Rotten Tomatoes Logo Do you want to see ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’?

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

tomatometer

36

Average Rating: 4.8/10
Reviews Counted: 153
Fresh: 55 | Rotten: 98

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

18

Average Rating: 4.2/10
Critic Reviews: 33
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 27

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

audience

67

liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 375,165

My Rating

Movie Info

One of the most infamous horror films of the 1970s is revisited in this remake produced by action-spectacle maven Michael Bay. In the summer of 1973, four teenagers -- Erin (Jessica Biel), Morgan (Jonathan Tucker), Kemper (Eric Balfour), and Andy (Mike Vogel) -- are driving through Texas on a road trip when they pick up a hitchhiker, Pepper (Erica Leerhsen), who is on her way to Mexico to score some dope. With Pepper adding to the party atmosphere, the other four decide to join her, but as

R, 1 hr. 37 min.

Horror

Scott Kosar

Mar 30, 2004

$80.1M

New Line Cinema

Cast

All Critics (159) | Top Critics (34) | Fresh (62) | Rotten (100) | DVD (41)

An initially promising, but quickly disappointing retread of Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel's hugely influential horror classic.

April 16, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

'Inspired by a true story' presumably adds to the sordid thrills; maybe we should look forward to entertainments about Nazis torturing children.

April 16, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment (1)
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Here's a slice of advice: Go to the video store and rent the original.

October 3, 2006 Comments (2)
Associated Press
Top Critic IconTop Critic

All the bad-rehash mojo from Friday the 13th to The Blair Witch Project has infected Scott Kosar's script.

January 15, 2004 Comment
Rolling Stone
Top Critic IconTop Critic

... a bloody good time of a B-movie.

October 27, 2003 Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | Comment
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic IconTop Critic

An overproduced, video-director remake, slick and grue-marinated and loud as a sonic boom.

October 21, 2003 Full Review Source: Village Voice | Comment
Village Voice
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Hard to do worse than this extremely gory mess.

January 1, 2011 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

This poor mediocre remake brings nothing and adds nothing to an already classic film...

April 29, 2009 Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | Comment
Cinema Crazed

Even a paint-by-numbers slasher is a novelty in this decade.

June 28, 2008 Full Review Source: Antagony & Ecstasy | Comment
Antagony & Ecstasy

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.

April 16, 2008 Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | Comment
Observer [UK]

Just needlessly ugly and unpleasant, not to mention Hollywoodized down to its muddy shoes.

August 3, 2007 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comment
eFilmCritic.com

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

December 30, 2006 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | Comment
Empire Magazine

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.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

The biggest question for me is 'Why?'

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Threat | Comment
Film Threat
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Michael Bay's lot began their remake reign of "terror" with this completely unnecessary movie that I just stared at with complete weariness and annoyance. It's got more gore and aggresiveness in it than the 70's cult classic and what Bay doesn't realise is that blood and guts is not what made the original film

January 18, 2012
Michael M.
Michael Miller

Super Reviewer

Pepper: It just seems so wrong. Sheriff Hoyt: Don't give me any crap, young lady. Goddamn it, I got just as much respect for a dead body as anybody around here. "What you know about fear... doesn't even come close."For a remake of a horror classic, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre isn't a complete piece of shit. Sure it

September 10, 2011
blkbomb
Melvin White

Super Reviewer

    1. Sheriff Hoyt: Lift her up and just kind of pull her over your way there. She ain't gonna bite you. She's deader than a goddamn doornail.
    – Submitted by Dan P (3 months ago)
    1. Erin Hardesty: What's wrong with you fu**ing people?
    2. Sheriff Hoyt: (smiles) Nothing wrong with us.
    – Submitted by Creep F (8 months ago)
    1. Erin Hardesty: (yells) THAT'S NOT YOUR BABY!
    – Submitted by Creep F (8 months ago)
    1. The Tea Lady: Oh, my. Oh, my, my, my, my, my.
    – Submitted by Creep F (8 months ago)
    1. Henrietta Sawyer: Sweet boy. He's no harm. He always keeps to himself. Skin disease. He was just a little boy when it started. Didn't you look at his face?
    – Submitted by Creep F (8 months ago)

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...

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...

What's Hot On RT

Critics Consensus
Critics Consensus

Journey 2 Not Worth the Trip

Luis Guzman
Luis Guzman

What are his 10 best movies ever?

<em>Amazing Spider-Man</em>
Amazing Spider-Man

See the all-new action-packed trailer!

The Avengers!
The Avengers!

Five new Marvelous pictures

Top Movie Quizzes

LEGO Mania: 2011 Best Picture Nominees
by natalie - 18,558 taken
created 12 months ago
How Much Do You Know About Leonardo DiCaprio?
by natalie - 44,414 taken
created 15 months ago
Pixar Movies!
by jdikwlzviv - 27,142 taken
created 15 months ago
The Wizards of Harry Potter
by jdikwlzviv - 27,646 taken
created 15 months ago

Foreign Titles

  • Massacre à la tronçonneuse (FR)
  • Tezas Chainsaw Massacre, The (AU)
Help | About | Jobs | Newsletter | Critics Submission | API | Licensing | Blog | Developers | Mobile