Today, horror remakes are still a popular trend in Hollywood. Sure, theearly 2000s crazewas notable for its massive relaunches of our favorite IPs:Halloween,Dawn of the Dead,The Amityville Horror,and many more. These retellings reeled in horror fans eager to see what new elements had been added to their favorite classics. One of the first remakes to set the trend in motion was 2003’sThe Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
The film was part of the Platinum Dunes catalog when it launched to stir things up in the horror community. Michael Bay, one of the founders, was responsible for giving thumbs-up to remake projects likeA Nightmare on Elm Street,Friday the 13th,The Hitcher,andThe Texas Chainsaw Massacre, with only a few giving people anything to talk about. The Leatherface-starring one is one of the good ones in the universe of remakes.
Update June 15, 2025: In honor of the 20th Anniversary ofThe Texas Chainsaw Massacreremake, this article has been updated with more details about what made this one of the best horror remakes.
The film stars Jessica Biel as Erin, an unsuspecting woman who faces off against Leatherface and his family of flesh-eating villains. Twenty years after its release, it retains a mixed reception; some fans love it, while others adamantly point out its flaws compared to the 1974 original. Nevertheless, this remake packs a wallop for any fan of the horror genre. Along with considerable jump scares and bloody kills, it shows that a solid horror remake can still keep audiences on the edge of their seats. Here’s what 2003’sThe Texas Chainsaw Massacre got right.
Spoiler alert: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
The Final Girl
Everyhorrorfan loves seeing a strong final girl. Erin delivers that and much more. She starts off as the most level-headed member of her friend’s group with an elevated moral compass, a Laurie Strode type. As the plot unfolds, Erin realizes she’s in real danger and quickly turns into a fighter to survive the harrowing ordeal the Hewitt family has prepared for her.
Unlike Sally Hardesty from theoriginalThe Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Erin doesn’t just run and cry as horrible things await her. She fights. In the film’s most iconic moment, Erin avenges all of her fallen friends by running Sheriff Hoyt over with his own vehicle before escaping. Erin earns her Final Girl badge through and through.
Cat-and-Mouse Games
Every good horror film has at least a few chase scenes, and this remake isn’t the exception. From Erin’s van escape to her escaping Leatherface’s lair after witnessing her boyfriend Kemper’s demise. During the climactic slaughterhouse chase, Erin gains the upper hand by setting a quick ruse for Leatherface and then attacking him with a butcher knife. The question is: does he suffer one bit of this?
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The Texas Chainsaw Massacrehas great sound design and cinematography. Leatherface has the figure to cover the whole screen, and his chainsaw sounds like a dinosaur screaming out loud. The slasher killer is imposing in the film, and he’s given the proper screen time to make the audience terrified of him. In the1974 original, Leatherface was a clumsy, cross-dressing man constantly humiliated by his family. In this one, he’s the monster that will always catch up.
The Opening Scene
A horror film will either win or lose its audience with itsopening scene.The Texas Chainsaw Massacredoes the former excellently. In the first five minutes of the film, Erin has her boyfriend Kemper pull over to pick up a hitchhiker. As Erin’s friends anticipate, the girl soon starts to show an unhinged side clearly caused by some form of trauma, and in what is perhaps the most shocking moment in the film, she shoots herself in the mouth, serving as a catalyst for the film’s plot.
What truly makes this scene shine (aside from the brain bits blown out of the girl’s head) is the actor portraying the hitchhiker, none other than Lauren German fromLucifer. German shows a vulnerability and desperation that truly makes audiences feel for her character despite her short screen time.
Oh yeah, and that shot of the camera going through the hole in the head meant the director wasn’t going to pull any punches with the film’s violence. Can we agree that this opening scene is, in some parts, superior to that of Tobe Hooper’s 1974 masterpiece?
The Characters
While horror classics likeHalloweenandThe Exorcistare remembered for their leads' stellar performances, some modern horror flicks do the exact opposite, showcasing their talent poorly.The Texas Chainsaw Massacreremake counts with a solid script and an ensemble of characters that audiences can invest themselves in.
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Erin is resourceful, fast, and bold as she doesn’t stop at anything to survive her night against the Hewitt family. Morgan (played by the exceptional character actor Jonathan Tucker) is the smartest of the group, always offering a logical solution to every predicament if only his friends listened to him andhe didn’t have to die a horrible death. Regardless, he’s loyal and eventually loses his life while protecting Erin. Andy and Pepper have significantly more common sense than Erin and try to dissuade her from dragging the group into a messy situation when dealing with the hitchhiker’s dead body. And Kemper is, despite his somewhat rough exterior, the brawn of the group, facing Sheriff Hoyt fearlessly as he questions them about the hitchhikers' tragic demise.
The villains are on a different level of maniacal. Leatherface is the staple antagonist ofThe Texas Chainsaw Massacrefranchise, but Sheriff Hoyt is a standout all on his own (he’s played by industry veteran R. Lee Ermey). Cruel, conniving, and relentless, Hoyt shows his victims no mercy and takes special joy in toying with their deteriorating states of mind. Monty, the patriarch of the Hewitt family, is pure evil as he dispatches his family members to do his bidding and bring home “dinner” in the form of Erin and her friends.
There’s a bleak depth in this household. There’s no optimism, only impending doom, as there’s no chance any of them will show mercy for survivors or the audience. And in classic horror fashion, villains are extremely powerful. This is proved in the film’s ending:The Texas Chainsaw Massacreis presented in flashback mode as a chronicle of what a group of young people went through during a trip to Texas. In the film’s intro and ending, police are exploring what seems to be the remains of a crime scene when suddenly Leatherface emerges and gets imprinted on your mind with a horrific “found footage” shot of his face.
This actually made everyone excited about the next remake, but none of them would be as decent as thisTexas Chainsaw universeentry.
