Andrew Bryniarski is the definitive Leatherface, as R. Lee Ermey is the definitive Texas country cannibal paterfamilias, in this underrated horror gem.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 21, 2021

At least no one stumbles and falls during drawn-out foot chases.

| Original Score: 4/10 | Nov 21, 2020

Your run-of-the-mill horror film.

| Original Score: 1.5/4.0 | Sep 26, 2020

| Original Score: 1/4 | Nov 24, 2011

It's actually closer to the original Chainsaw than its immediate predecessor, but it still relies on more on physical torture than the psychological terror that made the original - or any genuinely scary movie - so effective.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Mar 21, 2011

This is the Texas chainsaw massacre, not the Texas chainsaw misunderstanding. Nothing castrates a bogeyman like cheap-Freud psychology, and Leatherface possesses no greater power than a hulking professional-wrestling heel. A low point in American horror.

| Original Score: 0/4 | Nov 22, 2010

Much less at the beginning, and much more a remake of the remake...

| Apr 29, 2009

The original "Chain Saw Massacre" spoke, in unsettling terms, to middle America's growing contempt for the '60s counter-culture, but no deeper meaning can be ascribed to this mayhem. It's just a joyless technical exercise.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Jul 15, 2008

A rote latter-day slasher film with barely anything worth recommending.

| Original Score: 4/10 | Jul 6, 2008

...an ugly film, overwhelmed by transparent shock value, short-sighted storytelling and nihilistic undertones.

| Original Score: 1/4 | May 22, 2008

...unsightly, pointless, and thoroughly mean-spirited...

| Original Score: .5/4 | Jun 4, 2007

A garden-variety horror movie that provides no innovation on the old "kids stranded in the woods with a scary monster" plot.

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Apr 8, 2007

Audiences will start playing the 'Who's Next' game as people run, scream and die, and the whole thing loses the power that this horrific creation once had over cinema.

Full Review | Mar 24, 2007

The focus in Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning isn't on the confrontation of demons, moral reckoning, or terror. It's an unimaginative exercise in suffering.

Full Review | Mar 15, 2007

That "Zzzzzz" ringing through the theatre during The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning ain't just a chainsaw, it's snoring.

Full Review | Feb 12, 2007

In the end, and despite Ermey's best efforts, it's just another splatter flick.

| Original Score: 3/10 | Jan 10, 2007

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 30, 2006

Even more than most horror films, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, feels desperately unoriginal

| Nov 10, 2006

It's neither as bad as it could have been, nor as interesting as it should have been, and the final desultory reaction is a decidedly minor one.

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Oct 30, 2006

Lacking anything resembling subtext and anything resembling genuine suspense, The Beginning is little more than just another hackneyed rehash of increasingly diminishing returns.

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Oct 28, 2006