danziger) Kirk, (William Vail) and Pam, (Terri McMinn) drive through Texas to get to the location. While along they way, they get stranded in this strange town, which has a large house on the edge of town. Thinking a break along the nearby creek might be good for them, they stop and look around. As night falls and the rest of the group hasn't returned yet, Sally and Franklin decide to head into the night to look for them. While searching, they run into the chainsaw-wielding maniac Leatherface, (Gunner Hansen) who chases Sally through the woods.
The Good News: Wow, this is a great film! Even though Jason may be my favorite slasher villain, Leatherface is the first, so he holds special commendation. He is also one of the more unique killers in that he is based on a real person, the notorious Wisconsin mass murderer Ed Gein. The main differences, of course, being the leather mask and the chainsaw. Both are ingenious weapons for any killer to lay claim to: being the first masked killer in cinema history, and for having the most feared weapon of all time. That mask, the knowledge that it is sewn together from human skin, is completely freaky and scary, and that drained color tone, combined with Hansen's strong performance, make up one scary slasher. Even the other performers in the film are incredible. The family at the end is just a bunch of wackos, and the dinner scene is just completely freaky. It takes a special skill to successfully creep out the audience, and they play it so well that you sometimes wonder if these are actual actors or real insane people that he hires to scare the wits out of the rest of the cast. Even without Leatherface in the picture, it can scare you how good they are. Wow, highlights, where do we start. For me, I can sit till the end of time watching Leatherface chase Sally through the woods, chainsaw blaring, as we all hear her screams running around for at least ten minutes. This is pure suspense genius. All we see is the chase, running through the woods, with Leatherface sometimes cutting up tree branches that probably shouldn't have been cut, but that just makes the scene more suspenseful. It gives her a chance to get farther away, and yet he still manages to catch up with her, and the doom we feel when he is within striking distance and she is barely getting away are some of the scariest scenes in the history of cinema. This even comes after one of the biggest jumps I've ever had. Two people are walking in the woods, talking innocently, when after a while we hear a twig snap. One of them shines a flashlight in the direction of the noise, and from out of the darkness roars Leatherface, chainsaw blaring as loud as he is, and he then slices the first character up in not-very-gory fashion. Even still, the way it's filmed is so carefully planned out that we think we see the actual cutting of the character, but we never see a drop of blood. That is a brilliant twist over our heads, as we expect something and then something completely by surprise happens that shocks us. Leatherface's first on-screen appearance/kill is also a shock for first time viewers. One character goes walking around the house by himself and stumbles over a loose nail in the floor. When he regains his footing, a secret door has opened, and in the middle stands Leatherface, hammer in hand. With one swift blow to the head, he's down. He picks up the carcass, hauls it back into the room, and then just slamming the door shut, where it's loud banging comes as a long shock. I don't even have to use the dinner scene, that is too marvelous for me to spoil here, as I've said too much already. It needs to be seen yourself to know what I mean. Even the last five minutes are simply incredible, action-packed pieces of lunacy that no one in their sane mind could have come up with, and the brilliant acting already mentioned just drive the scene home so well that it gives the viewer goosebumps just thinking about a scene like that. That is how well made this film is.
The Bad News: The main problem I have with this film is that Leatherface is not the mass murderer many think he is. We only get five kills in the film, and even worse, only one by chainsaw. Granted, the chainsaw kill is the best one in the film and one of the best in horror history, it still can't make up for the fact that hardly anyone dies in the film. This is a problem that even the remake and nearly all the sequels have in common. A massacre is not five deaths. That can be a bad traffic accident. The storyline needs to be changed so that he has the opportunity to slash up multiple victims. I might be scared of him more if I knew, that in his whole series, he was capable of killing more than one "Friday the 13th" film. These are not body count flicks, so don't be expecting a large cast to be killed off.
The Final Verdict: This is a pretty solid film. It is a bona fide classic; it has some great shock moments and one of the better villains in horror history. Just kill more people along the way. That part of the critique should not be taken seriously, though, and this film MUST be seen as soon as possible.
