You can’t keep a good chainsaw-wielding maniac down.
Since first debuting in 1974 (several years before “Halloween”), Leatherface has had a surprisingly robust and elastic screen presence. Every few years there’s a new installment in “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” series, which have run the gamut from straight-up sequel, to not-so-straight sequel, to remake, to “legacy sequel.” The latest, Legendary and Netflix’s “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (streaming now) takes the legacy sequel approach, imagining the story picking up 50 years after the events of the original.
But where does this latest massacre rank? And what installments are most worthy of a re-watch? Read on to find out… and remember, the saw is family.
9. “Texas Chainsaw 3D” (2013)
Yuck. Weirdly, “Texas Chainsaw 3D” tries to be a direct sequel to the 1974 film while also altering the mythology in huge, utterly befuddling ways (like moving the events of the original film to 1979 for some reason). The opening of “Texas Chainsaw 3D” (yes it was in 3D) rewrites the ending of the original film, this time with the townspeople of Newt, Texas (?) rising up and taking revenge on Leatherface and his entire messed-up family. Of course (surprise!) Leatherface survives. And he re-emerges when a long-lost family member (played by Alexandra Daddario) comes to collect her inheritance. It doesn’t make much sense, especially when Leatherface (Dan Yeager) is framed not as a hulking psychopath but as a misunderstood protector. And while John Luessenhop does have some fun, particularly when amassing several key performers from earlier in the “Texas Chainsaw” universe, including original stars Gunnar Hansen and Marilyn Burns and Bill Mosley from “Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2,” it’s all in service of a story that seems underdeveloped and overcooked.
8. “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (2003)
This is the movie that brought the family (originally known as the Sawyer family, now the Hewitts) back to the big time. This direct remake of the original film grossed more than $100 million on a budget of less than $10 million. And it catapulted the “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” brand, which had been dormant for nearly a decade, back into the public eye. In some ways this new “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” was appealing to the idea of the original film, made by people who thought they understood what made it special. While the original was light on actual violence, this one doesn’t shy away from bloodshed. And the look of the movie (shot by original cinematographer Daniel Pearl), eschews the documentary feel of the original for something far slicker and “grimy” in a very music video-y way. (This one was directed by Marcus Nispel, a German-born music video director and was produced by Michael Bay.) Weirdly, it just comes across as a watered-down facsimile of the original, with few moments that really stand out (although the shot that goes through the suicide gunshot wound of the hitchhiker is admittedly pretty cool). Saw good, man.
7. “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (2022)
For this new “Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” they seem to be following the model of 2018’s highly popular “Halloween” sequel. It’s more or less a direct sequel to the original film, ignoring almost everything that came after it, including all the weird detours the franchise has taken. That is probably for the best. This installment follows a group of yuppies (led by sisters played by Sarah Yarkin and Elsie Fisher) as they look to revitalize an ailing backwoods Texas town, one that has been synonymous with the events of the original film. (In one of the movie’s more clever flourishes, they sell merchandise related to the crime in a local gas station.) Of course, while trying to evict an elderly tenant, things go wrong, and Leatherface (Mark Burnham), long dormant, awakens to take bloody vengeance. There’s a great sequence in a party bus with a bunch of influencers getting hacked to pieces that is a delight, and a shocking ending that also contains a great self-driving car gag, so this new entry is a mixed bag for sure. With a running time of around 80 minutes, it’s hard to even fault it for wasting your time, because it takes up so little of it.
6. “Leatherface” (2017)
This should have been a slam dunk. Millennium Films and Lionsgate, who now controlled the rights, hired French auteurs Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo (“Inside” and “Livid”) to do a Leatherface origin story called, appropriately, “Leatherface.” And it certainly wins points for originality. Most of the story takes place in 1965, with young Leatherface escaping a mental institution. There’s sort of a whodunnit component to the movie because it explicitly states that the inmates have their names changed to avoid associating with their criminal past, and the movie is incredibly violent, including a shoot-out in a diner that reaches “Natural Born Killers” levels. For its originality and its spunk, it deserves points. But it also feels intermittently lifeless (the fact that it was shot in Bulgaria doesn’t help) and is oddly wed to the mythology established by “Texas Chainsaw 3D” of all things. And with Mayry and Bustillo, this could have been something really special. The fact that few even know it exists means it could gain the reputation of being an unsung gem. It’s not quite that, but it’s close.
