Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

58 (Untitled)
96 35 Shots of Rum
56 Adam
72 Adela
39 Adventures of Power
78 Afghan Star
61 After the Storm
66 Afterschool
xx All the Best
58 American Casino
72 Amreeka
48 Antichrist
73 Araya
62 Art & Copy
55 As Seen Through These Eyes
76 Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86 Beaches of Agnes, The
13 Beautiful Life, A
70 Beeswax
35 Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71 Big Fan
66 Black Dynamite
51 Blind Date
xx Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76 Bliss
35 Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26 Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57 Boys Are Back, The
45 Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81 Bright Star
70 Bronson
45 Burning Plain, The
xx Carriers
55 Casi Divas
57 Chelsea on the Rocks
62 Cloud 9
65 Coco Before Chanel
69 Cold Souls
59 Collapse
44 Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82 Cove, The
75 Crude
82 Damned United, The
67 Departures
xx Dil Bole Hadippa
71 Disgrace
xx Do Knot Disturb
70 Earth Days
24 Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85 Education, An
55 Endgame
xx Eulogy for a Vampire
xx Everyone Else
xx Fatal Promises
56 Fifty Dead Men Walking
62 Five Minutes of Heaven
74 Flame & Citron
49 Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80 Food, Inc.
28 Free Style
xx From Mexico with Love
50 Fuel
25 Gentlemen Broncos
50 Give Me Your Hand
58 Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72 Good Hair
89 Goodbye Solo
52 Grace
64 Harmony and Me
81 Headless Woman, The
xx Heretics, The
63 Horse Boy, The
73 House of the Devil, The
xx How to Seduce Difficult Women
74 Humpday
94 Hurt Locker, The
29 I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16 If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75 In Search of Beethoven
83 In the Loop
61 Intimate Enemies
42 Irene in Time
70 It Might Get Loud
46 Killing Kasztner
19 Labor Day
xx Laila's Birthday
41 Little Ashes
41 Little Traitor, The
66 Liverpool
34 Looking for Palladin
80 Lorna's Silence
83 Maid, The
xx Ministers, The
59 More Than a Game
67 Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34 Motherhood
62 My One and Only
xx Mystery Team
48 New York, I Love You
73 Night and Day
66 No Impact Man
47 Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34 Other Man, The
xx Painter Sam Francis, The
54 Paper Heart
xx Paradise
68 Paranormal Activity
68 Paris
44 Peter and Vandy
35 Play the Game
77 Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx Pretty Ugly People
65 Providence Effect, The
76 Rembrandt's J'accuse
69 September Issue, The
79 Serious Man, A
40 Shrink
61 Skin
77 Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx Skiptracers
46 Splinterheads
39 St. Trinian's
89 Still Walking
50 Stoning of Soraya M., The
55 Storm
65 Tetro
70 That Evening Sun
72 Thirst
xx Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61 Trucker
xx Turning Green
83 U2 3D
66 Unmade Beds
66 Unmistaken Child
70 Visual Acoustics
55 Walt & El Grupo
67 Way We Get By, The
69 We Live in Public
64 Wedding Song, The
64 Where is Where?
xx White on Rice
74 Woman in Berlin, A
69 World's Greatest Dad
70 Yes Men Fix the World
69 Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx You, the Living

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The

EMAILPRINTNew Line Cinema

Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The reviews
38
6.8 User Score:

Generally unfavorable reviews

Based on 33 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 77 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >

Movie Info

Genre(s): Action  |  Horror  |  Suspense/Thriller

Written by: Scott Kosar
Kim Henkel (1974 screenplay)
Tobe Hooper (1974 screenplay)

Directed by: Marcus Nispel

Release Date:
Theatrical: October 17, 2003
DVD: March 30, 2004

Running Time: 98 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: R for strong horror violence/gore, language and drug content

Starring Jessica Biel, Jonathan Tucker, Erica Leerhsen, Mike Vogel, Eric Balfour, Andrew Bryniarski, R. Lee Ermey, and David Dorfman

This thriller recounts the true story of five teenage travelers stranded in a rural Texas town, fighting for their lives against a chainsaw wielding madman and his bizarre extended family. (New Line Productions)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

80

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

What a superb job director Marcus Nispel has done re-creating, yet also revising, 1974's grisly, gristly, protein-centric masterpiece.

Read Full Review >
75

Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder

Has no pretensions about sneaking up on you -- it simply charges, motor humming and blades flying, carving the spot where masochism and entertainment meet.

Read Full Review >
70

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

Adding R. Lee Ermey to the Leatherface clan was a masterful move.

Read Full Review >
63

Premiere Addison MacDonald

Manages to pull off an adequate amount of scares, when compared to most horror flicks in theaters this Halloween season.

Read Full Review >
63

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The film delivers with enough consistency to warrant a qualified recommendation for those seeking a few extra scares at this time of the year.

Read Full Review >
60

Empire Kim Newman

The look, created by Hooper’s cinematographer Daniel Pearl, and expert art direction is persuasively nasty… but somehow that buzzing saw doesn’t sound as scary as it used to.

Read Full Review >
60

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

This particular reconceptualization actually does an impressive job of capturing the nasty dread of the original. It certainly is a vast improvement over those previous remakes/sequels.

Read Full Review >
58

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

The gruesomely unnecessary remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is such a smorgasbord of slimy grunge that to call the movie gross wouldn't do it justice -- it's downright sticky.

Read Full Review >
50

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

A lot more violent and a tad less creepy than the 1974 original, the much-changed remake delivers enough gory, belligerent mayhem to keep horror fans screaming.

