The Remake (or reimagining, as the marketing preferred) of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), released in 2003. It was the first horror film remake produced by Platinum Dunes.
Five youths driving through Texas run afoul of family of deranged maniacs named the Hewitts, including its sadistic patron Sheriff Hoyt and the disfigured butcher named Leatherface.
A Prequel was released in 2006.
This film provides examples of:
- Abandoned Area: Where the entire movie takes place, and where the Hewitts live.
- An Arm and a Leg: Erin chops off Leatherface's arm during the chase through the sluaghter house.
- Artistic License – History: In the opening scene, the characters are listening to "Sweet Home Alabama", even though the film is set in 1973 and the song wasn't released until 1974.
- Asshole Victim:
- Sheriff Hoyt.
- Subverted with Morgan, whose death counts as a Heroic Sacrifice.
- Big Bad: Sheriff Hoyt
- Bittersweet Ending: Erin cripples Leatherface, rescues an abducted baby, kills Sheriff Hoyt, and lives to report the Hewitts' crimes to the authorities. However, all of her friends are dead, she's mentally damaged by the experience, and Leatherface is still at large.
- Broken Heel: At one point, it's Leatherface who trips during the chase.
- The Cameo:
- Harry Jay Knowles shows up as a severed head in the Hewitts' basement.
- John Larroquette, who did the narration featured in the original, returns to provide the beginning and ending narration for this film.
- Car Fu: Erin runs over Sheriff Hoyt repeatedly.
- Cat Scare: The possum jumping out at the protagonists
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Monty has a small dog that, after his introduction, never appears again, in either the films or comics.
- Creepy Child: Jedidiah.
- Darker and Edgier: The original was already a bleak, grimy movie, but this take on the story increases the explicit gore and torture... as well as being quite literally much darker than the sun-soaked original.
- Deadly Road Trip: When you're taking a road trip through Texas, never make a stop at the Hewitt's house.
- Determinator: Even after getting one of his arms cut off, Leatherface still tries to kill Erin.
- Dirty Old Man: Monty.
- The Dragon: Leatherface
- Driven to Suicide: The hitchhiker, who was the Final Girl of another story, decides to take the easy way out rather than go a second round with the Hewitt's.
- Evil Cripple: Monty is an amputee with both his legs as mere stumps.
- Face-Revealing Turn: After killing Pepper, Leatherface turns to face Erin, revealing that he's wearing her boyfriend's face.
- Final Girl: Erin escapes after being picked up by a trucker.
- Fingore: The fingernail ripping scene.
- Gilligan Cut:Pepper: Well, I'll tell you this much. There is no possible way I'm ever getting back in that van.
- Gorn: The movie is a shameless, grim, depressing, endless bloodbath.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Despite the brutality on display, there are a surprising number of these, Morgan being bisected by Leatherface being the most notable example - the camera cuts away just as the chainsaw hits, and stays on Leatherface, so we don't get to actually see the carve-up itself.
- Grievous Bottley Harm: Hoyt breaks a bottle into Morgan's face.
- Groin Attack:
- Morgan is killed when Leatherface hangs him from a chandelier and saws him in half from the crotch upward.
- When Leatherface takes a swing at her in the meat locker later on, Erin manages to kick him in the balls.
- Harbinger of Impending Doom: The rambling traumatized hitchhiker, who commits suicide shortly after being found by the protagonists.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Averted, shockingly. Despite being a crucial part of the series, there's no references to cannibalism in the remake.
- Impersonating an Officer: "Sherrif" Hoyt at first appears to be simply a Dirty Cop, but the prequel reveals that not only is he a leading member of the Cannibal Clan, he murdered the original Sheriff when he tried to take in Leatherface after his first murders and stole the lawman's uniform to lure in more victims.
- Jerkass: Sheriff Hoyt is pretty much one of R. Lee Ermey's usual Drill Sergeant Nasty roles turned up to eleven, with some sadism sprinkled in.
- Karma Houdini: Leatherface manages to escape, albeit missing an arm, and evade the police after murdering a few cops, and the epilogue mentions he is still at large.
- Mercy Kill: Missing a leg and left hanging on a meat hook, Andy convinces Erin to mercy kill him.
- Meaningful Echo: When Erin is picked by the trucker near the end of the remake, she repeats nearly everything babbled by the deranged girl she and her friends had picked up earlier in the film.
- Ms. Fanservice:
- Jessica Biel in a wet tanktop.
- Erica Leerhsen as well in little clothing.
- Not His Sled:
- Like the original, the film opens with the main characters picking up a hitchhiker on the side of the road. He's a creepy guy who antagonizes them, gets kicked out, and later turns out to be one of the cannibals, right? Nope- she's a traumatized escaped victim of the clan, who breaks down and shoots herself in the head.
- The one scene this movie just needs to have is an adaptation of the famous "dinner scene", right? Again, nope. The Final Girl is never taken by Leatherface or any of the Hewitts, and the climax takes place in a meat factory instead.
- Novelization: By Stephen Hand.
- Redemption Equals Death:
- Hewitt family member Jedidiah was originally supposed to be killed by Leatherface for helping Erin and Morgan escape, but the scene was scrapped for being "too intense".
- Morgan sacrifices himself to save Erin
- Sex Equals Death: Morgan mentions this to Pepper and Andy, citing high STD rates.
- Someone to Remember Him By: According to deleted scenes, it was to be revealed that Erin is pregnant with Kemper's child.
- The Stoner: Morgan uses weed fairly regularly before things go From Bad to Worse
- Torture Cellar: A large portion of the Hewitt's household has cutting tools and meat hooks for Leatherface to use.
- Trouser Space: The hitchhiker pulls a gun from her crotch and blows her brains out.
