- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (film)
Infobox Film
name = The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
caption = Theatrical Poster
director =Marcus Nispel
producer =Michael Bay Mike Fleiss
writer =Scott Kosar
starring =Jessica Biel Eric Balfour Andrew Bryniarski R. Lee Ermey
music =Steve Jablonsky
cinematography = Daniel Pearl
distributor =New Line Cinema Focus Features
released = flagicon|United States start date|2003|10|17
runtime = 113 min.
genre = Horror
country = USA
language = English
budget = $9,500,000
gross = $107,071,655
preceded_by =
followed_by = ""
website =
imdb_id = 0324216"The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is a
horror film remake of the 1974 film of the same name. The film was directed byMarcus Nispel and produced byMichael Bay in2003 .Plot
The movie begins with police footage of the crime in which police are performing a walkthrough of the basement. On
August 18 1973 , five college kids, Erin, Kemper, Pepper, Andy, and Morgan, are on their way to aLynyrd Skynyrd concert inDallas . The kids are returning from a trip toMexico , where Kemper, unbeknownst to his girlfriend Erin, boughtmarijuana . As they are driving through Travis County, Texas, they see a girl about their age walking in the road. After nearly hitting her, Erin insists that they pick her up, and they do so. She is in a hysterical state and goes on about a "really bad man". They try pulling over to get help but the girl becomes more hysterical. She then pulls a gun out from her dress, sticks it in her mouth and shoots herself. The five are shaken and go to find help. They eventually come to a store owned by an elderly woman, they are told to go to the Old Crawford Mill to find the sheriff. They arrive, and no sheriff is found, a young boy tells them where to find the sheriff. Erin and Kemper take off through the woods to find the sheriff's house, leaving the other three at the mill with the boy, Jedediah.Erin and Kemper come to a large farm house in a field. Erin is allowed inside by the owner, an old man in a wheelchair with no legs, but Kemper is told to wait outside. Kemper is fed-up with waiting and goes into the home where he is severely injured by Leatherface and dragged into the basement. The sheriff arrives at the mill and takes the body of the girl, when Erin arrives some time later she finds that Kemper is still missing. Andy and Erin go back into the house looking for Kemper and the old man soon summons Leatherface, who taunts and chases them with his chainsaw. Erin escapes, but Andy's leg is severed and he is taken inside where he is hung on a meat hook in the basement. Leatherface then shoves salt up Andys leg, witch causes him much pain.
Erin arrives back at the mill in a panic and tries starting the van, but it doesn't work. The sheriff soon shows up again, and, after finding a joint of marijuana, he orders the three out of the van and forces them to the ground. He makes Morgan re-enact the suicide, and then kidnaps him, leaving the girls alone at the mill with the van. Leatherface shows up (wearing Kemper's face) and taunts the girls, Pepper makes a run for it but is sawed in half. Leatherface chases Erin through the woods, where she hides in a trailer owned by two women, one with a stolen child. The women then drug Erin and take her to the Hewitts.
At the Hewitt house, Erin meets the whole Hewitt family and is then thrown into the basement. After searching around the sick and twisted place, Erin finds Andy. And in an act of sympathy, she kills him with a large knife. Soon after she finds a mortally wounded Morgan, Jedediah then distracts Leatherface long enough for them to escape. They find an abandoned house and hide in the upper level of the house. Erin is pinned to the floor by Leatherface, but then saved as Morgan sacrifices himself for Erin to escape. Morgan is hung on a chandelier before Leatherface splits him in two up the crotch, killing him. Leatherface continues the chase after Erin.
Erin escapes to a slaughterhouse where she is followed by Leatherface, she then hides in a locker holding a meat cleaver. Erin then jumps out on Leatherface and severs his arm. Erin then runs out of the slaughterhouse and onto a main road where she is picked up by a trucker. The trucker then goes to find help at the eatery. Erin spots the two women with the stolen baby and the old woman who owns the shop. She watches as the women go to talk to the trucker and then goes in to rescue the baby before it faces the same fate as her friends. Erin then hotwires the sheriff's car and repeatedly runs him over, killing him. As she drives on, Leatherface appears on the road, brandishing his chainsaw in his good arm. He slices the drivers' side door of the car but Erin is unharmed. Leatherface, who is irate, just breathes heavily from the blood loss and stares as the car drives away. The other half of the police footage is shown, and Leatherface kills the policemen and cameraman. The narrator comes on and says that Thomas Hewitt was never caught, and we are shown the only known image of Thomas Hewitt, the man they call "leatherface".The case remains open.
Connection to actual events
This film, like its original from 1974 and the films "Psycho" and "
The Silence of the Lambs " (for example), was inspired by Wisconsin serial killerEd Gein . Gein did wear human skin, and made up furniture out of it such as lamps, but he acted alone and did not use a chainsaw. The film's opening claims the events are factual, a use of the false document technique. (Filming of the first movie was from July 15, 1973 to August 14, 1973, while the opening narrative claims that the events took place on 18 August 1973.) Libraries in Burkburnett, Texas and nearby Wichita Falls regularly receive requests for copies of newspaper articles related to the events.Reception
Critical reception
The film has received mixed to mostly negative reviews from critics and audiences. The main criticism of the film was that it was more of a 'gorefest' and less scary, unlike the original 1974 film which used mimimal blood and a grainy atmosphere to build up suspense.
Roger Ebert gave it a rare zero stars rating, branded it 'vile and cynical', and pleaded with his readers 'not to let it kill 98 minutes of your life'. It currently stands with a 'rotten' rating of 34% on Rotten Tomatoes. [http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/texas_chainsaw_massacre/]Box office
"The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" was released in North America on
October 17 ,2003 in 3,018 theaters. [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=tcm03.htm The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Release] Retrieved on 2007-11-12] It grossed $10,620,000 on itsopening day and concluded its North America opening weekend with $28,094,014. It ranked number one at the box office. [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=daily&id=tcm03.htm Texas Chainsaw opening day gross] Retrieved on 2007-11-12] The film opened in various other foreign countries and grossed $26,500,000, while the North American gross stands at $80,571,655, bringing the worldwide gross to $107,071,655. [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=tcm03.htm TCM gross] Retrieved on 2007-11-12]DVD Release
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