Amazon.co.uk Review
The 2003 version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre adheres to the pure-and-simple slasher-movie formula: introduce a gaggle of sexy young people, make vague gestures to distinguish them--Jessica Biel wants to get married and doesn't like pot, so she's our moral compass--then start hacking them to pieces one by one. The visual palette includes grimy crucified dolls, fly-specked pig carcasses, body parts floating in murky jars, a tobacco-chewing redneck sheriff and many slender beams of sunlight cutting through dank, dusty interiors. The camera lovingly photographs Biel's tank-topped bosom and sculpted abs as she's running in terror from a bloated, chainsaw-wielding, human-skin-wearing maniac. This remake lacks the macabre comedy of the original; it's all about the nauseating sensation of waiting for something to jump out of the dark. --Bret Fetzer
Customer Reviews:
There is only one Tobe Hooper.......2008-02-28
I am reviewing the 70s legendary "video nasty" not the remake as Amazon seem to have messed up the synopsis. I went to see this film about 7/8 years ago at the pictures. When it was re-released with all the other video nasties. This is definetly the best of all of those films it is just completly relntless although in my opinion not overly violent on the eye. The scariest part of this film is what you don't see and the tremendous sense of panic and peril in almost every scene. Even at the end you just know that something else could and probably will happen. In my snippet review I compared the film to se7en which I stick by just look at the interiors of the house.
The plot a group of teenagers pick up a hiker who proceeds to jokingly self harm and when he is chicked out of the van he marks it with his own blood. This marking attracts the attention of the service station that they stop at. This family station serve home made treats which several of the teenagers have a part in! Can the last remaining terrified teenager escape?
Realistic and creepy.......2008-01-11
I thought that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was very good considering that it was one of the first slasher movies (the only proper slasher made before this, I think, was Black Christmas).
Four teenage friends drive to Texas to stay in a delapidated old house (ostensibly for a holiday together). The suspence starts pretty much from the start of the movie when the teens pick up a hitchhiker who turns out to beone of the backwards locals, and of the Leatherface clan, leading to a tense fifteen or twenty minutes in their van. The first death scene in the movie comes as a big surprise as it seems to come out of nowhere and was totally unexpected, which was a good idea because it gives the effect of making you jumpy afterwards, waiting for the next kill.
As usual with a slasher movie (and I apologise if this next part is a slight spoiler) most of the friends get killed off and we are eventually left with the last girl. There is a very suspencefull scene where she is being chased through the woods by a chainsaw-weilding Leatherface. And the "Dinner" scene near the end of the movie was scary and disturbing and it is very realisitic (so that it almost feels as though you are watching a snuff movie) and the last minute of the movie (I wont say what happens, wouldn't want to spoil it for people who havent seen the movie yet) is very creepy and quite a disturbing ending.
One problem I have with the movie though is that the body count is low. I wouldn't call 5 deaths a "massacre" and also, only one of these deaths is with a chainsaw so it certainly wasnt a chainsaw massacre either. I also heard that most of the movie wasn't filmed in texas either, quite ironic to called it "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" :P.
Although the movie is quite frightening - and some people will no doubt find it disturbing - I'm not sure why there was previously only a "cut" version available or why there is a quote on the front of the DVD that claims "If ever there was a movie that should be banned this is it" as it wasn't very violent and the violence that is there isnt too graphic.
Overall, a good horror movie I would reccomend to fans of the genre. It is, after all, a classic and, in my opinion, one of the scariest.
By the way, for some reason amazon posts these reviews on the page for both the origional Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the 2003 remake, which is why confusion is caused before reviews for the origional appear on the page for the remake and vice vera.
Its NOT the remake.......2007-09-07
Its not the Remake!
This is the original version for goodness sake, it even says so: Original Uncut Edition [1974]!!!! Most of these reviews are simply misleading and referring to the wrong film.
PEOPLE!.......2007-08-23
Just saying: this is not a review. I'm just helping following reviewers... this is the REMAKE! Not the origional 1973 version!
Trouble is, the origional is rubbish, but people are getting confused and rating this one very low, infact this remake is very good, and so is it's prequal.
