Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning is a prequel to the 1974 classic (and, more specifically, the 2003 remake), and oh, is it good. The movie starts out in 1939, in a slaughterhouse in small-town Texas. Tommy Hewitt is born and grows up getting picked on for being a freak, and we get an idea of how the kid eventually turns into Leatherface. Thirty years later, the slaughterhouse is condemned, and save for the Hewitts, the small town is on the verge of extinction. Enter perky teenagers taking one last joyride before two of them ship out to Vietnam. On their way to the military base, the two guys, and their girlfriends, have a little run-in with some bikers and end up totaling their car. Here’s where the real fun begins, and although there’s quite a bit of blood, and chainsaws and guns and torture, the gore is kept to a medium—most of it is shown in quick flashes rather than long, blood-and-guts scenes. If you like horror movies—keep in mind this is a slasher, not a psycho thriller—you’ll probably jump out of your seat in this one.