Read Full Review >
50

USA Today Mike Clark

The new version has a few jolts, some occasionally effective smoke-and-mirrors photography and a lead (7th Heaven's Jessica Biel) who could teach a grad course on walking provocatively in blue jeans.

Read Full Review >
50

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Director Marcus Nispel, a rock video vet making his feature debut, knows how to ratchet up the tension. His remake is a far, far better-looking thing than the original. There's also more humor, especially in the over-the-top performance of drill sergeant-turned-actor R. Lee Ermey as the loudest of the inbreds.

Read Full Review >
50

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

While it’s far from bad, it also falls far short of the icy frissons produced by the original.

Read Full Review >
50

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

As the eviscerations ensue, the truth becomes undeniable: This is easily the most gruesome, most pointless, episode of "Scooby Doo" ever.

Read Full Review >
50

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Gruesome enough; what it lacks is a distinctive revolting personality of its own.

Read Full Review >
50

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

The remaining twisted population that likes this kind of movie will enjoy a horror film that is surprisingly stylish.

Read Full Review >
50

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Chainsaw is produced by Michael Bay (Bad Boys I and II), which explains its soullessness. But nothing explains the flaw in this bad boy: How can a movie scare you when you’ve seen it all before?

Read Full Review >
50

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Seems to understand its source material, but has no idea how to improve on it.

Read Full Review >
40

LA Weekly Ron Stringer

Still and all, the makeup special effects are as over the top as anything in Hooper and L.M. Kit Carson's 1986 Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, and -- for those of us without the sense to steer clear of this sort of thing -- that's saying something.

Read Full Review >
40

Film Threat Kevin Carr

Everything that made the original Chainsaw a classic is ground into the dirt in this new version.

Read Full Review >
40

Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis

There's nothing wrong with remakes, but as this movie amply proves, there's often nothing right about them, either

Read Full Review >
38

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Simply go out and rent the original. In the thin ranks of killer-power-tool flicks, it's still the standard to beat.

Read Full Review >
38

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

This new, presumably improved Chainsaw is just as humorless as the original, but it's also slicker, glossier and resoundingly artificial.

Read Full Review >
33

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

For those who've seen the original, no surprises will be unearthed other than an altered story (not for the better) and more gore.

Read Full Review >
30

Variety Scott Foundas

Initially promising, but quickly disappointing.

Read Full Review >
30

Washington Post Richard Harrington

Weakens, dilutes, disinfects and otherwise undermines the legacy of Tobe Hooper's 1974 original.

Read Full Review >
30

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

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

Read Full Review >
30

The New York Times Dave Kehr

Rather than exhilaration, this bilious film offers only entrapment and despair. It's about as much fun as sitting in on an autopsy.

Read Full Review >
25

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Efforts to expand the envelope of grotesquery make the film repulsive and suspenseless, and it sorely misses original director Tobe Hooper's grisly, wily sense of humor.

Read Full Review >
25

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

I don't know if Nispel and Scott Kosar, who make their feature film debuts here, are the worst director and writer in the world, though they might well represent the United States if anyone holds a competition. I do know they deliver a total of zero laughs, scares or surprises in this remake of the infamously creepy 1974 picture.

Read Full Review >
25

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Significantly more gruesome and noisy than its predecessor, and boasting more nasty-looking fluids than all the works of David Fincher combined, this version leaves few corpses unturned in its unstinting campaign to please gorehounds.

Read Full Review >
20

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

This new SAW film is so utterly unimaginative it doesn't even count as hommage; it's just a smudgy copy of a still chilling original.

Read Full Review >
20

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Offers the same crudely effective variation on the hatred and fear of hillbillies in "Deliverance."

Read Full Review >
0

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

A contemptible film: Vile, ugly and brutal. There is not a shred of a reason to see it.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 6.8 (out of 10) based on 77 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Andrew G gave it a2:
Hardly produces a scare, or even a minute thrill. Poorly acted, poorly directed, and on a whole, very poor.

antwian f gave it a9:
Superbly gruesome and shockingly suspenseful with a touch of humor.

Jay H. gave it a6:
Vaguely similar to the original, but it's a decent horror flick. The acting is fine, it does have some scary scenes. Good score and reasonably suspenseful. Creepy and very gory.

[Anonymous] gave it a0:
Just another stupid "teen horror" movie, they got to stop making this shit, pisses me off.

Steven R. gave it a10:
Fantastic! The way a good horror remake should be. The different approach to the story makes helps this film stand on its own. Performances were great as was the tension. Fantastic direction and camera work make it an enjoyable watch.

R D. gave it a5:
Not scary. But R Lee Ermey's performance as the Sheriff bangs you. [***SPOILERS***] Also, the slaughter-house scene where Jessica Biel cuts Leatherface's hand with a meat cleaver is good. Just the movie is too violent at times.

poker gave it an8:
A pretty solid film that is,at the same time revolting. I was on edge multiple times waiting for the next gruesome surprise. Don't get me wrong,alot of this IS uneccesery, I just thought at the same time it was well put together. Could I go without the young mental woman in the beginning of the movie pulling a hidden gun out of...(like I said "uneccesery")and blowing her skull computer to smithereens?The answer would be yes BUT at the same time I Would not have been treated to cult anti - hero,Leatherface unmercifully instinctively and,almost gleefully destroying smug,spoiled,oversexed,potheaded brats(that I am shamefully jealous of,which,coincidentally fuels a fair amount of my affinity for this film). Watch it at night, with the lights out and the volume up. I guarantee if you like horror(not the most intelligent type but horror all the same)you'll like this movie.

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use