The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003 film)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Marcus Nispel
Produced by
Screenplay by Scott Kosar
Based on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 
by Kim Henkel
and Tobe Hooper
Starring
Narrated by John Larroquette
Music by Steve Jablonsky
Cinematography Daniel Pearl
Edited by Glen Scantlebury
Production
companies
Distributed by New Line Cinema
Release dates
  • October 17, 2003 (2003-10-17)
Running time
 98 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $9.5 million[2]
Box office $107.1 million[3]

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a 2003 American horror film, and a remake of the The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. The fifth adaptation within the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, the film was directed by Marcus Nispel and produced by Michael Bay. It was also co-produced by Kim Henkel and Tobe Hooper, co-creators of the original 1974 film.

TCM is the first of many horror remakes to come from Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes production company which also released the remakes The Amityville Horror, The Hitcher, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Though met with negative reception from critics, the film was well received by fans, and grossed $107 million worldwide above its $9.5 million budget, making it a strong financial success. A sequel was planned, but was later made into a prequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning.

Plot

On August 18, 1973, five young adults - Erin, her boyfriend Kemper, and their friends Morgan, Andy, and Pepper - are on their way to a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert after returning from Mexico to buy marijuana. While driving through Texas, they pick up a distraught hitchhiker they see walking in the middle of the road. After trying to talk to the hitchhiker, who speaks incoherently about "a bad man", she pulls out a .357 Magnum pistol and shoots herself in the mouth.

The group goes to a nearby eatery to contact the police where a woman named Luda Mae tells them to meet the sheriff at the mill. Instead of the sheriff, they find a young boy named Jedidiah, who tells them that the sheriff is at home. Erin and Kemper go through the woods to find his house, leaving Morgan, Andy, and Pepper at the mill with the boy. They come across a plantation house and Erin is allowed inside by an amputee named Monty to call for help. When Erin finishes, Monty asks her for help. Kemper goes inside to look for Erin and is killed with a sledgehammer by Thomas Hewitt, AKA "Leatherface", who drags his body into the basement to make a new mask.

Meanwhile, Sheriff Hoyt arrives at the mill and disposes of the hitchhiker's body, wrapping her in cellophane and putting her in his trunk. When Erin returns she finds that Kemper is still missing. Andy and Erin go back to Monty's house, and Erin distracts him while Andy searches for Kemper. Monty realizes Andy is inside and summons Leatherface, who attacks him with his chainsaw. Erin escapes and heads towards the woods, but Leatherface slices Andy's leg off and carries him to the basement, where he is impaled on a meat hook.

Erin makes it back to the mill, but before she can leave the sheriff shows up. After finding marijuana on the dashboard, he orders Erin, Morgan, and Pepper to get out of the van. The sheriff forces Morgan back into the van, and after giving him the gun he took from the hitchhiker, he tells him to reenact how she killed herself. Morgan, scared and disturbed by the sheriff's demands, attempts to shoot him only to find that the gun is unloaded. Sheriff Hoyt handcuffs Morgan and drives him to the Hewitt house, taking the van's key with him. Erin manages to hot wire the truck but the wheels fall off. Leatherface arrives shortly after and starts hacking through the roof.

When Pepper attempts to run she is killed by Leatherface. After seeing that Leatherface is wearing Kemper's face as a mask, Erin runs and hides in a nearby trailer belonging to an obese middle-aged woman (known only as 'Tea Lady'), and a younger woman named Henrietta, who offer her tea. The women act strangely, and after telling Erin they don't have a phone, a phone rings and Henrietta tells someone on the other end "she's here". Erin discovers they have kidnapped a child when she sees that the baby with them is the same child in a photograph with the hitchhiker. However, the tea is drugged, and Erin passes out before she can leave the trailer. Erin wakes up at the Hewitt house surrounded by the Hewitt family: Leatherface, his mother Luda Mae, Sheriff Hoyt, Uncle Monty, and Jedidiah. Luda Mae tells Erin that her excuse for her son Thomas' actions is that he was tormented his whole life because of a skin disease that left his face disfigured, and she felt no one cared for her family besides themselves. Erin is taken to the basement, where she finds Andy. After several failed attempts to help him off the hook, she stabs him to end his suffering.

