Review of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) by Al M — 15 May 2011

While it lacks the snuff-film, independent aesthetic of Robe Hooper's original, Marcus Nispel's remake is one of the better horror remakes--it develops a brutal, gritty, and stylized aesthetic that remains creepy from its opening moments to its fairly clever ending.

Featuring the brilliance of R. Lee Ermey (the drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket) and the hotness of Jessica Biel, this is the Texas Chainsaw Massacre for the torture porn generation. The film suffers from being a bit to melodramatic and has some fairly sappy moments before the final ending, but it nonetheless manages to be a disturbing, twisted, and memorable film that develops horrific images and characters almost as iconic as those from the original.