Rating: 
Summary: Better than the original
Review: That statement probably will sound like blasphemy to the purists but it's true. The new version moves A LOT faster, has more gore, and adds some new dimensions to the story. I wouldn't really say it's a remake though, it's more like re-telling a horror story thats been told 1,000 times and it changes a little bit everytime. Not having the whiny invalid brother present was very satisfying. R Lee Ermie, best hick sheriff EVER. Don't get me wrong though, the original is good too but I was almost asleep by the time the killing started.
Rating:
Summary: Very bold and intense horror and a great DVD
Review: While I fully appreciate and respect the tastes of others, let me just say I have no idea why the original is held in such high regard. It was truly one of the worst films I have ever seen. Nothing happened in it. There was ZERO suspense or excitement, the dialogue was barely audible and it felt like another half of it was missing. I hated it and I am so puzzled why so many people love that film. Granted, back in 1973 it may have been easier to scare audiences and the low-budget nature of the original may have contributed to the ugly look of the film but I see no reason to credit the original director (Tobe Hooper) with any of the film's so-called qualities. The man's career fell flat on it's face soon after and I think his most famous movie was something of a fluke. It would not have succeeded today. Obviously, as I just said, audiences today are exposed to a larger number of movies and can choose and discriminate more easily. There are some who will say the only people who can enjoy this will be degenerate teenagers who don't know what real horror is. And some who will call the film to glossy. But none of this I find fair criticism. I am, in no way, a fan of Michael Bay or any of his movies. But he had the right idea in keeping the budget very low for this movie ($8 million) and seems to be more skilled in packaging and producing than directing. The film is not 'glossy' or 'clean'. The equipment use to make the film is more sophisticated than that on the original but this is not 'The Rock' or 'Armageddon' and there are no hundred-shots-in-a-second and flashy camera tricks. They all tried their best to pull of a nervous, raw horror film that stands on it's own and I think they have. This was sooooooo much better than the first. The characters actually HAVE character this time. I got on their side, I got involved in the action (yes, there is action this time, and a LOT of it) and the acting was done well. Plus Jessica Biel is VERY hot. So many new dimensions and situations occur is this remake that elevates to something a zillion times what the original was. Don't automatically think that because Michael Bay is the producer that it's going to be some kind of sanitised and fashion-shoot Hollywood production. It is still a very edgy and intense film. It's rare that a Hollywood film manages to horrify and offend these days, so I'm very glad the new TCM went for a hard R-rating. The tone is so filthy and depraved that you will definitely need to shower soon afterwards. THAT'S how close you get to the action. Even the character of Thomas 'Leatherface' Hewitt has a lot more to do this time. He's not quite Jason Voorhees but he's still an incredibly mean bad guy you'd NEVER want to mess with or come within 10 miles of. And in case you're wondering, he's played by the same dude who played Butterfinger, the big, dumb blonde guy from Hudson Hawk. Only this time he's not so cuddly. Not since 8mm almost 5 years ago have I seen a film where the bad guys (there's more than one) are nothing but the blackest of all evil. R. Lee Ermey was terrific (as usual) as the disgusting Sheriff and any fans of him should only expect the most badass of performances. Second to Dawn of the Dead (and tying with House of 1000 Corpses) this is one of the best horror movies I have seen in a long time. The Platinum Series DVD is just awesome. The 1.85:1 anamorphic picture is superb and the Dolby 6.1/DTS ES soundtracks are incredible. You'll really think Leatherface is chainsawing his way into YOUR living room. There are also a massive load of interesting extras including a 75-minute documentary, deleted scenes, a documentary on serial killer Ed Gein (who was 'supposedly the inspiration for the original but Tobe Hooper denied these rumors) and screen test footage. The packaging is awesome with a metal plate stuck on the front cover and 'crime scene' photos in a little envelope tucked into back. It completes a great package of a great DVD of a great movie. Buy it!!!
Rating:
Summary: Scary as Hell!