Afterwards, she finds Morgan handcuffed in a bathtub. Jedidiah, who does not agree with his family's actions, leads them out of the house. Jedidiah rejects Erin's plea to come with them, and distracts Leatherface long enough for them to escape. Erin and Morgan find an abandoned shack in the woods and barricade themselves inside. Leatherface breaks in and discovers Erin, but Morgan attacks Leatherface, causing him to drop his chainsaw. Leatherface lifts Morgan, entangling his handcuffs in the chandelier, and saws through his groin, killing him. Erin runs out of the shack and escapes through the woods, pursued by Leatherface. She finds a slaughterhouse and hides in a locker. Leatherface opens the locker across from hers and she attacks him with a meat cleaver, chopping off his right arm. Erin runs outside and flags down a trucker, who she tries to convince to drive away from the Hewitt's house, but he stops to find help at the eatery. Erin sees Luda Mae and Sheriff Hoyt talk to the truck driver, while Henrietta watches over the kidnapped baby. When Henrietta walks outside to join Luda Mae and Sheriff Hoyt, Erin sneaks the baby out of the eatery and places her in the sheriff's car. Erin hot wires the car and Hoyt tries to stop her, but she runs him over repeatedly until he is dead. Leatherface suddenly appears in the road and slashes the car with his chainsaw, but Erin manages to escape with the baby, and he watches in anger as she drives away.

Cast

Production

Development

On December 5, 2001, Creature Corner.com reported that Michael Bay's newly created company Platinum Dunes (which was created in order to produce low budget films), had set its focus on remaking The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Early announcements on the site indicated that the story would be told in flashback with actress Marilyn Burns who starred in the original film would reprise her role as an aged Sally Hardesty recounting the events in the film. It was later announced that the filmmakers had already purchased the rights to the original film. Early in the film's production the original films makers Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel would be writing a script for the film, but it was unknown at the time whether or not that their script would be used. In June 2002, it was announced that Marcus Nispel would direct the film in his directorial debut.[4] Nispel said that he was initially against the idea of remaking the film, calling it "blasphemy" to his longtime director of photography, Daniel Pearl, who had shot the original film. Pearl, however, encouraged Nispel to join the project, as he wanted to bookend his career with Chainsaw films.[5]

Scott Kosar later signed on as the film's screenwriter.[6] In Kosar's earlier drafts, the original age of the hitchhiker was 15–16 years old but was later changed in order to fit the age of the principal cast.

Casting

Jessica Biel, who previously starred in the television series 7th Heaven, was revealed to cast as the main character Erin.[4]

Actor Andrew Bryniarski, who starred in Bay's Pearl Harbor and stayed friends with him afterwards, personally met with producer Bay and asked him for the role of Leatherface. Another actor was cast for the role before Bryniarski, but, on the first day, the actor was hospitalized and fired for lying about his physical abilities. Without an actor for the film's main antagonist, the filmmakers called and asked if Bryniarski still wanted the role, which he accepted. To prepare for the role, Bryniarski ate a diet of brisket and white bread in order to get his weight to nearly 300 pounds. Bryniarski would later reprise his role as Leatherface in the film's prequel.[7]

Filming

Nispel favored shooting the film in California, but Nispel suggested Texas, where he had previously shot three films.[8] Principal photography began in Austin in July 2002[9] and lasted 40 days.[8] The original film was shot more in a style more reminiscent of a documentary. Nispel intentionally shot in a different style, using more traditionally narrative elements, as he did not want to make a shot-for-shot remake, as in Gus van Sant's Psycho remake.[10] The remake includes references to the previous film, including John Larroquette, who returns in his role as the film's narrator.[11]

The weather during filming was very hot, and humid. Bryniarski, who portrays Leatherface in the film, did all his own stunts and was forced to wear a "fat suit", which increased to his near 300 lbs to 420 lbs. The suit also heated up quickly so that the actor had to ensure that he drank a lot of fluids before a shoot. Leatherface's mask was also a problem; the mask was made out of Silicone and was difficult for the actor to breath out of. The crew had many prop chainsaws for actor Bryniarski to use, such as chainsaws that put out smoke, and live chainsaws.[7]

Connection to actual events

This film, like the 1974 original, as well as Psycho, was inspired by Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein.[12] Gein skinned human bodies and made furniture out of them, but he acted alone and did not use a chainsaw. Most of his "victims" were already dead and he "only" personally murdered two people. The film's opening claims the events are factual, a use of the false document technique (filming of the first film was from July 15, 1973 to August 14, 1973, while the event took place on August 18, 1973).