5. “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning” (2007)
The better of the two “remake” movies from the 2000s, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning” is the prequel story of the murderous family, set in 1969. This one is funnier, gorier, and more political than the 2003 remake. And director Jonathan Liebesman, working from a script that was co-engineered by “splatterpunk” pioneer and franchise veteran David J. Schow, understands that to be different, this one has to be outrageous. This ethos is there from the very first scene, which has baby Leatherface born on the floor of a meat packing warehouse, to the over-the-top kills throughout. Plus, he has a much more engaging crop of victims this time around (including Jordana Brewster, Diora Bird, and Matt Bomer) to go up against the maniacs (R. Lee Ermey should probably be singled out for his outré brilliance). This one is truly unrelenting and also very, very good.
4. “Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation” (1995)
Original co-writer Kim Henkel returned to the franchise to write and direct what was originally known as “The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” Tonally more in line with Tobe Hooper’s nutzo sequel than the original film, what was eventually known as “Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation” is not without its charms. Obviously the biggest draw of the movie (and the reason fit its wider re-release two years after it came out) are the performances from a young Renee Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey. Both are electric in their roles and know exactly the type of movie they’re in. There are also weird flourishes like the implication that Leatherface (Robert Jacks) and the rest of the maniacs are part of a mechanism built by a secret society seeking transcendence through pain. (Yes, this is an actual subplot.) Henkel also manages to corral a few of the original cast members to come back, including Marilyn Burns who plays a version of Sally in the movie’s closing moments (it’s pretty cool). And while the theatrical cut is sometimes overtly chaotic, it’s worth seeking out the director’s cut, which was released as part of a deluxe Scream Factory edition a few years ago.
3. “Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III” (1990)
After striking gold with the “Nightmare on Elm Street” horror franchise, New Line Cinema started gobbling up other horror properties. This included “Friday the 13th.” But it also included “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” The intent was to veer away from the comedy of the sequel and return it to its grisly roots; to that end they hired David J. Schow, a pioneering “splatter-punk” author, to provide the script. The results are pretty good! (They’re not as good as the amazing, “Excalibur”-inspired teaser trailer but that had been shot before an actual director had been hired or a script had been written.) The plot is fairly straightforward, with a yuppie couple (the guy will remind you of Michael J. Fox) running into the killer Sawyer family. Chainsaw-related hijinks ensue, but due to aggressive MPAA notes, much of the film feels oddly muted. Less muted is Viggo Mortensen’s performance as one of the family members; even then you could tell he was a star. And this installment doesn’t totally disregard the sequel; Caroline Williams even returns for a brief cameo as Stretch. If you notice some screams in places of the movie where there shouldn’t be, that had to do with the production filming so close to Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. Ah, authenticity!
2. “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2” (1986)
Talk about a left turn. More than a decade after the original, filmmaker Tobe Hooper was given a considerably bigger budget and free creative rein. Everything is buried in the opposite direction of the original movie – what was almost a documentary-style visual aesthetic is replaced with 1980s slickness, and a tonal emphasis on terror has been replaced by black humor. Where the first film had a thimbleful of blood, “Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2” awash in it (so much so that the film was ultimately released unrated and several explicit set pieces cut). Written by L.M. Kit Carson, who was just coming off the elegiac “Paris, Texas” for Wim Wenders, this new installment features Dennis Hopper as a crazed father of one of the family’s victims (who wields his own chainsaws). There are several notable set pieces, including the extended climax that takes place in a disused theme park reminiscent of Disneyland (the final scene is a chilling inversion of the original’s immortal ending). While initially dismissed, in the years since the sequel has gained a sizable cult following. It’s not quite the piece of art that the original is, but it’s pretty darn close.
1. “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” (1974)
Arguably the greatest horror film of the 1970s, which is saying a lot considering how much psychic trauma was being worked out on the big screen via grindhouse entertainment, “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” is a straight-up masterpiece. Co-written and directed by roughhewn Texas native Hooper, “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” (yes, the words were divided back then) took inspiration from real-life murderers, notably Wisconsin madman Ed Gein (whose story also inspired “Psycho”), but altered pretty much everything else. The movie ostensibly follows a group of friends who run afoul of a gang of murderous backwoods hillbillies, including Leatherface (Gunner Hansen), who wears a mask made of human flesh. What could have been a low-budget exploitation cheapie (all in it was made for less than $140,000) is a surprising, hilarious, sometimes moving portrait of a family unwilling to move on and a group of hippies who can’t realize that society has left them too. (The pain and violence of Vietnam is baked into every frame.) Is it shocking? Sure, but with the first movie at least, the title is the grisliest thing about it.
