On February 18th, Leatherface returns in Netflix’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre – a franchise sequel which picks up almost 50 years after the original movie’s ending. The ninth movie in one of horror cinema’s most enduring franchises, fans eagerly await to see where it will sit on the spectrum of Good-To-Terrible Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies.
While we wait, join us as we reflect on the series thus far, with this deep-dive into the annals of Texas Chainsaw Massacre history, ranking the films from worst to best. Yes, we hate The Next Generation too, but hear us out.
Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013)
Also ignoring the five other movies which followed Tobe Hooper’s 1974 classic, John Luessenhop’s sequel hits the franchise reset button – a direct sequel to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Picking up decades after Hooper’s original massacre, we follow young Heather Miller (Alexandria Daddario) as she travels to rural South Texas to collect a mystery inheritance. This estranged relative of the Sawyer family discovers an aged Leatherface living in the basement of her inherited country mansion – and turns out to be surprisingly cool with that? While there’s no denying Texas Chainsaw’s ambition, the story is a mess, and Heather’s behaviour makes almost as little sense as her supposed age.
Leatherface (2017)
French horror extremists Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Muary tried to take Leatherface and the franchise in a new direction with this prequel, which details the childhood of a young Bubba Sawyer. Owing more to The Devil’s Rejects than it does any previous massacre, this gory road trip movie sees baby Leatherface on the run from the law after escaping from a mental institution. Hot on his trail: nasty cops Stephen Dorff and Finn Jones. Bustillo and Maury do their best, but the film seems watered down when compared to their usual output, and never feels like a proper Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The asinine twist only compounds the disappointment.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1995)
Widely (and not incorrectly) regarded as the worst sequel, this is also one of the most irritating movies ever made – a cacophony of shrieking, screaming, and overacting from all involved. Matthew McConaughey goes to town on the scenery, delivering one of the most annoying movie characters of all time, and making The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2’s Bill Moseley look positively restrained in the process. Now (even more of) a squealing idiot, Leatherface is barely in it, and treated as a joke. Director – and original co-creator – Kim Henkel should have known better, but the film wins a few points for its willingness to lean into the absurdity and self-parody.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)
Rather than deal with the logistics of a one-armed Leatherface (his arm having been chopped off by Jessica Biel in the previous movie), this prequel-to-the-remake goes back to where it all started… sorry, the beginning. We meet Thomas Hewitt as the idiot employee of a meat processing plant, and Hoyt (R. Lee Ermey) on the day he gets minted as Sheriff of Fuller, Texas. After capturing a young draft-dodger, his brother, and their girlfriends, a new family ritual is born. Filling in all the blanks from the previous movie – how uncle Monty lost his legs, why Leatherface does what Leatherface does, how Hoyt lost his front teeth –The Beginning suffers from a bit too much prequel-itis, but it’s an enjoyably brutal franchise entry.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2004)
No remake could ever hold a candle to Tobe Hooper’s classic, but the 2003 version has a few good ideas. The casting of R. Lee Ermey as the monstrous Sheriff Hoyt is a stroke of genius, even as he threatens to overshadow the whole thing. Following the template of the ’74 original, Marcus Nispel’s remake re-imagines Leatherface as a more traditional slasher concept – hulking and silent – dialling up the gore and violence.
Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)
The most underrated sequel had a rough time of it during production, being cut to ribbons by censors, and emerging messy, compromised and all sorts of hacked-up. A shame, as Leatherface is a tremendously effective three-quel, featuring great performances from Viggo Mortensen and Ken Foree, duking it out as villain and hero, respectively. Stomping about on a squeaky old leg brace, Leatherface has rarely felt more intimidating, wielding what might be the biggest chainsaw in any Texas Chainsaw Massacre to date. Seek out the uncut edition, if you can.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 (1986)
A slasher sequel which doesn’t even try to replicate the thing which came before it, Tobe Hooper revisits Leatherface and his surviving family (Jim Siedow, plus the hitherto absent Bill Moseley) as they go after a charistmatic radio DJ (Caroline Williams) and attend a series of chilli cook-offs. This time, the family have a foil of their own in Ranger Lieutenant ‘Lefty’ Enright – as played by Dennis Hopper, in one of his greatest roles. Culminating in a chainsaw duel between Enright and Leatherface, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 is one of the most joyously demented horror sequels ever made.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Few movies have been able to capture the feeling of raw terror like Tobe Hooper’s Texas Chain Saw Massacre. In its story of naïve teenagers falling foul of cannibals in rural Texas, it would provide the blueprint for generations of hillbilly horror stories – including a franchise of sequels, remakes and reboots of its own. Often imitated, never bettered, none have ever been able to recapture the lightning-in-a-bottle of Hooper’s original massacre.
From the title down, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is the perfect horror film. Its infamous title would cause panic and uproar upon its release in the video nasty era of the 1970s, and see the film banned in the UK. And yet there’s no gore and very little actual violence to Hooper’s massacre. Heads are bashed in, bodies are impaled on meathooks, a guy in a wheelchair gets torn apart by Leatherface’s saw… but Hooper coyly hides the point of impact – the moment of piercing.
More than any other horror film ever made, it effectively encapsulates the feeling of true madness. The actors’ discomfort is palpable – trapped in a nightmare, they sweat and scream and bleed. The villains shriek and snarl and gnash their teeth – a far cry from the composed, simpering horror monsters of yore. At the bloody heart of it are Leatherface and Sally Hardesty – the final girl and her tormentor, into the film’s iconic final reel. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a cinematic experience like no other, the ultimate in gruelling terror.
