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"THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING" (2006) (Jordana Brewster, R. Lee Ermey) (R) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons Minor Extreme Extreme *Extreme Extreme Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Moderate Heavy Extreme None Extreme Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Heavy Minor Moderate Moderate Extreme QUICK TAKE: Horror: Two unmarried couples ran afoul of a family of deranged and cannibalistic killers. PLOT: It's 1969 and Eric (MATT BOMER) is a young man who's reenlisting in the military so that he can join his younger brother Dean (TAYLOR HANDLEY) who's been drafted to go off to Vietnam. They and their girlfriends, Chrissie (JORDANA BREWSTER) and Bailey (DIORA BAIRD), are headed off for a little vacation in Mexico, but Dean is planning to stay there to avoid being sent off to the war. Just as Eric learns of this, the foursome get into a bad car accident caused by a female biker pursuing them with a shotgun. Just then, Hoyt (R. LEE ERMEY) arrives on the scene. He's assumed the role of sheriff after killing the real thing in order to protect his adopted adult son Thomas (ANDREW BRYNIARSKI) from being arrested for killing his boss at the recently shuttered meat processing plant. Hoyt instantly murders the armed biker and then takes the injured Eric, Dean, and Bailey back to his remote farmhouse where Luda Mae (MARIETTA MARICH) prepares to have them for dinner. Meanwhile, Chrissie, who was thrown from their jeep into nearby tall grass, must hide as Old Monty (TERRENCE EVANS) tows the wreck -- with her now inside it -- back to the house. From that point on, Chrissie tries to figure out how to save the others from the deranged family, all while avoiding the chainsaw-wielding Thomas, a.k.a. Leatherface, so named for skinning his victims' heads and wearing their faces as his. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? If they're fans or the original Chainsaw film, its recent remake or splatter-based horror films, they just might. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R For strong horror violence/gore, language and some sexual content. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: JORDANA BREWSTER plays a young woman who isn't thrilled that Eric is reenlisting, but finds herself in a direr situation when she tries to free the others and avoid being captured by Hoyt and his deranged family. She uses strong profanity under duress. MATT BOMER plays her boyfriend who's reenlisting to join his younger brother in Vietnam. He uses strong profanity toward Hoyt. TAYLOR HANDLEY plays his brother who's planning to become a draft dodger, but then finds himself in an even worse situation. DIORA BAIRD plays his girlfriend who briefly fools around with him, but is then terrorized by the ensuing events. R. LEE ERMEY plays a deranged Korean War vet who protects his equally deranged son from others. He uses strong profanity, molests Bailey, and kills various people for sadistic fun and food. ANDREW BRYNIARSKI plays his adopted son, a homicidal monster who kills his victims in various ways (mostly with a chainsaw) and then skins one's head to wear his face as his own. TERRENCE EVANS plays the older man in the family who does what Hoyt orders him to do. MARIETTA MARICH plays the family matriarch who cooks up their victims into soup and such. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: The following is a brief summary of the content found in this R-rated horror film. Profanity consists of at least 27 "f" words, while other expletives and colorful phrases are also uttered. Some sexually related dialogue is present, a couple briefly fools around on a bed (he's tied to it, she's in just her bra and panties), and some skin (cleavage, top of a butt crack) is seen. Violence consists of people being beaten, tortured, maimed, wounded, and/or killed by various means (including with a chainsaw). All of that has extremely bloody and gory results, and those scenes and other moments of potential peril will likely be unsettling, suspenseful and/or scary to viewers (particularly the young and those with low tolerance levels for such mayhem). All sorts of bad attitudes are present, as is some brief drinking and tobacco use (smoking and chewing tobacco). If you're still concerned about the film and its appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home who may be interested in seeing it, we suggest that you take a closer look at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. For those prone to visually induced motion sickness, there are varying amounts of camera movement in separate parts of the film, including some that are very bouncy. