The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

In 1973, five friends on their way to a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert in Dallas pick up a disheveled, terrified hitchhiker out in the middle of nowhere. After a terrible incident occurs, they are forced to pull over their sweet van to try to contact the local Sheriff. When Sheriff Hoyt finally does arrive, his brusque, callous manner and unprofessional actions give the travellers cause to believe there's something wrong with him - which there is. And what's worse, some of their group went looking for help while they waited and haven't returned. These poor unfortunate travellers have run afoul of the Hewitt family and the infamous Leatherface.

Few movies seem as gritty and dangerous as the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre. This remake is a hell of a lot cleaner-looking, and doesn't make you think it was directed by escaped mental patients like the original seemed to be. But at the same time, the TCM remake with its modern sound and image quality, effects, and shooting style is still a very effective horror movie.

The first thing to note is, after Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket, Sheriff Hoyt is the role R. Lee Ermey was born to play. He's at least as terrifying as Leatherface, especially considering how real he seems. There's no reason a real-life law enforcement officer couldn't be exactly as menacing as Hoyt with the authority of a badge and a gun to back him up, especially among the forgotten backroads of Texas. In every scene with Hoyt, there's a sense of that horrible helplessness that comes with being in way, way over your head.

But that's not to say that Leatherface isn't the star of the show. This Leatherface is intimidating as hell, filling the screen with a massive bulky presence and wielding a monstrous hammer and chainsaw. He comes at Jessica Biel (who is very good here) and company like a runaway train, plowing down whatever's in his path. All of the menace has been restored to the character after the original series fell into a bit of self-parody.

TCM 2K3 (as the hip kids call it) is a surprisingly well-done remake that, for better or worse (mostly worse) paved the way for all of the other horror series to be remade. It's gorier and more graphic than the original - despite the original's reputation - but it fortunately doesn't go into torture porn territory. (They saved that for the follow-up prequel.) This remake is way better than it probably should have been and is well worth watching.