ONE OF THE GREATEST HORROR FILMS EVER MADE.......2007-08-06
After receiving word that their relatives' graves may have been robbed, Sally Hardesty, (Marilyn Burns) her invalid brother Franklin, (Paul Partain) and their friends Jerry, (Alan Danziger) Kirk, (William Vail) and Pam, (Terri McMinn) drive through Texas to get to the location. While along they way, they get stranded in this strange town, which has a large house on the edge of town. Thinking a break along the nearby creek might be good for them, they stop and look around. As night falls and the rest of the group hasn't returned yet, Sally and Franklin decide to head into the night to look for them. While searching, they run into the chainsaw-wielding maniac Leatherface, (Gunner Hansen) who chases Sally through the woods.
The Good News: Wow, this is a great film! Even though Jason may be my favorite slasher villain, Leatherface is the first, so he holds special commendation. He is also one of the more unique killers in that he is based on a real person, the notorious Wisconsin mass murderer Ed Gein. The main differences, of course, being the leather mask and the chainsaw. Both are ingenious weapons for any killer to lay claim to: being the first masked killer in cinema history, and for having the most feared weapon of all time. That mask, the knowledge that it is sewn together from human skin, is completely freaky and scary, and that drained color tone, combined with Hansen's strong performance, make up one scary slasher. Even the other performers in the film are incredible. The family at the end is just a bunch of wackos, and the dinner scene is just completely freaky. It takes a special skill to successfully creep out the audience, and they play it so well that you sometimes wonder if these are actual actors or real insane people that he hires to scare the wits out of the rest of the cast. Even without Leatherface in the picture, it can scare you how good they are. Wow, highlights, where do we start. For me, I can sit till the end of time watching Leatherface chase Sally through the woods, chainsaw blaring, as we all hear her screams running around for at least ten minutes. This is pure suspense genius. All we see is the chase, running through the woods, with Leatherface sometimes cutting up tree branches that probably shouldn't have been cut, but that just makes the scene more suspenseful. It gives her a chance to get farther away, and yet he still manages to catch up with her, and the doom we feel when he is within striking distance and she is barely getting away are some of the scariest scenes in the history of cinema. This even comes after one of the biggest jumps I've ever had. Two people are walking in the woods, talking innocently, when after a while we hear a twig snap. One of them shines a flashlight in the direction of the noise, and from out of the darkness roars Leatherface, chainsaw blaring as loud as he is, and he then slices the first character up in not-very-gory fashion. Even still, the way it's filmed is so carefully planned out that we think we see the actual cutting of the character, but we never see a drop of blood. That is a brilliant twist over our heads, as we expect something and then something completely by surprise happens that shocks us. Leatherface's first on-screen appearance/kill is also a shock for first time viewers. One character goes walking around the house by himself and stumbles over a loose nail in the floor. When he regains his footing, a secret door has opened, and in the middle stands Leatherface, hammer in hand. With one swift blow to the head, he's down. He picks up the carcass, hauls it back into the room, and then just slamming the door shut, where it's loud banging comes as a long shock. I don't even have to use the dinner scene, that is too marvelous for me to spoil here, as I've said too much already. It needs to be seen yourself to know what I mean. Even the last five minutes are simply incredible, action-packed pieces of lunacy that no one in their sane mind could have come up with, and the brilliant acting already mentioned just drive the scene home so well that it gives the viewer goosebumps just thinking about a scene like that. That is how well made this film is.
The Bad News: The main problem I have with this film is that Leatherface is not the mass murderer many think he is. We only get five kills in the film, and even worse, only one by chainsaw. Granted, the chainsaw kill is the best one in the film and one of the best in horror history, it still can't make up for the fact that hardly anyone dies in the film. This is a problem that even the remake and nearly all the sequels have in common. A massacre is not five deaths. That can be a bad traffic accident. The storyline needs to be changed so that he has the opportunity to slash up multiple victims. I might be scared of him more if I knew, that in his whole series, he was capable of killing more than one "Friday the 13th" film. These are not body count flicks, so don't be expecting a large cast to be killed off.
The Final Verdict: This is a pretty solid film. It is a bona fide classic; it has some great shock moments and one of the better villains in horror history. Just kill more people along the way. That part of the critique should not be taken seriously, though, and this film MUST be seen as soon as possible.