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE When a woman goes into a labor at the meat processing plant and collapses to the floor, her mean manager says, "That's what you get for drinking on the job" (we don't know if she was or not). Some bikers have beer. Old Monty has a beer. BLOOD/GORE A pregnant woman goes into labor in a meat processing plant and her water breaks, followed by blood mixing with that. She then gives birth to a deformed and bloody baby (we briefly see its head that looks like it's covered in scar tissue). We later see the bloody baby again when it's discovered in a trash dumpster. During the opening credits, we see flash images of a knife cutting skin, drops of blood, a partial close-up view of cutting into a dead animal and then what's presumably Leatherface eating some of the bloody meat, and other such flashed bloody imagery. Leatherface uses a mallet to smash his boss' head and then repeatedly does the same to his leg, breaking and bloodying it (done brutally and with the impact being loud). The man tries to call for help, but Leatherface smashes him on the head, killing him (we see a pool of blood on the floor). Seen in close-up, Eric drives over a dead animal's bloody carcass (we don't know if that's intentional or not). We see Hoyt taste a dead man's blood after killing him. We see what may be animal or human body parts in some soup. Eric, Dean, Chrissie, and Bailey are bloody to varying degrees after a bad vehicle accident (running into a cow with explosive, bloody results and after the wreck we see Bailey with a shard of glass sticking out of her clothed side). Hoyt comes across the crash scene where the female biker still holds her sawed off shotgun and he shoots her dead, blasting her backwards into the crashed vehicle with a single shot (with bloody results on the windshield where she lands). A dead and bloody woman is placed in the front passenger seat of a sheriff's car. While hiding beneath a car, Chrissie sees Old Monty's urine stream hit the ground. A large hook suddenly lands in Bailey's chest as she tries to drive away (with bloody results). Dean's leg is bloody after it's caught in a large animal trap. Eric regains consciousness and sees a dead woman's bloody body hanging above him, seemingly missing part of her legs. A biker enters the house and shoots Old Monty in the leg (bloodying it). Leatherface then uses a running chainsaw to cut into the biker. We don't see the actual impact, but do see the biker's body moving from that, hear him scream, and then see a lot of blood on the floor as well as on Hoyt's face. Leatherface uses a knife to skin Eric's arm, with very bloody/gory results (seen then in close-up, and later in a full view). Chrissie tries to free Eric from the butcher table, but can't. When Leatherface returns, she hides beneath the table, and tries not to scream as Leatherface takes the chainsaw and drives it down through Eric's body, killing him (he screams, there's a tremendous amount of blood and the blade comes through the table and nearly hits Chrissie, who's covered in Eric's blood). We then see Leatherface take a knife and skin Eric's face (seen in graphic detail, including removing that entire piece that he then stitches together and places over his own face as a mask). He then leaves and Chrissie comes out, recoiling at the sight of Eric's body (a big, bloody hole in his chest and his head is very bloody). Hoyt has Leatherface slice off Old Monty's wounded leg with a chainsaw (seen in graphic detail). But since he also nicked the other leg, Leatherface then cuts off that one as well (with similarly bloody results). We see severed fingers on the floor, a severed tongue draped over a knife and other body parts and/or organs being used in some cooking. Hoyt opens Bailey's mouth and we see that her tongue is missing and her mouth is bloody. Leatherface graphically slices Bailey's throat with a large pair of scissors, killing her (we see a gaping hole as well as lots of blood there and then pooling on the table where her head lies). Dean grabs Hoyt's head and repeatedly bashes it onto the porch floor, bloodying both his head and the floor (and appears to knock out some teeth in the process). Chrissie tries to hide in the meat processing plant and comes across the dead manager's