Reception

Critical response

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes shows an approval rating of 36% based on 155 reviews; the average rating is 4.8/10. The consensus is: "An unnecessary remake that's more gory and less scary than the original."[13] Metacritic, another review aggregator, calculates an average of 38%, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[14] Roger Ebert gave the film a rare 0 stars out of 4, calling it 'A contemptible film: Vile, ugly and brutal. There is not a shred of reason to see it. Those who defend it will have to dance through mental hoops of their own devising, defining its meanness and despair as "style" or "vision" or "a commentary on our world."'[15] Variety gave the film a negative review calling the film "Initially promising, but quickly disappointing retread of hugely influential horror classic".[16] Peter Travers from Rolling Stone panned the film, awarding it 0/4 stars, stating, "Director Marcus Nispel, acclaimed for his ads and music videos, has a sharp eye and the good sense to hire Daniel Pearl, who shot the first Chainsaw. But all the bad-rehash mojo from Friday the 13th to The Blair Witch Project has infected Scott Kosar's script. Hooper went for primitive, Nispel goes for slick. Hooper went easy on the gore, Nispel pours it on" and called the film "soulless".[17] Dave Kehr from The New York Times gave the film a negative review, stating, "Rather than exhilaration, this bilious film offers only entrapment and despair" further commenting that the film was about as much fun as sitting in on an autopsy.[18] Leonard Maltin awarded the film 11/2 out of 4, complimenting the film's intensity but criticized the lack of likable characters and the lack of humor which was present in the original, stating, "Once it kicks into gear, it's brutally unrelenting toward its unappealing characters and the audience".[19]

Robert K. Elder of the Chicago Tribune rated it 3/4 stars and called it "an effectively scary slasher film" despite its absurd premise.[20] Total Film rated it 3/5 stars and compared it favorably to Cabin Fever, which they said was not as suspenseful as Chainsaw.[21] William Thomas of Empire rated it 3/5 stars and wrote, "You’'ll have to overcome resentment towards this unnecessary remake before you can be properly terrorised but, on its own terms, it plays well."[22]

The film earned a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Remake or Sequel, but lost the award to Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.[23]

Box office

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was released in North America on October 17, 2003, in 3,018 theaters.[24] It grossed $10,620,000 on its opening day and concluded its North America opening weekend with $28,094,014, ranking No. 1 at the box office.[25] The film opened in various other countries and grossed $26,500,000, while the North American gross stands at $80,571,655, bringing the worldwide gross to $107,071,655.[26] The film's budget was $9.5 million.[27]

Home media

The film was released on VHS and DVD March 30, 2004, through New Line Home Entertainment.[28] Special features include seven TV spots and trailers and a music video for Suffocate by Motograter. A two-disc Platinum Series Edition was also released that same day, containing a collectible metal plaque cover, three filmmaker commentaries with producer Michael Bay, director Marcus Nispel and others, crime city photo cards, deleted scenes, an alternate opening and ending, Chainsaw Redux: In-Depth documentary, Gein: The Ghoul of Planifield documentary, cast screen tests, art gallery, seven TV spots and trailers, Suffocate by "Motograter" Music video, and DVD-ROM content, including script-to-screen

A UMD version of the film was released on October 4, 2005, and on Blu-ray on September 29, 2009.[29]

Novelization

Stephen Hand wrote a novelization that was published March 1, 2004 by Black Flame.[30] Hand previously wrote the novelization for Freddy vs. Jason, also for New Line and Black Flame.[31]

Music

There were two soundtrack albums released by Bulletproof Records/La-La Land Records for the film; the first was meant for regular audiences featuring popular metal music and was released on November 4, 2003.[32]

The second was the film's original score as composed by Steve Jablonsky. This was released on October 21, 2003 and has a run time of 50:25.[33]

Trailers and TV spots used a version of This Mortal Coil's cover of "Song to the Siren", which was just recorded for the trailer and was sung by the singer Renee of the band Moneypenny.

"Lynyrd Skynyrd"'s "Sweet Home Alabama" is heard at the beginning of the film. This is a continuity error as the song wasn't released until June 1974, although it was available on the Second Helping album which was released in April of the same year.

