All 9 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' Movies, Ranked

Which of the chainsaw-wielding Leatherface movies are scariest?

In 1974 , picture show audiences were shock to the core by a hyper - naturalistic horror moving picture that chronicle the “ disaster which betide a radical of five spring chicken . ” That calamity was , of course , The Texas Chain Saw Massacre , the macabre nightmare tout as “ one of the most flaky crimes in the chronological record of American history , " as the movie ’s narrator warns .

While it ’s true that Tobe Hooper ’s landmark classic is loosely based on the grisly murders of real - life sequent killer Ed Gein , the film’sfrightening opening crawling alone convinced moviegoer that what they were seeing was indeed real . WatchingThe Texas Chain SawMassacreis an unsettling experience , to say the least . Its lo - fi docudrama feel and lack of a soundtrack only heightens its realism — you get an uneasy , pestiferous feeling as if you ’re watch over a found - footage sniff photographic film . But more significantly , its kills aim for realism over complimentary gore , though bloody it may be .

The Texas Chain Saw Massacreset the measure for the slasher musical genre and introduce us to the cannibalistic Sawyer family and their sadistic mascot , Leatherface , who undoubtedly influenced his masked madman brethren such as Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees . After 13 years of buzzsaw secrecy , when the mid-1980s were largely eclipse by nightmare humans Freddy Krueger , Leatherface jumped back into fray , as did Hooper , who spoof his own film and delivered 1986’sThe Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 — a ballsy and distorted black - comedy repugnance attempt that mostly divided the original ’s fans , but later became embraced as a cult classic .

Manali Doshi, Maitane Romagosa/Thrillist

Now , 48 years and a smattering of star - studded sequel later , we ’re getting another Leatherface entry — the 9th in the serial publication , to be accurate — for Netflix , also titledTexas Chainsaw Massacre , which wipes the chainsaw blade clean and follows the events of the original . None of the subsequent films have been able to replicate or recapture the true unflinching terror of its primogenitor , but others are worthy elbow grease , while some ( maybe most ? ) are downright atrocious with no regard for continuity whatsoever . Here , from worst to best , we grade every singleTexas Chainsawmovie .

9.Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation(1995)

It only makes sensory faculty that this loop of theTexas Chainsaw Massacreis at the very bottom of this list . It ’s totally corny , very ' 90s , and the scare … allow much to be want . But , at least for me , that ’s a part of its meagre magical spell ; the plot of land is top repugnance : post - prom four teenagers encounter Leatherface and his family . But one of those teenagers is Renee Zellweger and one of Leatherface ’s family appendage is Matthew McConaughey ! Unsurprisingly , McConaughey is on level 10 — hamming it up as Leatherface ’s compatriot . Sadly , even peak McConaughy ca n’t save the weakest tie-in in theTCMuniverse . — Kerensa Cadenas

8.Texas Chainsaw 3D(2013)

It ’s never a nifty melodic theme to unfold your decades - later subsequence - masquerading - as - a - remake with too much footage from the original moving picture . Why invite the comparison to the classic the audience already knows and sleep with ? Though it ’s not without its charms , peculiarly when it play up the cheesy 3D effects , Texas Chainsaw 3Dmakes a figure of unforced errors as it attempts to rev up the erstwhile familiar artillery for one more stave of hacking . Tasked with playing the long - lost Sawyer cousin , Alexandra Daddario rule some fun saving grace notes , particularly when she flips the tables on some corrupt copper in the final act , but the movie also makes her jump on a Ferris wheel to escape Leatherface , one of the goofier acts of panicked terror ever put to cinema . At least we also get Daddario flip her grumpy congenator a chainsaw and say , " Do your affair , cuz ! " — DJ

7.Leatherface(2017)