Review: I'll never watch this movie again! It was that scary! I'll probably buy it and stick it on a shelf, but I won't watch it. I saw this movie in the theater when it came out and I've never seen anything this scary. What amazed me was the level of detail how real everything was, and the inclusion of actual footage from the real crime scene. I may be wrong and I hope I am but looking at the police footage and the movie I'd swear they shot the film on location. The movie is a remake of the original but the storyline is based the story as told by the only survivor. Which was not available to the original movie makers. I've never seen the original and the only reason I went to see this movie was because of the producer Michael Bay (Armagedon, The Rock, Pearl Harbor, Bad Boys). His work is always quality and no doubt this movie is quality.
Rating: 
Summary: Not so much remake, as re-take...
Review: I always get nervous when a remake or sequel is announced these days. Fact is that in most cases the very term 'remake' or 'sequel' translates to film audiences as 'bad attempt to cash in on a great idea'. And lets face it, with the odd exception they're generally hardly ever worth the price of a rental. Final Destination 2, Jeepers Creepers 2, Starship Troopers 2, BattleStar Galactica... the list goes on. But when the TCM remake was announced, I actually had some quite high hopes it, esepcially as Tobe Hooper was involved (albeit only as co-producer). The fact that the original is now looking quite old and dated, and was shot on such a shoestring budget lead me to wonder whether as a rare exeption to the rule, a modern version could almost end up being the definitive one. It would all rest on whether it was faithful and made properly. But as it turns out, a comparison isn't really on the cards because the new version of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre is so totally different to the original. In fact it shouldn't even really be classied as a remake. The film is about as different from the original as it could possibly have been. For starters the entire thing is anchored around a sub-plot of the suicide of one of the family's escaped victims, which automatically tips us (and also the film's characters) off to something sinister, removing the whole 'idyllic Sunday afternoon gone wrong' theme that is slowly and masterfully built in the original. We also have a totally different load of characters - there's no Sally, no wheelchair-bound Franklin, and no family lunatic knife wielding hitch-hiker. Even the family is different, and has grown by 3 female members and a little boy. The themes of cannibalism, and madness seem to have been pushed way to the back and replaced with just good olf fashioned sadism, and the usual bog standard hallmarks of a standard 'slasher' which gives way to more cheap shocks and less suspense. Leatherface too is treated completely differently - outright nasty (salt to the leg.. ouch!), dominant, and somewhat detatched from the rest of his clan. Not the subservient psuedo mother figure in the original (who even dresses like a woman for dinner). But all in all, whilst not as weird, whacked and disturbing as the original, the new version is good, and very enjoyable. Bit cliched in places, but that doesn't detract from a finely made film with some good effects, decent scares and sequences, and some nice performances. All I will say, is don't buy this expecting a remake, because it's not. It's more a re-working of an idea, in the same way that 'Leatherface:TCM3', and Texas Chainsaw Massacre 4 (or 'the next generation') were, and compared to them it's streets ahead.
Rating:
Summary: i saw it in the movie theater
Review: i saw it in the movie theater and it was great , but keep in mind we are reviewing the dvd here not the movie...well also the movie but alot of it with the dvd also....first off the dvd video quality is very high grade we are talking lord of the rings quaility video here, with tons and tons of extras ( which some dvd's lack in) (...)
Rating: 
Summary: So Why Remake It? Visually Good, But Hopelessly Incoherent
Review: The yet another remake of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" keeps the above-average level of the entire "TCM" seires (including the one in 1995 featuring none other than Renee Zelweger!), but it still lacks the definite, macabre touch of the original by Tobe Hooper. This is not to say "TCM 2003" has no merit; rather, it is impressive visually, and certain to make some of you very sick because of its contents, however, it has no logic. The story begins the same way. The five young travellers, driving an old van, happy with grass, in the backwater of Texas, and ... the rest you can fill in. They are heading for the concert of Lynyrd Skynyrd (and the front row), but unwisely picks up the wrong person on the way. And then nightmare starts ... as before. As the rock band name suggests, the time is set in the 1970s, which means the five youths (including tank-topped Jessica Biel), once trapped, have no communication with the outer world. This should be a clever touch indeed, but even so, these five characters act in a silliest way possible, desperately intent on being the next prey of the killer. That leaves us no sense of chill or horror, except the occasional banging noise heightened by sound effects. Though I admit the German director Marcus Nispel's Gothic visual flair (he made his name in music videos), he does not know the general rules of horror films. Clearly he is stranger to the genre, for what he does in this "TCM" has been all previously seen in many countless horror films. And to make matters worse, the added part (like the sixth member in the van) is simply illogical -- why should she do that, when she apparently survived?; besides, how did she hide it -- all these questions come up while watching, which is not certainly a thrilling experience. The same photographer of the original (shot in 16 mm film) Danile Pearl came back, and that must have been helpful. Though we have no longer the grainy, rough image of the original, the images of the newer one is good in capturing the humid air of Texas. Unfortunately, things end there. Co-produced by Michael Bay, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" shows that it spent money for nothing. The meticulously decorated room of Leatherface would prove that fact. But like his other films, it is hopelessly incoherent. And it does not have the over-the-top audacity of Dennis Hoppper's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" which I start to crave for during the not-so-exciting finale.
