The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning *** 1/2
(Second Viewing)

It is 1969 - the height of the Vietnam War. Two young men are spending a last weekend with their girlfriends before being shipped overseas to the war. At the same time, the only major business - a meat-packing plant - goes out of business. One of the men who works in the plant is Thomas Hewitt - a deformed, demented psychopath who will become known as Leatherface - and when he finds out what is happening he savagely murders the foreman of the plant. The two young men and their girlfriends are headed down a lonely highway when they are involved in an accident that cripples their vehicle. Soon they encounter the sheriff - who is not really the sheriff but the psychopathic uncle of Leatherface - and he kidnaps 3 of them to take them to his home for the developing monster Leatherface to "refine" his murderous abilities. The one girl who escaped unnoticed attempts to rescue them with the help of a biker whose girlfriend was killed by the sheriff, and what follows is a night of sheer terror at the hands of a family of cannibalistic, inbred psychopaths.

This has just catapalted it's way as one of my favorite horror movies of all-time. What isn't to love about this film? It's more disgusting, bloodier and gorier than the 2003 remake. As I said in my first review of this picture, this was a pretty hardcore movie, and the unrated version (which is what I watched today) was even more so. It really pushed the envelope. Jordana Brewster was absolutely gorgeous as the main character, Chrissie and R. Lee Ermey is always the man to watch when onscreen as Sheriff Hoyt. Director Marcus Nispel did a wonderful job restoring this franchise back in 2003 with his remake of the original and I felt this time around director Jonathan Liebesman did a wonderful job picking up where he left off, made the movie his own, and was able to make a more disturbing and enjoyable movie IMO. This was my 9th favorite movie of 2006 and for good reason. I really hope New Line decides to either remake The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (which I have not seen) or just creates a sequel to the 2003 remake.