The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning

This is not a slick, jokey horror movie in the post-"Scream" mold, but a genuine attempt to strip the coating from the audience's nerves. It's nasty and brutish, if not particularly short.

Mindlessly repeats the archetypal "Chainsaw" scenario.

This is not a slick, jokey horror movie in the post-"Scream" mold, but a genuine attempt to strip the coating from the audience's nerves. It's nasty and brutish, if not particularly short.

A lot more enjoyable if you can leave your cognitive skills at the door.

Mindlessly repeats the archetypal "Chainsaw" scenario.

Just another trip down a very dusty road.

Misses everything that made the first one eat into your spine like meningitis.

Sadly, this movie is a far cry from the atmospheric, even thoughtfully crafted original, which made you truly scared for the unkempt, everyman victims. But this latest version, though just as grisly, is literally hackwork, and stars a forgettable, airbrushed cast of slaughterees.

Sadly, this movie is a far cry from the atmospheric, even thoughtfully crafted original, which made you truly scared for the unkempt, everyman victims. But this latest version, though just as grisly, is literally hackwork, and stars a forgettable, airbrushed cast of slaughterees.

Unlike "Hostel" or "Wolf Creek," TCM:B is rank and depressing.