bloody body. Chrissie slices Leatherface on the face, but he throws her to the ground. Dean then hits Leatherface, but the latter rams his running chainsaw into Dean's body, lifting him from the floor with that and then throwing him aside. Leatherface drives his chainsaw through a car's backseat into the driver, killing her and accidentally causing the car to drive over two bystanders on the road, killing them as well (with distant bloody results). DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE Hoyt, Leatherface, and the rest of their family obviously have extremely bad attitudes for kidnapping, killing and eating their victims. When a woman goes into a labor at the meat processing plant and collapses to the floor, her mean manager says, "That's what you get for drinking on the job." A woman rummaging through trash dumpsters finds a newborn (young Leatherface) that's been discarded into one. When she takes the child back home, we hear Hoyt's voice as he says that's the ugliest thing he ever saw. Various people are mean to Thomas when he works as a butcher in a meat processing plant, with them calling him a "diseased freak," "oversized retard" and a "dumb animal." A sheriff refers to Leatherface as being "'tarded." Hoyt assumes the role of the town's sheriff after killing the real man. Some may see Dean deciding to flee to Mexico and burn his draft card rather than go to Vietnam as having a bad attitude. Some bikers have bad attitudes toward the young women, with one pursuing the two couples with a drawn shotgun. Hoyt puts his hand on Bailey's clothed breast, gets down close and smells her, says he loves her, and we then hear her screaming (suggesting further molestation and possibly rape). FRIGHTENING SCENES Scenes listed under "Violence," "Blood/Gore" and "Jump Scenes" may be unsettling, suspenseful, or scary to younger viewers and/or those with low tolerance levels for such material. A man goes to tell Leatherface, who's butchering meat in a very aggressive and hard fashion, that the meat processing plant has closed. After he uses a few disparaging comments about Leatherface, the hulking man slowly approaches him with a meat cleaver in hand, but drops it. A female biker pursues the two couples in their jeep and aims a sawed off shotgun at them as they drive down the road. Eric speeds up and reaches for his handgun in the glove compartment, but when he looks back up, a large cow is right in front of them. They plow into it (with very bloody results), causing their jeep to flip and then careen down the road in a bad crash that injures all of them and apparently throws Chrissie from the vehicle into the nearby tall grass (all are bloody, with Bailey having a large shard of glass in her side). Hoyt comes across the crash scene where the female biker still holds her sawed off shotgun and he shoots her dead, blasting her backwards into the crashed vehicle with a single shot (with bloody results on the windshield where she lands). He then hits Eric in the gut with butt of that shotgun while acting menacing toward the victims, including holding the barrel of the shotgun to the underside of Eric's chin. After the sheriff takes away the others, Chrissie goes back to their wrecked vehicle and looks for anything that might help her. Just then, Old Monty shows up with the tow truck and she must hide in the car as he looks around it and then tows it back to the house. Chrissie hides beneath a car as Old Monty walks around it. We see that Bailey is tied beneath the kitchen table as Luda Mae and another woman chat and eat as if she's not even there. Eric frees himself, makes his way into the house, and proceeds to free Bailey, all while Luda Mae and another woman make a commotion, thus drawing Hoyt and Leatherface's attention. Eric and Bailey push the obese woman back against the door to barricade it, with Bailey then running out and trying to find the right key to start the truck. She does and starts to drive off, but just then a large hook impales her in the chest and Leatherface yanks her from the moving vehicle. He then yanks her back to the house via that hook, causing her a great deal of pain. Hoyt aims a shotgun at Eric's face with the latter challenging the former to shoot him. When Dean ends up stepping into an animal trap (the large jaws clamp onto his leg), Eric is distracted, thus allowing Hoyt to hit him with the gun, knocking him out. Leatherface pushes Eric down onto a butcher table and then nails clamps down over his wrists and neck to keep him