Every Texas Chainsaw Massacre Movie Ranked Worst To Best

1. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 Stretch Leatherface
Bryanston Distributing Company

Of course Tobe Hooper's 1974 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was going to nab the top spot here.

As alluded to in the intro to this article, Hooper's '74 picture is not just a seminal piece of horror cinema, but a film that changed the face of cinema, period.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was a movie the likes of which had never been seen before. To say this was an assault on the senses would be an understatement, with the colour palette, score, camera cuts, and imagery all adding to an intense story centred around a group of stranded young adults who run afoul of the twisted family.

What makes this inaugural film even more impressive, is there is largely a distinct lack of gore. Upon a first watch, you may think you've seen all the extreme ooey-gooey acts of Leatherface et al, but in reality, very little of the brutality of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is shown on-screen - with so much of that left up to audience's imagination.

A classic of its time that still holds up magnificently nearly 50 years after its initial release, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a true all-timer of a movie.

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Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.