The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise ranked from worst to best
Lionsgate and Millennium Films will be releasing Leatherface, the next installment in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre legacy on DIRECTV on September 21, with a limited theatrical run and VOD release following on October 20.
RELATED: Leatherface Trailer Revs Up the Family Chainsaw Once More
In Texas, years before the events of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, in the early days of the infamous Sawyer family, the youngest child is sentenced to a mental hospital after a suspicious incident leaves the sheriffs’ daughter dead. Ten years later, he kidnaps a young nurse and escapes with 3 other inmates. Pursued by authorities including the deranged sheriff out to avenge his daughter’s death, the young Sawyer teen goes on a violent road trip from hell, molding him into the monster known now as Leatherface.
Leatherface is the eighth entry in the franchise and while we won’t comment of the film’s quality yet (a full review will be coming shortly!), we have decided to run down the previous 7 TCM shockers and rank them from the lowest to the greatest.
Have a look and see if you agree with our list!
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)
Where Hooper's masterpiece shed nary a drop of blood, this grating, pointlessly nihilistic prequel to the remake is just one glossy, designer slog into cruelty. And do we really need to know about Leatherface's troubled childhood? The beauty of the character is that he's an enigma. A force. And a spastic blackly comedic presence as well. Here he's just another hulking, dumb Jason Voorhees clone. Blech.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
This grim and dumb and ludicrously over-stylized remake of Hooper's southern-fried shocker gets a pass somewhat because of its cast, especially Jessica Biel who improves upon Marilyn Burns' screaming Sally and R. Lee Ermey as the sadistic lawman and Saw clan sibling. Gore and torture replace the dirty terror of the original and worse, the Michael Bay gloss sucks all the raw art and humor out of the 'Saw series and turns it into multiplex product.
Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013)
It's got a bum rap, but this 3D quickie rehash is actually pretty good, a trashy, weird slash film that treads on familiar turf yet still manages to feel somewhat scrappy and fresh. There's plenty of scares and Alexandra Daddario is great as the resourceful, sensitive female lead. Definitely worth another look.
Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part III (1990)
Jeff Burr's fun and meaty sequel is really just another remake but it takes chances, has plenty of action and atmosphere and boasts an eccentric cast of scenery-chewers, including the now super-famous Viggo Mortensen, Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead), Bill Butler (Night of the Living Dead 1990) and more. R.A. Mihailoff makes a great Leatherface too. Big, scary and out of control.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994)
Anyone who trashes Kim Henkel's crazed and feral black comedy compainion to the film he co-wrote needs to seriously watch this bananas movie again. Like the first film, this is an authentic piece of Texas Grand Guignol served up with wild pre-fame performances by Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger with a cross-dressing Leatherface that essentially adapts to whatever skin he's wearing. Make sure you watch the original 94 minute director's cut as the movie was later cut by Columbia Pictures and released to cash in on its leads newfound fame. Seriously. This is a crazed, scary and outrageous little film from Hell.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 (1986)
Once upon a time, a serious fan of Tobe Hooper's Cannon Pictures-produced follow-up to his landmark would have been forced to defend it. Not now as the movie is recognized as the masterpiece it is. Mutating his original film and pushing everything so far over the top it becomes a kind of splatter opera, TCM 2 takes the Sawyer clan into the bowels of a carnival-esque slaughter labyrinth, adds Bill Moseley's iconic death-hippie Chop-Top and gives us a neurotic, horny and still savage Leatherface. Oh, and Dennis Hopper plays Sally and Frankin's lawman brother who comes after the clan with his own chainsaw. And Caroline Williams gets fucked gently with a chainsaw. And Tom Savini's gore FX steal the show. And it's funny as hell. And fever-pitched. And scary and...oh Hell, this is almost on par with the first and technically it's a better film, if far less important.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Barely a drop of blood is spilled in this untouchable riff on Psycho by way of Deliverance, the product of a gaggle of Texans who just went for it. Not much to say about Hooper's immaculate and filthy horror classic except that its lost not a shred of its power to paralyze its audience. Timeless and terrifying.
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