Soundtrack

  1. "Immortally Insane" by Pantera
  2. "Below the Bottom" by Hatebreed
  3. "Pride" by Soil
  4. "Deliver Me" by Static-X
  5. "43" by Mushroomhead
  6. "Pig" by Seether
  7. "Down in Flames" by Nothingface
  8. "Self-Medicate" by 40 Below Summer
  9. "Suffocate" by Motograter
  10. "Destroyer of Senses" by Shadows Fall
  11. "Rational Gaze" by Meshuggah
  12. "Archetype (Remix)" by Fear Factory
  13. "Enshrined by Grace" by Morbid Angel
  14. "Listen" by Index Case
  15. "Stay in Shadow" by Finger Eleven
  16. "Ruin" by Lamb of God
  17. "As Real As It Gets" by Sworn Enemy
  18. "Five Months" by Coretez

References

  1. ↑ "THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (18)". British Board of Film Classification. September 26, 2003. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
  2. ↑ Fleming, Michael (October 8, 2009). "Twisted moves to 'Texas'". Variety (Reed Business Information). Retrieved July 3, 2011.
  3. ↑ "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved August 1, 2011.
  4. 1 2 "Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The - Mania.com". Mania.com. Mania.com. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
  5. ↑ Pollard, Andrew. "Marcus Nispel | THE ASYLUM, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, FRIDAY THE 13TH". Starburst. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  6. ↑ Harris, Dana (18 June 2002). "Horror redo ‘Chainsaw’ catches Biel, Balfour". Variety. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  7. 1 2 "Interview with Andrew Bryniarski". texaschainsawmassacre.net. texaschainsawmassacre.net. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
  8. 1 2 Head, Steve (14 October 2003). "An Interview with Michael Bay". IGN. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  9. ↑ Harris, Dana (7 May 2002). "Nispel to direct remake of ‘Chainsaw Massacre’". Variety. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  10. ↑ Patrizio, Andy (25 March 2004). "An Interview with Marcus Nispel". IGN. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  11. ↑ Elliott-Smith, Darren (2016). "Queer Erotic Aesthetics in Texas Chainsaw Massacre". In Clayton, Wickham. Style and Form in the Hollywood Slasher Film. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 181. ISBN 9781137496478.
  12. ↑ Rachael Bell and Marilyn Bardsley. "Ed Gein: The Inspiration for Buffalo Bill and Psycho". truTV. Retrieved August 3, 2009.
  13. ↑ "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 3, 2009.
  14. ↑ "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". Metacritic.com. Metacritic. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
  15. ↑ Roger Ebert (17 October 2003). "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  16. ↑ Foundas, Scott. "Review: ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’". Variety.com. Scott Foundas. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
  17. ↑ Travers, Peter. "Texas Chainsaw Massacre". Rolling Stone.com. Peter Travers. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
  18. ↑ Kehr, Dave. "Another Long March to the Slaughterhouse". New York Times.com. Dave Kehr. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
  19. ↑ Maltin, Leonard (September 2013). Leonard Maltin's 2014 Movie Guide. New York, New York: Penguin Group. p. 1397. ISBN 978-0-451-41810-4.
  20. ↑ Elder, Robert K. (17 October 2003). "`Texas Chainsaw Massacre' is one sharp horror remake". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  21. ↑ "The Texas Chainsaw massacre review". Total Film. 31 October 2003. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  22. ↑ Thomas, William (28 October 2015). "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Review". Empire. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  23. ↑ Wilson, John (2007). The Official Razzie Movie Guide: Enjoying the Best of Hollywood's Worst. Grand Central Publishing. Twenty-fourth Annual Razzie Awards (2003). ISBN 9780446510080.
  24. ↑ The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Release Retrieved on 2007-11-12
  25. ↑ Texas Chainsaw opening day gross Retrieved on 2007-11-12
  26. ↑ TCM gross
  27. ↑ The Texas Chainsaw Massacre at Box Office Mojo
  28. ↑ "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)". IGN. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  29. ↑ Keefer, Ryan (18 October 2009). "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Blu-ray)". DVD Talk. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  30. ↑ "Texas Chainsaw Massacre (New Line Cinema): Stephen Hand: 9781844160600: Amazon.com: Books". Amazon.com. Amazon. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  31. ↑ "Freddy vs. Jason (New Line Cinema): Stephen Hand: 9781844160594: Amazon.com: Books". Amazon.com. Amazon. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  32. ↑ "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)". The Soundtrack Info Project. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
  33. ↑ "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (score) (2003)". The Soundtrack Info Project. Retrieved 2010-07-01.

External links

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