The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
2003 · Directed by Marcus Nispel
Original language: English
- horror
The story
After picking up a traumatized young hitchhiker, five friends find themselves stalked and hunted by a chainsaw-wielding killer and his family of equally psychopathic killers.
What it’s like
Gritty, sun-bleached dread: the Texas heat seems to rise off the screen, with dusty highways, scorched fields and rotting farmhouse interiors lit in sickly yellows and washed-out greens. Director Marcus Nispel shoots in a restless handheld style, with fast cuts, jolting zooms and grainy, desaturated stock that makes every frame feel scraped raw. Sound does the heavy lifting: a grinding chainsaw roar, the clatter of metal and bone, and long stretches of hot, empty silence broken by sudden shrieks. The pace barely lets up once the hunt starts, and the mood is one of relentless panic, with a group of friends who grow more frayed and desperate as the trap closes. Violence is frequent, graphic and cruel, with gore, torture, murder and suicide shown in close, unflinching detail; the fear is physical rather than suspenseful. It suits a loud, late-night horror binge rather than a calm evening, and it is best for viewers who want a brutal, relentless slasher remake and can tolerate heavy gore.
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