Amazon.co.uk Review
The 2003 version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre adheres to the pure-and-simple slasher-movie formula: introduce a gaggle of sexy young people, make vague gestures to distinguish them--Jessica Biel wants to get married and doesn't like pot, so she's our moral compass--then start hacking them to pieces one by one. The visual palette includes grimy crucified dolls, fly-specked pig carcasses, body parts floating in murky jars, a tobacco-chewing redneck sheriff and many slender beams of sunlight cutting through dank, dusty interiors. The camera lovingly photographs Biel's tank-topped bosom and sculpted abs as she's running in terror from a bloated, chainsaw-wielding, human-skin-wearing maniac. This remake lacks the macabre comedy of the original; it's all about the nauseating sensation of waiting for something to jump out of the dark. --Bret Fetzer
Customer Reviews:
There is only one Tobe Hooper.......2008-02-28
I am reviewing the 70s legendary "video nasty" not the remake as Amazon seem to have messed up the synopsis. I went to see this film about 7/8 years ago at the pictures. When it was re-released with all the other video nasties. This is definetly the best of all of those films it is just completly relntless although in my opinion not overly violent on the eye. The scariest part of this film is what you don't see and the tremendous sense of panic and peril in almost every scene. Even at the end you just know that something else could and probably will happen. In my snippet review I compared the film to se7en which I stick by just look at the interiors of the house.
The plot a group of teenagers pick up a hiker who proceeds to jokingly self harm and when he is chicked out of the van he marks it with his own blood. This marking attracts the attention of the service station that they stop at. This family station serve home made treats which several of the teenagers have a part in! Can the last remaining terrified teenager escape?
Realistic and creepy.......2008-01-11
I thought that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was very good considering that it was one of the first slasher movies (the only proper slasher made before this, I think, was Black Christmas).
Four teenage friends drive to Texas to stay in a delapidated old house (ostensibly for a holiday together). The suspence starts pretty much from the start of the movie when the teens pick up a hitchhiker who turns out to beone of the backwards locals, and of the Leatherface clan, leading to a tense fifteen or twenty minutes in their van. The first death scene in the movie comes as a big surprise as it seems to come out of nowhere and was totally unexpected, which was a good idea because it gives the effect of making you jumpy afterwards, waiting for the next kill.
As usual with a slasher movie (and I apologise if this next part is a slight spoiler) most of the friends get killed off and we are eventually left with the last girl. There is a very suspencefull scene where she is being chased through the woods by a chainsaw-weilding Leatherface. And the "Dinner" scene near the end of the movie was scary and disturbing and it is very realisitic (so that it almost feels as though you are watching a snuff movie) and the last minute of the movie (I wont say what happens, wouldn't want to spoil it for people who havent seen the movie yet) is very creepy and quite a disturbing ending.
One problem I have with the movie though is that the body count is low. I wouldn't call 5 deaths a "massacre" and also, only one of these deaths is with a chainsaw so it certainly wasnt a chainsaw massacre either. I also heard that most of the movie wasn't filmed in texas either, quite ironic to called it "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" :P.
Although the movie is quite frightening - and some people will no doubt find it disturbing - I'm not sure why there was previously only a "cut" version available or why there is a quote on the front of the DVD that claims "If ever there was a movie that should be banned this is it" as it wasn't very violent and the violence that is there isnt too graphic.
Overall, a good horror movie I would reccomend to fans of the genre. It is, after all, a classic and, in my opinion, one of the scariest.
By the way, for some reason amazon posts these reviews on the page for both the origional Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the 2003 remake, which is why confusion is caused before reviews for the origional appear on the page for the remake and vice vera.
Its NOT the remake.......2007-09-07
Its not the Remake!
This is the original version for goodness sake, it even says so: Original Uncut Edition [1974]!!!! Most of these reviews are simply misleading and referring to the wrong film.
PEOPLE!.......2007-08-23
Just saying: this is not a review. I'm just helping following reviewers... this is the REMAKE! Not the origional 1973 version!
Trouble is, the origional is rubbish, but people are getting confused and rating this one very low, infact this remake is very good, and so is it's prequal.
ONE OF THE GREATEST HORROR FILMS EVER MADE.......2007-08-06
After receiving word that their relatives' graves may have been robbed, Sally Hardesty, (Marilyn Burns) her invalid brother Franklin, (Paul Partain) and their friends Jerry, (Alan Danziger) Kirk, (William Vail) and Pam, (Terri McMinn) drive through Texas to get to the location. While along they way, they get stranded in this strange town, which has a large house on the edge of town. Thinking a break along the nearby creek might be good for them, they stop and look around. As night falls and the rest of the group hasn't returned yet, Sally and Franklin decide to head into the night to look for them. While searching, they run into the chainsaw-wielding maniac Leatherface, (Gunner Hansen) who chases Sally through the woods.