What turned Leatherface , the boy , into Leatherface , the serviceman ? It ’s hard to imagine anyone besides an exhausted studio executive or a desperate screenwriter asking that question , but 2017’sLeatherface , a prequel that disregards other attempts to explain our chain saw - loving villain ’s extraction , set out to suffice it with po - faced solemnity and savage fury courtesy ofInsidedirectors Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo . talented performers like Lili Taylor and Stephen Dorf , playing Leatherface ’s female parent and a Texas Ranger , do their best with fend for roles in this tale of unseasoned Jedidiah Sawyer ( Sam Strike ) getting banish to a genial institution , where he breaks free with a triad of cruel patient role and a captive nurse for a flaming road slip through the backcountry . lack the psychological nuance or vulgar poetry ofRob Zombie ’s similarly backward - lookingHalloween , Leatherfacecruises down familiar roads before finally tug into a ditch . — Dan Jackson

6.Texas Chainsaw Massacre(2022)

fructify 50 years after the 1974 original , Netflix ’s entry , lead by David Blue Garcia , acts as its direct sequel , ignoring everything fromTexas Chainsaw Massacre 2and beyond — a bold move , putting the filmmakers in a side that need they turn in something better than all eight sequels . To be average , that should n’t be too unmanageable . So where does this one stand ? Somewhere in the middle . If you ’re looking for anything more than the basics — Texas setting ? Check . Chainsaw ? Check . Massacre ? Check.—you’ll be disappointed . Among the thrills and kills , there are some badly misguide attempts to make statement on topics such as gun ascendance , systemic racism , cancel culture , and influencers , and these forefront - scratching mixed subject matter never quite land . As for older man Leatherface ( Mark Burnham ) himself , this time he ’s a lone Hugo Wolf . While the Sawyer kindred dynamic is sorely missed , it ’s nice to see the handsome lug not being upstaged by any of his deranged relative — Bill Moseley ’s schizophrenic Chop Top fromTexas Chainsaw Massacre 2comes to take care . He is n’t the whimpering military man - baby as depict in earlier sequel , either . Here , he localize cagy maw and even employ his chainsaw as a whirling projectile . But the fully grown turnover of all is the coming back of Sally Hardesty ( Olwen Fouéré ) , who is criminally shoehorned in and do in here . Overall , Texas Chainsaw Massacreis a mediocre entry , but we ’ve seen bad . Just go in thinking this is a movie about a Boomer chain saw grampus versus gentrify metropolis slicker Gen Zers , and you might have a bang . — GM

5.Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning(2006)

After the success of 2003’sTexas Chainsaw Massacreremake , Platinum Dunes opted to go back in prison term and explain how the Hewitt home ( no longer the Sawyers in the remakes ) turned into cannibalistic grampus . It ’s obvious the whole grim trial by ordeal was pass to have a stark outcome from the get - go — we live the novel batch of pretty font were all there just to summate to the body count ; we make out Charlie , presently - to - be Sheriff Hoyt ( R. Lee Ermey ) , was going to misplace his tooth ; we knew Uncle Monty would somehow lose his branch . All these little revelations just come off as miniscule and not very relevant or refreshing . Same goes for Leatherface ’s stemma . A flashback to 1939 reveals that a nameless woman pass and gave birth to him in a abattoir . The ill-shapen baby is exit for dead in a dumpster , only to be discovered by Luda Mae , who takes him in as her own . Then , we jump-start to 1969 , to receive Thomas Hewitt ( not quite Leatherface , yet ) working as a slaughterer at the very same slaughterhouse he was born in . After the wellness department keep out the situation down , he break down ballistic and murders his co - workers and takes a chainsaw home as a token — then , the defeat fling begin . Of course , Thomas eventually puddle his first human - skin masquerade . At least we get a grisly new reading of the 1974 original ’s dinner conniption — something the 2003 remaking conk out to deliver . While Andrew Bryniarski , once again , drive home a menacing freight - train performance as Leatherface — one of the best iterations of the chainsaw - wield madman — the plastic film is principally an practice session in around-the-clock body repugnance with no hope for any of its characters and no last girlfriend to take root for . The Beginningnever fully justifies its macrocosm , but it will certainly appeal to gorehounds . — Gil Macias

4.Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III(1990)

