The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a 2003 slasher film directed by Marcus Nispel, written by Scott Kosar, and starring Jessica Biel, Jonathan Tucker, Erica Leerhsen, Mike Vogel, Eric Balfour, David Dorfman, and R. Lee Ermey. Its plot follows a group of young adults traveling through rural Texas who encounter Leatherface and his murderous family. It is a remake of Tobe Hooper's 1974 film of the same name, and the fifth installment in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise.

Plot
After picking up a traumatized young hitchhiker, five friends find themselves stalked and hunted by a deformed chainsaw-wielding loon and his family of equally psychopathic killers.

Why It's Great

 * 1) A major improvement over The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation.
 * 2) It faithfully follows the plot of the original film with some minor tweaks.
 * 3) Leatherface is given more of a backstory of how he became the person he is today, and we see a much more expanded family of psychopaths as well.
 * 4) Great and convincing vocal performances.
 * 5) The killings and gore are very effective and realistic.
 * 6) The cinematography is great.
 * 7) Likeable characters like Pepper, Morgan, Andy and Jedidiah Hewitt.
 * 8) Sheriff Hoyt is a very intimidating new character that wasn't in the original film, and R. Lee Ermey's performance fits him perfectly.
 * 9) The tension is built up very well.
 * 10) Andrew Bryniarski does a great job playing Leatherface in this film.
 * 11) The addition of footage at the end is disturbing and frightening.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Having Erin run around in a wet t-shirt while trying to flee from Leatherface makes the whole scene kind of hard to take seriously.
 * 2) Anachronism: 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.
 * 3) Erin is a very unlikable character due to her incompetence getting every single one of her friends killed.
 * 4) The beginning is a little slow-paced.

Reception
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes shows an approval rating of 37% based on 156 reviews; the average rating is 4.87/10.

Box Office
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre grossed $107 million at the U.S. box office.