The Texas Chainsaw Massacre of 2003 has the ignominious honor of being one of the rare few movies that Roger Ebert ever gave a 0-star review to. It’s one of the greatest horror franchises ever, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but like a lot of horror franchises, there are some miles between the peaks and valleys.
That original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is an all-time horror classic. I can still hear the sound of a sliding door being thrown open, followed by the crude thud of mallet on skull. It was always going to be a tall order to compete with that film, and Roger Ebert probably would have preferred that the filmmakers didn’t even try.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Is A Remake Of The 1974 Classic
The 2003 version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a retelling of Tobe Hooper’s 1974 film and follows broadly familiar plot beats, though it adds in several notable alterations. Like in the original, TTCM begins with a group of young adults traveling through rural Texas when they encounter a hitchhiker.
The meeting doesn’t go well, and soon, the teens, led by Jessica Biel, are fleeing for their lives from the monstrous Leatherface. Skin is peeled, body parts are served, and actors chew scenery in a film that retreads the original without giving a good enough reason to have been made in the first place.
Roger Ebert Gave The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) One Of His Rare 0-Star Reviews
Roger Ebert only gave out a handful of zero-star reviews over his career. He doesn’t like to do it often, as he notes in his review for Death Wish II, another recipient of a Nathan Fielder-like silver platter of “Nothing!“. Ebert writes in that review, “I award ‘no stars’ only to movies that are artistically inept and morally repugnant.“
Ebert’s thoughts on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are even more scornful. He says of director McG’s film that it’s, “…Vile, ugly and brutal. There is not a shred of a reason to see it.“
If that’s not enough to dissuade you, his final line should, “There are a lot of good movies playing right now… This is not one of them. Don’t let it kill 98 minutes of your life.“
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) Was Critically Panned Though It Has Its Supporters
Roger Ebert wasn’t the only one who was unimpressed by The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003). Many other critics noted the film as being over-the-top in the gore department and eye-rollingly predictable when it came to the scares. A big problem many critics simultaneously found their way to was that the movie is “mean”.
Horror movies shouldn’t be mean. They should terrify, maybe occasionally revolt, and give you nightmares, but they shouldn’t be mean to the audience. Ebert and others noted that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is almost mad that people are watching it and want to punish them.
Still, there are a few who admire the stylishness of the film and applaud its efforts not to rehash every moment of the original. Roger Ebert certainly doesn’t, however, and seems to have moved on from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre faster than its sequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, was put into production.
- Release Date
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October 17, 2003
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Jessica Biel
Erin Hardesty
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Andrew Bryniarski
Thomas Hewitt / Leatherface
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