The Good News: Wow, this is a great film! Even though Jason may be my favorite slasher villain, Leatherface is the first, so he holds special commendation. He is also one of the more unique killers in that he is based on a real person, the notorious Wisconsin mass murderer Ed Gein. The main differences, of course, being the leather mask and the chainsaw. Both are ingenious weapons for any killer to lay claim to: being the first masked killer in cinema history, and for having the most feared weapon of all time. That mask, the knowledge that it is sewn together from human skin, is completely freaky and scary, and that drained color tone, combined with Hansen's strong performance, make up one scary slasher. Even the other performers in the film are incredible. The family at the end is just a bunch of wackos, and the dinner scene is just completely freaky. It takes a special skill to successfully creep out the audience, and they play it so well that you sometimes wonder if these are actual actors or real insane people that he hires to scare the wits out of the rest of the cast. Even without Leatherface in the picture, it can scare you how good they are. Wow, highlights, where do we start. For me, I can sit till the end of time watching Leatherface chase Sally through the woods, chainsaw blaring, as we all hear her screams running around for at least ten minutes. This is pure suspense genius. All we see is the chase, running through the woods, with Leatherface sometimes cutting up tree branches that probably shouldn't have been cut, but that just makes the scene more suspenseful. It gives her a chance to get farther away, and yet he still manages to catch up with her, and the doom we feel when he is within striking distance and she is barely getting away are some of the scariest scenes in the history of cinema. This even comes after one of the biggest jumps I've ever had. Two people are walking in the woods, talking innocently, when after a while we hear a twig snap. One of them shines a flashlight in the direction of the noise, and from out of the darkness roars Leatherface, chainsaw blaring as loud as he is, and he then slices the first character up in not-very-gory fashion. Even still, the way it's filmed is so carefully planned out that we think we see the actual cutting of the character, but we never see a drop of blood. That is a brilliant twist over our heads, as we expect something and then something completely by surprise happens that shocks us. Leatherface's first on-screen appearance/kill is also a shock for first time viewers. One character goes walking around the house by himself and stumbles over a loose nail in the floor. When he regains his footing, a secret door has opened, and in the middle stands Leatherface, hammer in hand. With one swift blow to the head, he's down. He picks up the carcass, hauls it back into the room, and then just slamming the door shut, where it's loud banging comes as a long shock. I don't even have to use the dinner scene, that is too marvelous for me to spoil here, as I've said too much already. It needs to be seen yourself to know what I mean. Even the last five minutes are simply incredible, action-packed pieces of lunacy that no one in their sane mind could have come up with, and the brilliant acting already mentioned just drive the scene home so well that it gives the viewer goosebumps just thinking about a scene like that. That is how well made this film is.
The Bad News: The main problem I have with this film is that Leatherface is not the mass murderer many think he is. We only get five kills in the film, and even worse, only one by chainsaw. Granted, the chainsaw kill is the best one in the film and one of the best in horror history, it still can't make up for the fact that hardly anyone dies in the film. This is a problem that even the remake and nearly all the sequels have in common. A massacre is not five deaths. That can be a bad traffic accident. The storyline needs to be changed so that he has the opportunity to slash up multiple victims. I might be scared of him more if I knew, that in his whole series, he was capable of killing more than one "Friday the 13th" film. These are not body count flicks, so don't be expecting a large cast to be killed off.
The Final Verdict: This is a pretty solid film. It is a bona fide classic; it has some great shock moments and one of the better villains in horror history. Just kill more people along the way. That part of the critique should not be taken seriously, though, and this film MUST be seen as soon as possible.
