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Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, The
Generally unfavorable reviews
Based on 18 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 71 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Horror | Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
Sheldon Turner (also story)
David J. Schow
Directed by: Jonathan Liebesman
Release Date:
Theatrical: October 6, 2006
DVD: January 16, 2007
Running Time: 84 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for strong horror violence/gore, language and some sexual content
Starring Jordana Brewster, Taylor Handley, Diora Baird, Matthew Bomer, Lee Tergesen, R. Lee Ermey, Andrew Bryniarski, and Terrence Evans
This startling prequel details the beginnings of the Hewitt clan and exposes their psychotic idea of family fun. (New Line Cinema)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
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...
LA Weekly Scott Foundas
Few surprises lie in store for connoisseurs of torture cinema, though unlike its 2003 predecessor, this Massacre owes less to Bay’s attention-deficient aesthetics than to the measured, Georgia O’Keefe-on-acid sensibility that guided Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel’s much-cannibalized original.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Nathan Lee
Mindlessly repeats the archetypal "Chainsaw" scenario.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter John DeFore
The whole fear-of-obese-hillbillies device is starting to smell as stale as Leatherface's playroom. Does this horror trend simply reflect a national fear, as giant radioactive ants personified the Bomb in the 1950s? If so, maybe it's time for us all to go on a diet; America needs fresh fodder for its boogeymen.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar
"The Beginning" is a better movie than the 2003 remake, even if the plot is understandably similar. There are only so many ways hapless teens can get brutally slaughtered, after all, but Liebesman and company keep things appropriately creepy, right down to aping the look of the 1974 original.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Sam Adams
This is not a slick, jokey horror movie in the post-"Scream" mold, but a genuine attempt to strip the coating from the audience's nerves. It's nasty and brutish, if not particularly short.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub
A lot more enjoyable if you can leave your cognitive skills at the door.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
More or less restages Tobe Hooper's 1974 original, including its much-loved family dinner scene.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Who will survive and what will be left of them? If you don't have a pretty good idea, this is not the movie for you. If you do, rest assured you've seen it all before.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
Misses everything that made the first one eat into your spine like meningitis.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Sadly, this movie is a far cry from the atmospheric, even thoughtfully crafted original, which made you truly scared for the unkempt, everyman victims. But this latest version, though just as grisly, is literally hackwork, and stars a forgettable, airbrushed cast of slaughterees.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Only good old Leatherface literally mirrors the festering cultural and political corruption of the era, and to the film's vast discredit, this hideous echo is never even noted.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
It's really gory and really dull. Mostly just dull.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Rocco Colella
The new prequel isn't really a slasher movie at all. It's a mess, with too much to say, and an odd genre in which to preach.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
If watching people having their faces cut off, getting their legs amputated and having their throats tenderly slit is your idea of a horrific good time, you'll certainly get your money's worth here.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Gregory Kirshling
Unlike "Hostel" or "Wolf Creek," TCM:B is rank and depressing.
Read Full Review >Variety Peter Debruge
Auds would be well advised not to attempt "Beginning" on a full stomach.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 4.9 (out of 10) based on 71 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Ricky m gave it a10:
The Best Of the Best of the Chainsaw flicks Scary Suspenseful and Gory as hell Leatherface rules.
Itis Doom gave it an8:
The movie was great but seriously. Jordana Brewster could have just ran away for her life and screw her friends.
Tanner J gave it a1:
There is a difference between a movie being scary, and a movie just being nasty. This movie isn't scary at all, just very gruesome and loud. A waste of time imo.
daniel b. gave it a0:
Can't believe people went to see this in theatres. I know i would have asked to be refunded. Or left before the end to get it. Its THAT bad. Really. REALLY!
N D gave it an8:
Really enjoyed this - loved the original remake too. R Lee Ermey makes this film - loads of blood and overall worth a watch.
Noranda gave it a10:
This is by far the best movie of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies. Its by far the most brutal movie, and includes such graphic scenes as Leather Faces first "face peel" and "the birth of the monster" Two thumbs WAY UP!
[Anonymous] gave it a1:
More entertaining than the first one, the reason I gave it a 1 is because all the little whining bitches get killed by Mister "Scary-man". Overall, it is the worst prequel I've ever seen. The characters deserved to die.