in place. He manhandles Eric's face and uses a knife to cut open his shirt. Hoyt puts his hand on Bailey's clothed breast, gets down close and smells her, says he loves her, and we then hear her screaming (suggesting further molestation and possibly rape). Chrissie sneaks into the house and slowly makes her way through it. Leatherface uses a knife to skin Eric's arm, with very bloody/gory results (seen then in close-up, and later in a full view). Chrissie tries to free Eric from the butcher table, but can't. When Leatherface returns, she hides beneath the table, and tries not to scream as Leatherface takes the chainsaw and drives it down through Eric's body, killing him (he screams, there's a tremendous amount of blood and the blade comes through the table and nearly hits Chrissie, who's covered in Eric's blood). We then see Leatherface take a knife and skin Eric's face (seen in graphic detail, including removing that entire piece that he then stitches together and places over his own face as a mask). He then leaves and Chrissie comes out, recoiling at the sight of Eric's body (a big, bloody hole in his chest and his head is very bloody). Chrissie gets to the front door to escape, but then hears Bailey screaming and can't get herself to leave. She then slowly proceeds up the stairs to try to find her. Hoyt has Leatherface slice off Old Monty's wounded leg with a chainsaw (seen in graphic detail). But since he also nicked the other leg, Leatherface then cuts off that one as well (with similarly bloody results). Leatherface graphically slices Bailey's throat with a large pair of scissors, killing her (we see a gaping hole as well as lots of blood there and then pooling on the table where her head lies). As Leatherface carries her, Chrissie stabs something into him and then flees, jumping and breaking through a window to escape. He then chases after her at night while carrying his running chainsaw. Chrissie tries to hide in the meat processing plant and comes across the dead manager's bloody body. Chrissie tries to hide in a water-filled stall as Leatherface slowly looks for her, carrying his chainsaw. Chrissie races to get into and start a car to escape from Leatherface. Leatherface drives his chainsaw through a car's backseat into the driver, killing her and accidentally causing the car to drive over two bystanders on the road, killing them as well. GUNS/WEAPONS Shotguns/Rifles/Handguns/Knife/Chainsaw/Large scissors: Carried and/or used to threaten, wound, or kill others. See "Violence" for details. We see Eric swimming in a pool with a knife in his mouth. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "Sh*t, I just killed the while f*cking sheriff's department," "I'm gonna kill this m*therf*cker," "F*ck-up," "I'm going to f*cking kill you," "F*ck your friends," "You f*cking asshole," "What the f*ck is this?" "Do you f*ck all of your cousins, or just the ones you find attractive?" "You f*cking animal," "Stay the f*ck away from me," "Sh*t-hole," "Sure as sh*t," "I'm not ready for this sh*t," "One big nasty sh*t," "Bullsh*t," "Who gives a sh*t?" "Scared the t*tties off her," "D*ck-head," "Diseased freak," "Oversized retard," "Get the hell out of here," "You dumb animal," "Get your bony ass ready," "What the hell /you still doing here/are you doing here?" "'Tarded" (retarded), "Alone, we will rise above it all," "Shut up," "Biker chick," "Bastard," "Sweetheart" (condescending, said to a woman), "Bitch," "Candy ass," "You asshole," "Stop your whining," "Dumb son of a bitch" and "Stop your damn bellyaching." Some of the violence might be enticing for some disturbed kids to imitate. We see Eric swimming in a pool with a knife in his mouth. Eric has some tattoos. Hoyt adjusts his clothed crotch. Chrissie wears a halter-top that shows cleavage as well as her bare midriff and much of her bare back (seen throughout the film). A biker is suddenly at a door, startling Chrissie (he jokes that he "scared the t*tties off her"). JUMP SCENES A seemingly dead or just passed out woman suddenly grabs a man on the floor. A biker is suddenly at a door, startling Chrissie (he jokes that he "scared the t*tties off her"). Old Monty's hand comes through the soft cover top of a crashed jeep, startling Chrissie. Hoyt's hand suddenly appears at a car window. A foot is suddenly in front of Chrissie as she hides beneath a car. Hoyt suddenly places plastic wrap over Eric's head. A large hook suddenly lands in Bailey's chest as she tries to drive away. Hoyt is suddenly at a window near Chrissie. Hoyt is suddenly in the foreground of a shot. Leatherface is suddenly at the window near Chrissie. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) An extreme amount of suspenseful and ominous music plays throughout the film. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) None. PROFANITY At least 27 "f" words (4 used with "mother," 1 used sexually as is the term "getting some"), 16 "s" words, 2 slang terms using female genitals ("p*ssy"), 1 using male ones ("d*ck-head"), 1 for breasts ("t*tties"), 8 asses (6 used with "hole"), 8 hells, 4 S.O.B.s, 1 damn, 4 uses of "G-damn," 2 of "Jesus Christ" and 1 use each of "Oh Jesus Christ" and "Sweet Jesus." SEX/NUDITY Eric, who's shirtless in a pool, playfully runs his hand up the inside of Chrissie's leg, but she playfully stops him as they talk about getting married and having kids, etc. They then passionately kiss, but he then playfully pulls her into the pool. We see that Bailey has a shirtless Dean tied up to a bed and she tells him that she's going to use her tongue in ways the Lord never intended. She's in just her small bra (showing cleavage) and panties (we see several different views of her that way) and crawls on top of him, kissing his body. But he's distracted by the Vietnam issue and nothing else happens (although Eric later knocks on the door and tells him, "You better be getting some"). Hoyt adjusts his clothed crotch. Chrissie wears a halter-top that shows cleavage as well as her bare midriff and much of her bare back (seen throughout the film). A biker is suddenly at a door, startling Chrissie (he jokes that he "scared the t*tties off her"). Bailey shows some cleavage while injured. Hoyt puts his hand on Bailey's clothed breast, gets down close and smells her, says he loves her, and we then hear her screaming (suggesting further molestation and possibly rape). We see the top of Chrissie's butt crack when she's bent over and her pants are riding somewhat low. Chrissie tauntingly asks Hoyt and his family, "Do you f*ck all of your cousins, or just the ones you find attractive?" SMOKING Hoyt has some chewing tobacco in his mouth and then spits out some juice. An older woman briefly smokes. TENSE FAMILY SCENES A woman is present when Leatherface kills her unofficial fiancé with a chainsaw. TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT Vietnam and draft dodgers. What turns people into killers. Cannibalism. Hoyt's comment to his family, "Alone, we shall rise above it all." How small towns sometimes dry up and die when the lone big business there closes. Eric's comment (about Vietnam) that you'd be amazed at what you can get used to. Hoyt states that he was a POW in the Korean War and that they had to turn to cannibalism to survive (picking out a living person, killing and then eating them). VIOLENCE Leatherface uses a mallet to smash his boss' head and then repeatedly does the same to his leg, breaking and bloodying it (done brutally and with the impact being loud). The man tries to call for help, but Leatherface smashes him on the head, killing him (we see a pool of blood on the floor). Knowing that Leatherface killed his boss at work, a sheriff picks up Hoyt and they then find Leatherface walking on the road. The sheriff aims his handgun at Leatherface, but Hoyt shoots the man from behind with his shotgun, killing him. A female biker pursues the two couples in their jeep and aims a sawed off shotgun at them as they drive down the road. Eric speeds up and reaches for his handgun in the glove compartment, but when he looks back up, a large cow is right in front of them. They plow into it (with very bloody results), causing their jeep to flip and then careen down the road in a bad crash that injures all of them and apparently throws Chrissie from the vehicle into the nearby tall grass (all are bloody, with Bailey having a large shard of glass in her clothed side). Hoyt comes across the crash scene where the female biker still holds her sawed off shotgun and he shoots her dead, blasting her backwards into the crashed vehicle with a single shot (with bloody results on the windshield where she lands). He then hits Eric in the gut with butt of that shotgun while acting menacing toward the victims, including holding the barrel of the shotgun to the underside of Eric's chin. We see that Hoyt has Eric and Dean strung up off the ground by their wrists in a barn, and he then hoses them off with a hard spray of water. Thinking Eric is the draft dodger, he wraps plastic wrap around his