Amazon.co.uk Review
The 2003 version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre adheres to the pure-and-simple slasher-movie formula: introduce a gaggle of sexy young people, make vague gestures to distinguish them--Jessica Biel wants to get married and doesn't like pot, so she's our moral compass--then start hacking them to pieces one by one. The visual palette includes grimy crucified dolls, fly-specked pig carcasses, body parts floating in murky jars, a tobacco-chewing redneck sheriff and many slender beams of sunlight cutting through dank, dusty interiors. The camera lovingly photographs Biel's tank-topped bosom and sculpted abs as she's running in terror from a bloated, chainsaw-wielding, human-skin-wearing maniac. This remake lacks the macabre comedy of the original; it's all about the nauseating sensation of waiting for something to jump out of the dark. --Bret Fetzer
Customer Reviews:
There is only one Tobe Hooper.......2008-02-28
I am reviewing the 70s legendary "video nasty" not the remake as Amazon seem to have messed up the synopsis. I went to see this film about 7/8 years ago at the pictures. When it was re-released with all the other video nasties. This is definetly the best of all of those films it is just completly relntless although in my opinion not overly violent on the eye. The scariest part of this film is what you don't see and the tremendous sense of panic and peril in almost every scene. Even at the end you just know that something else could and probably will happen. In my snippet review I compared the film to se7en which I stick by just look at the interiors of the house.
The plot a group of teenagers pick up a hiker who proceeds to jokingly self harm and when he is chicked out of the van he marks it with his own blood. This marking attracts the attention of the service station that they stop at. This family station serve home made treats which several of the teenagers have a part in! Can the last remaining terrified teenager escape?
Realistic and creepy.......2008-01-11
I thought that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was very good considering that it was one of the first slasher movies (the only proper slasher made before this, I think, was Black Christmas).
Four teenage friends drive to Texas to stay in a delapidated old house (ostensibly for a holiday together). The suspence starts pretty much from the start of the movie when the teens pick up a hitchhiker who turns out to beone of the backwards locals, and of the Leatherface clan, leading to a tense fifteen or twenty minutes in their van. The first death scene in the movie comes as a big surprise as it seems to come out of nowhere and was totally unexpected, which was a good idea because it gives the effect of making you jumpy afterwards, waiting for the next kill.
As usual with a slasher movie (and I apologise if this next part is a slight spoiler) most of the friends get killed off and we are eventually left with the last girl. There is a very suspencefull scene where she is being chased through the woods by a chainsaw-weilding Leatherface. And the "Dinner" scene near the end of the movie was scary and disturbing and it is very realisitic (so that it almost feels as though you are watching a snuff movie) and the last minute of the movie (I wont say what happens, wouldn't want to spoil it for people who havent seen the movie yet) is very creepy and quite a disturbing ending.
One problem I have with the movie though is that the body count is low. I wouldn't call 5 deaths a "massacre" and also, only one of these deaths is with a chainsaw so it certainly wasnt a chainsaw massacre either. I also heard that most of the movie wasn't filmed in texas either, quite ironic to called it "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" :P.
Although the movie is quite frightening - and some people will no doubt find it disturbing - I'm not sure why there was previously only a "cut" version available or why there is a quote on the front of the DVD that claims "If ever there was a movie that should be banned this is it" as it wasn't very violent and the violence that is there isnt too graphic.
Overall, a good horror movie I would reccomend to fans of the genre. It is, after all, a classic and, in my opinion, one of the scariest.
By the way, for some reason amazon posts these reviews on the page for both the origional Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the 2003 remake, which is why confusion is caused before reviews for the origional appear on the page for the remake and vice vera.
Its NOT the remake.......2007-09-07
Its not the Remake!
This is the original version for goodness sake, it even says so: Original Uncut Edition [1974]!!!! Most of these reviews are simply misleading and referring to the wrong film.
PEOPLE!.......2007-08-23
Just saying: this is not a review. I'm just helping following reviewers... this is the REMAKE! Not the origional 1973 version!
Trouble is, the origional is rubbish, but people are getting confused and rating this one very low, infact this remake is very good, and so is it's prequal.
ONE OF THE GREATEST HORROR FILMS EVER MADE.......2007-08-06
After receiving word that their relatives' graves may have been robbed, Sally Hardesty, (Marilyn Burns) her invalid brother Franklin, (Paul Partain) and their friends Jerry, (Alan Danziger) Kirk, (William Vail) and Pam, (Terri McMinn) drive through Texas to get to the location. While along they way, they get stranded in this strange town, which has a large house on the edge of town. Thinking a break along the nearby creek might be good for them, they stop and look around. As night falls and the rest of the group hasn't returned yet, Sally and Franklin decide to head into the night to look for them. While searching, they run into the chainsaw-wielding maniac Leatherface, (Gunner Hansen) who chases Sally through the woods.