If we had to rank the bestTexas Chainsaw Massacretrailers , Leatherface : Texas Chainsaw Massacre IIIwould credibly be act one . Riffing off the Arthurian Lady of the Lake legend , the trailer depicts a silvern chainsaw being tossed out of a consistency of water and into the hands of Leatherface , who lifts it in their air as the ululate sword is struck by lightning . It ’s alloy as hell , but the movie we acquire was nowhere near as cool , but to many , it ’s still a solid return to shape for the franchise . This is a bit of a controversial view among the devotee infrastructure , but there are those who preferPart IIIoverTexas Chainsaw Massacre 2 , because the latter go into full - bollocks up glum comedy territory , render Leatherface into a rather unscary buffoon . Texas Chainsaw Massacre IIIditches that hokeyness and makes Leatherface ( R. A. Mihailoff ) scary again ; the only issuing is the plot is mostly a recap of the original picture show with two very boring principal , played by Kate Hodge and William Butler . But a pre - Aragorn Viggo Mortensen shines as Tex , one of Leatherface ’s new lunatic relatives , andDawn of the Deadalum Ken Foree shows up as the memorable Benny , a military survivalist badass who aids our two lead-in . Much like how Leatherface slaughter his victim , the MPAA excellently did its own hacking and excised much of the gore . gratefully , those scenes were restored when the unmown interpretation found its fashion to Blu - ray , delivering us the authoritative version of the film as it was meant to be seen . All in all , Leatherface : Texas Chainsaw Massacre IIIis aserviceable horror film that ’s better than you might remember and nowhere near as dismal as some of the schlock that followed . — GM

3.The Texas Chainsaw Massacre(2003)

The bummer about this lucrative remaking is that it misunderstands what made the originalMassacreso strike . Marcus Nispel , part of a wave of directors who transition from music television to boast film in the ‘ 90s and former 2000s , replace Tobe Hooper ’s nonrational lo - fi cheapness with a desaturated sleekness that draws attention to the picture show ’s over - the - top ghastliness . But even if Roger Ebertcalledthe 2003 version ( star Jessica Biel and a smattering of young player whose names you ’ve probably bury ) “ horrifying ” and “ contemptible , ” itisone of the dealership ’s best installments , coast on a studio - produced form of bacillus - movie excess that feel improbably of its time . — Matthew Jacobs

2.The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2(1986)

Having already made the perfectTexas Chainsaw Massacremovie , director Tobe Hooper returns to the reality of his career - delineate chef-d’oeuvre and attacks it with spiky irreverence . Where the original is remember for its tension and panic , TheTexas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2digs profoundly into the absurdity of the Sawyer family , giving even more screentime to Jim Siedow ’s grinning paterfamilias Drayton Sawyer , satirized here as a cooker of prize - succeed chile and an often - ineffective leader of his increasingly ungovernable clan . With a biz Caroline Williams as a gumshoe local disc jockey and an unhinged Dennis Hopper as an preoccupied former Texas Ranger , the movie bounce between the grotesque and the hysterical with the tonic pledge of a David Lynch film . AlongsideGremlins 2 : The New BatchandHalloween III : Season of the Witch , The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2remains one of best repugnance continuation curveballs in the account of the literary genre . — disc jockey

1.The Texas Chain Saw Massacre(1974)

The true terror ofThe Texas Chain ensure Massacrelies in the power of prompting . From the porta , with its disarmingly lyrical block of textual matter and unnerving " stinger " tv camera strait effects , to the ending , one of the most enduring images of purgation and insaneness in all of horror , director Tobe Hooper toys with the audience . While the deed implies massacre , gore , and mayhem , the story deliver minuscule bloodbath , especially compared to the other film on this listing . Instead , he lulls you into the mankind of Sally Hardesty ( Marilyn Burns ) , her brother , and her hippie friend , move across the Texas landscape in a van . Then he tardily work up tension , match a Hitchcockian gaiety with an often oddly beautiful quasi - documentary optic approach . Every scene and every scream works . officiate as a critique of the cannibalistic core of American capitalist economy and an exercise in low - budget filmmaking showmanship , The Texas Chain fancy Massacreretains its ability to slit through your consciousness . — disk jockey

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation