User:Paleface Jack/The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a 2003 American slasher film directed by Marcus Nispel (in his feature directorial debut), written by Scott Kosar, and starring Jessica Biel, Jonathan Tucker, Erica Leerhsen, Mike Vogel, Eric Balfour, 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. Several crew members of the original film were involved with the project: Hooper and writer Kim Henkel served as co-producers, Daniel Pearl returned as cinematographer, and John Larroquette reprised his voice narration for the opening intertitles.

The film was released in the United States on October 17, 2003, received mostly negative reviews from critics, and grossed $107 million at the box office on a budget of $9.5 million. A prequel was released in 2006, titled The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was the first film to be produced by Platinum Dunes, who would go on to produce remakes of several other 20th-century horror films.

Plot
On August 18, 1973, five young adults – Erin, her boyfriend Kemper, and their friends Morgan, Andy, and Pepper – are traveling to a concert after visiting Mexico to purchase marijuana. While driving through Texas, they pick up a traumatized hitchhiker walking in the middle of the road. After trying to comfort her, who speaks incoherently about "a bad man", she pulls out a revolver and shoots herself.

The group goes to a nearby gas station to contact the police, where a woman, Luda Mae, tells them to meet Sheriff Hoyt at the mill. Instead, they find Jedidiah, a young boy who says Hoyt is at home getting drunk. Erin and Kemper go through the woods to find his house, leaving Morgan, Andy, and Pepper at the mill with Jedidiah. They come across a plantation house, and Erin is allowed inside by Monty, an amputee, to call for help. Kemper goes inside to look for Erin, and is killed with a sledgehammer by Leatherface, a large man wearing a mask made of human flesh. Leatherface then drags Kemper's body into the basement where he begins to butcher his corpse, in the process, discovering an engagement ring intended for Erin.

Meanwhile, Hoyt arrives at the mill and disposes of the hitchhiker's body, wrapping her in cellophane and putting her in his trunk. When Erin returns she finds that Kemper is missing, she and Andy return to the house in search of Kemper. There, Erin distracts Monty, while Andy searches for Kemper. After realizing that Andy is inside, Monty summons Leatherface who chases after them with a chainsaw. Erin escapes to the woods, while Leatherface catches up to Andy and cuts off the latter's left leg. After carrying Andy to the basement, the man impales him on a meat hook. Erin returns to the mill, but before she and the others can leave, Hoyt arrives. Finding marijuana on the dashboard, Hoyt orders Erin and Pepper to get out of the van. Hoyt then gives Morgan the gun he took from the hitchhiker and tells him to reenact how she killed herself. Morgan attempts to shoot Hoyt, but the gun is unloaded. Hoyt arrests Morgan and drives him back to the house, giving him a beating along the way.

With the keys taken by Hoyt, Erin manages to hot-wire the van, but the two are then attacked by Leatherface. While attempting to run, Pepper is killed by Leatherface, who reveals that he is now wearing Kemper's face. Erin runs and hides in a nearby trailer belonging to the Tea Lady, an obese middle-aged woman, and Henrietta, a younger woman who gives her tea that has been drugged. Erin discovers that they have kidnapped the hitchhiker's baby, but passes out before she can escape. Erin wakes up at the house, surrounded by the Hewitt family: Leatherface, his mother Luda Mae, Hoyt, Monty, and Jedidiah. Luda Mae tells Erin that Leatherface was tormented his whole life, because of a skin disease that left his face disfigured, and she felt no one cared for her family besides themselves.

Erin is taken into the basement, where she finds the remains of Leatherface's victims and Andy. After several unsuccessful attempts to help him off the meat hook, Erin reluctantly puts him out of his misery. She later finds a debilitated Morgan handcuffed in a bathtub. Jedidiah, who disagrees with his family's actions, leads them out of the house and distracts Leatherface while they escape. Finding a depitulated shack in the woods, they barricade themselves inside. Leatherface breaks in and discovers Erin, but Morgan attacks him, causing him to drop his chainsaw. During the fight, Leatherface manages to hang Morgan from a chandelier by his handcuffs and kills him with the chainsaw. Erin escapes into the woods with Leatherface still in pursuit. She flees into an abandoned slaughterhouse and manages to attack Leatherface with a meat cleaver, severing his right arm.

Erin runs outside and flags down a trucker, whom she tries to convince to drive away from the house, but he stops to find help at the gas station. Erin sees Luda Mae & Hoyt talk to the trucker while Henrietta watches the baby. As Henrietta walks outside to give Luda Mae her raincoat, Erin sneaks the baby out of the eatery and places her in the sheriff's car. Erin hot-wires the car and Hoyt tries to stop her, who runs him over repeatedly until he is dead. Leatherface then appears on the road and slashes the car with his chainsaw, but Erin escapes with the baby. Two days later, two officers investigating the house are killed by Leatherface, as a voice-over states that the case still remains open.

Cast

 * Jessica Biel as Erin
 * Jonathan Tucker as Morgan
 * Erica Leerhsen as Pepper
 * Mike Vogel as Andy
 * Eric Balfour as Kemper
 * David Dorfman as Jedidiah Hewitt
 * R. Lee Ermey as Sheriff Hoyt
 * Andrew Bryniarski as Thomas Hewitt
 * Lauren German as Teenage Girl
 * Terrence Evans as Old Monty
 * Marietta Marich as Luda Mae
 * Heather Kafka as Henrietta Hewitt
 * Kathy Lamkin as Tea Lady in Trailer
 * Brad Leland as Big Rig Bob
 * Mamie Meek as Clerk
 * John Larroquette as Narrator

Development

 * https://web.archive.org/web/20121108183904/https://variety.com/article/VR1117861734?refCatId=13
 * https://www.screendaily.com/bays-platinum-dunes-signs-international-agreement-with-focus/4017537.article

In 2001, Michael Bay created Platinum Dunes with producers Andrew Form and Bradley Fuller, to focus on producing low-budget films. The idea behind Platinum Dunes was to produce films under $20 million, with concept development and marketing in mind. For Bay, his main desire was to create a company that could help aspiring directors make films. As the company was considering various film options to produce, the rights to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise became available. On December 5, 2001, it was announced on the website Creature Corner that Bay and his company had acquired rights to the franchise, and were leading the production of the new film.

Casting
Jessica Biel

Actresses Katie Holmes, Kirsten Dunst, and Jessica Alba were originally in consideration for the lead role Erin. Jessica Biel, who previously starred in the television series 7th Heaven, was eventually cast in the role.
 * https://www.joblo.com/jessica-biel-shares-her-texas-chainsaw-massacre-audition/
 * https://www.ign.com/articles/2003/10/14/an-interview-with-jessica-biel
 * https://okmagazine.com/photos/jessica-biel-texas-chainsaw-massacre-screen-test-instagram/ (possibly questionable)

Johnathan Tucker


 * https://societychronicles.com/glamour/jonathan-tucker-personal-best (Questionable?)

Erica Leerhsen
 * https://www.iconsoffright.com/IV_Erica.htm
 * https://www.joblo.com/interview-erica-leerhsen/

Marietta Marich
 * https://www.chron.com/entertainment/movies_tv/article/houston-s-marietta-marich-a-horror-star-but-1843843.php

R. Lee Ermey
 * https://www.cinemablend.com/new/Interview-R-Lee-Ermey-3568.html
 * https://www.ign.com/articles/2005/11/29/interview-r-lee-ermey
 * https://www.ign.com/articles/2005/11/29/interview-r-lee-ermey

Filming
Principle photography began

Music
The film score for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was composed by Steve Jablonsky, in his first mainstream role as a composer.

Contemporaneous reception
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre received mixed to negative reactions from critics and fans upon its initial release. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, which has compiled old and contemporary reviews, reports that 37% of 159 critics provided positive reviews for the film, with an average rating of 4.9/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "An unnecessary remake that's more gory and less scary than the original." On Metacritic, a similar website that aggregates both past and present reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 38 out of 100 based on 33 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable ".

Gore

lack of scares

performances

story

Other media
A novelization of the film, written by Stephen Hand was published on March 1, 2004. It was based on one of the film's earlier drafts, containing plot points that were discarded from the film's final draft, including Leatherface's murder of Jedidiah, one of his younger family members who had decided to help Erin escape. In 2005, Avatar Press began publishing a comic books based on the 2003 remake continuity. Leatherface made his official appearance in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Special #1, a one-shot comic, centering on a group of three escaped convicts who rob the Hewitt family General store, bringing them into direct conflict with Leatherface and his family.