The Good News: Wow, this is a great film! Even though Jason may be my favorite slasher villain, Leatherface is the first, so he holds special commendation. He is also one of the more unique killers in that he is based on a real person, the notorious Wisconsin mass murderer Ed Gein. The main differences, of course, being the leather mask and the chainsaw. Both are ingenious weapons for any killer to lay claim to: being the first masked killer in cinema history, and for having the most feared weapon of all time. That mask, the knowledge that it is sewn together from human skin, is completely freaky and scary, and that drained color tone, combined with Hansen's strong performance, make up one scary slasher. Even the other performers in the film are incredible. The family at the end is just a bunch of wackos, and the dinner scene is just completely freaky. It takes a special skill to successfully creep out the audience, and they play it so well that you sometimes wonder if these are actual actors or real insane people that he hires to scare the wits out of the rest of the cast. Even without Leatherface in the picture, it can scare you how good they are. Wow, highlights, where do we start. For me, I can sit till the end of time watching Leatherface chase Sally through the woods, chainsaw blaring, as we all hear her screams running around for at least ten minutes. This is pure suspense genius. All we see is the chase, running through the woods, with Leatherface sometimes cutting up tree branches that probably shouldn't have been cut, but that just makes the scene more suspenseful. It gives her a chance to get farther away, and yet he still manages to catch up with her, and the doom we feel when he is within striking distance and she is barely getting away are some of the scariest scenes in the history of cinema. This even comes after one of the biggest jumps I've ever had. Two people are walking in the woods, talking innocently, when after a while we hear a twig snap. One of them shines a flashlight in the direction of the noise, and from out of the darkness roars Leatherface, chainsaw blaring as loud as he is, and he then slices the first character up in not-very-gory fashion. Even still, the way it's filmed is so carefully planned out that we think we see the actual cutting of the character, but we never see a drop of blood. That is a brilliant twist over our heads, as we expect something and then something completely by surprise happens that shocks us. Leatherface's first on-screen appearance/kill is also a shock for first time viewers. One character goes walking around the house by himself and stumbles over a loose nail in the floor. When he regains his footing, a secret door has opened, and in the middle stands Leatherface, hammer in hand. With one swift blow to the head, he's down. He picks up the carcass, hauls it back into the room, and then just slamming the door shut, where it's loud banging comes as a long shock. I don't even have to use the dinner scene, that is too marvelous for me to spoil here, as I've said too much already. It needs to be seen yourself to know what I mean. Even the last five minutes are simply incredible, action-packed pieces of lunacy that no one in their sane mind could have come up with, and the brilliant acting already mentioned just drive the scene home so well that it gives the viewer goosebumps just thinking about a scene like that. That is how well made this film is.
The Bad News: The main problem I have with this film is that Leatherface is not the mass murderer many think he is. We only get five kills in the film, and even worse, only one by chainsaw. Granted, the chainsaw kill is the best one in the film and one of the best in horror history, it still can't make up for the fact that hardly anyone dies in the film. This is a problem that even the remake and nearly all the sequels have in common. A massacre is not five deaths. That can be a bad traffic accident. The storyline needs to be changed so that he has the opportunity to slash up multiple victims. I might be scared of him more if I knew, that in his whole series, he was capable of killing more than one "Friday the 13th" film. These are not body count flicks, so don't be expecting a large cast to be killed off.
The Final Verdict: This is a pretty solid film. It is a bona fide classic; it has some great shock moments and one of the better villains in horror history. Just kill more people along the way. That part of the critique should not be taken seriously, though, and this film MUST be seen as soon as possible.
UK DVD:
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Original Uncut Edition [1974]
- The Thing [1982]
- The Ultimate Hammer Collection (21 Disc Box Set)
- The Wicker Man (2 DVD + CD Collector's Edition) [1973]
- The Wicker Man (2 DVD + CD Collector's Edition) [1973]
- Thirteen Ghosts [2002]
- Underworld [2003]
- Underworld - Evolution [2006]
- Videodrome [1983]
- What Lies Beneath [2000]
UK DVD List
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