head, with Eric struggling to breathe and then going limp (until Dean confesses he's the dodger, prompting Hoyt to jab his knife through the plastic covering Eric's mouth). He then grabs Dean by the neck, lifting him enough that he falls from his restraint and lands hard on the ground. Moments later, Hoyt throws Dean to the ground, kicks him, and then forces him to do pushups (saying if he does ten, he can leave). But as Dean starts to do them, Hoyt uses a metal pipe or something similar to bash him many times on the back and then head before stomping down onto him. Eric frees himself, makes his way into the house and proceeds to free Bailey, all while Luda Mae and another woman make a commotion, thus drawing Hoyt and Leatherface's attention. Eric and Bailey push the obese woman back against the door to barricade it, with Bailey then running out and trying to find the right key to start the truck. She does and starts to drive off, but just then a large hook impales her in the chest and Leatherface yanks her from the moving vehicle. He then yanks her back to the house via that hook, causing her a great deal of pain. Hoyt aims a shotgun at Eric's face with the latter challenging the former to shoot him. When Dean ends up stepping into an animal trap (the large jaws clamp onto his leg), Eric is distracted, thus allowing Hoyt to hit him with the gun, knocking him out. Leatherface pushes Eric down onto a butcher table and then nails clamps down over his wrists and neck to keep him in place. He manhandles Eric's face and uses a knife to cut open his shirt. Hoyt puts his hand on Bailey's clothed breast, gets down close and smells her, says he loves her, and we then hear her screaming (suggesting further molestation and possibly rape). A biker enters the house and shoots Old Monty in the leg (bloodying it). He then holds his gun on Hoyt, but Leatherface then shows up and hits his arm with the chainsaw (that isn't running). He then does something to the biker that causes him a lot of pain and makes him fall to the floor where Hoyt pins him as Leatherface uses the now running chainsaw to cut into the man. We don't see the actual impact, but do see the biker's body moving from that, hear him scream, and then see a lot of blood on the floor as well as on Hoyt's face. Leatherface uses a knife to skin Eric's arm, with very bloody/gory results (seen then in close-up, and later in a full view). Chrissie tries to free Eric from the butcher table, but can't. When Leatherface returns, she hides beneath the table, and tries not to scream as Leatherface takes the chainsaw and drives it down through Eric's body, killing him (he screams, there's a tremendous amount of blood and the blade comes through the table and nearly hits Chrissie, who's covered in Eric's blood). We then see Leatherface take a knife and skin Eric's face (seen in graphic detail, including removing that entire piece that he then stitches together and places over his own face as a mask). He then leaves and Chrissie comes out, recoiling at the sight of Eric's body (a big, bloody hole in his chest and his head is very bloody). Hoyt has Leatherface slice off Old Monty's wounded leg with a chainsaw (seen in graphic detail). But since he also nicked the other leg, Leatherface then cuts off that one as well (with similarly bloody results). Leatherface graphically slices Bailey's throat with a large pair of scissors, killing her (we see a gaping hole as well as lots of blood there and then pooling on the table where her head lies). As Leatherface carries her, Chrissie stabs something into him and then flees, jumping and breaking through a window to escape. He then chases after her at night while carrying his running chainsaw. Dean hits Hoyt, knocking him to the porch where he then proceeds to grab Hoyt's head and repeatedly bash it onto the porch floor, bloodying both his head and the floor (and appears to knock out some teeth in the process). Chrissie slices Leatherface on the face, but he throws her to the ground. Dean then hits Leatherface, but the latter rams his running chainsaw into Dean's body, lifting him from the floor with that and then throwing him aside. Leatherface drives his chainsaw through a car's backseat into the driver, killing her and accidentally causing the car to drive over two bystanders on the road, killing them as well. There's talk that the family killed 30 some people over a several year span. Reviewed October 5, 2006 / Posted October 6, 2006

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