Rating:
Summary: It Actually Scared Me
Review: this movie actually scared me and i am a total scary movie buff and 90% of the last supposovly "scary movies" were not scary at all but this one got me. this one raises the bar on scary movies and is a deffinate must see.
Rating:
Summary: Eat a light lunch
Review: In the remake of the original masterpiece, the texas chainsaw massacre is not for the faint at heart. This is a movie that made me think in the movie theater "Kids who sneek into this movie are gonna be mentally ruined for life," because I was scared to hell from this movie. While watching this movie you will be torn emotionally from which of the kids (who are being hunted by a 7 foot 500 pound man with a chainsaw) you feel the most pity for. Jessica Biel turns in a preformance that would rival some of the great ladies in horror movies. From the beginning to end this movie makes you cover your eyes with one hand and reach for the barf bag with the other. This movie made me never want to ever go to Texas. My suggestion: Don't let your kids watch this movie.
Rating:
Summary: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre's Purpose
Review: This movie was produced to have a great emotion on it's audience. This is why it is so scary. I loved how it seemed to suck the viewers into the same world with its characters where the two seem to be running from the infamous Leatherface. The movie was the scariest that has come out in years. With the gresome details and inevitable events, this movie forms a great setting with unexpected expectations. The actors did a great job in the portral of thier characters. I loved the fact that most of the actors where not huge movie stars. It was great and I recommend it to any one who loves the horror and suspense of a great scary movie!
Rating:
Summary: Good slasher, watch with an open mind
Review: It seems that most of the reviews on here are by people who are a part of one of three groupes: 1) grandmother types who should never have watched it in the first place, 2) fanboy geeks who are terrified of change, and 3) obvious studio plants who speak so glowingly about the film as to make me want to hurl. I am none of the above, and I enjoyed the movie. I've seen the original TCM three or four times over the course of my life, and I have always been staggered by its raw, visceral vision. You come away from the original feeling dirty, sensing the grime of that house and those people under your fingernails and on your skin. There is a degree of that here too, but the movie, while being more gory, and containing the trappings of dirt and sinew, doesn't feel quite as visceral as the previous one. The movie, while considered a "remake", moves away from the plot and character of the original in a number of places. Still, it scared the bejesus out of me in spots, and the revisions from the original story line helped add a level of tension that may have been missing with a straight remake, here you had an idea of what was coming next, but you didn't know for sure. The fanboys lament any change to their precious original classic. The key is to try not to compare, why does it have to be better or worse? It is what it is, and that is a scary ride whose basic accessibility for the audience remains the same as the original: how often have you driven through rural America? This could happen to YOU. Another reason why I liked this film: about 2 weeks before it came out, I watched that derivative drivel "Wrong Turn" with Eliza Dushku (who I normally love), compared to that garbage, the remade TCM is high art. Jessica Biel does a nice job, despite the fact that she was obviously cast to be a recognizable face in the trailer. She is gorgeous and pretty compelling here, thoughts of 7th Heaven fade quickly. R. Lee Ermey is brilliant as always, I love that guy. If you are turned off by horror, blood, etc, here's a tip: DONT WATCH THIS!!!!. If you are a fanboy who is immediately offended by any changes to your "classic" film, you may be disappointed. To everyone else, just sit back and hang on.
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