The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning

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Director: Jonathan Liebesman Year: 2006 Runtime: 91 min IMDb: ⭐ 5.8
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Synopsis

Chrissie and her friends set out on a road trip for a final fling before one is shipped off to Vietnam. Along the way, bikers harass the foursome and cause an accident that throws Chrissie from the vehicle. The lawman who arrives on the scene kills one of the bikers and brings Chrissie's friends to the Hewitt homestead, where young Leatherface is learning the tools of terror.

In 1939, a woman dies while giving birth in a slaughterhouse in Texas, and the supervisor abandons the baby in a dumpster. When young Luda Mae Hewitt finds the child, she takes him back to the Hewitt residence, names him Thomas and raises him as her own son. Thirty years later, in 1969, 4 years before the events of first film, Thomas works in the slaughterhouse under the same supervisor who left him in the dumpster. When the plant is shut down by the health department, he refuses to leave until the supervisor makes him. Thomas kills the supervisor with a hammer and finds a chainsaw, which he takes with him. When Sheriff Winston Hoyt attempts to arrest him, Luda Mae's son, Charlie Hewitt, kills Hoyt and assumes his identity. Meanwhile, brothers Eric and Dean are driving across the country with their girlfriends, Chrissie and Bailey, to enlist in the Vietnam War. At a diner, they run into a biker gang, one of whom follows them on her motorcycle. She draws a shotgun and orders the group to pull over. In the ensuing chaos, the car crashes, and Chrissie is thrown into a field. When Hoyt arrives, he kills the biker and makes them put her body in his car. He then calls for Uncle Monty to tow the jeep, which Chrissie is hiding in. Hoyt drives the group to the Hewitt house where he has Thomas butcher the biker's body. Chrissie runs to the highway and flags down Holden, the biker's boyfriend, and they return to the house together. Hoyt tortures Dean after finding out that he was going to forgo the Vietnam War draft. When Hoyt leaves, Eric breaks free from his restraints and gets Dean to safety before sneaking into the house to free Bailey. Bailey escapes in Monty's truck but Thomas stabs her with a meat hook and drags her back to the house. Dean gets caught in a bear trap, and Hoyt knocks Eric unconscious. Holden and Chrissie part ways to search for their friends. While Chrissie finds Dean, Holden takes Hoyt hostage. Thomas straps Eric to a wooden table and slices off the nerves in both of his arms. Hoyt calls out to Thomas for help, and Thomas kills Holden with the chainsaw. Chrissie finds Eric in the basement but is unable to free him, and hides when Thomas returns. Thomas kills Eric with the chainsaw, then skins his face and wears it as a mask. Chrissie is about to flee when she hears Bailey's screams and decides to save her. She finds her upstairs, but Hoyt catches her and brings her downstairs for dinner, along with Bailey and an unconscious Dean. Leatherface slits Bailey's throat and tries to take Chrissie to the basement, but she stabs him in the back with a screwdriver, and jumps out of a window. Dean regains consciousness and savagely beats Hoyt before heading off to find Chrissie. Chrissie enters the slaughterhouse, grabs a knife and cuts Leatherface's face, but he overpowers her. Dean intervenes but Leatherface kills him with the chainsaw. Chrissie escapes in the slaughterhouse supervisor's car and drives off. She sees a state trooper with a pulled-over pedestrian, but as she pulls over, Leatherface appears in the backseat and fatally impales her with the chainsaw, causing the car to lose control and kill both the trooper and pedestrian. A triumphant Leatherface walks along the road back towards the Hewitt house.

Summary adapted from TMDb and Wikipedia sources.

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Content Warnings

⭐ IMDb Parents Guide 🛡️ Common Sense Media

a dog dies
spoiler In a beginning sequence, the carcass of what appears to be a coyote is briefly shown in a series of clips. This isn’t very graphic, but it may possibly be startling if unexpected.
someone is sexually assaulted
spoiler It’s brief and not shown on screen. Happens just before the hour mark. A woman is tied up and groped by a man, he says he loves her and seems to kiss her neck, then we hear her scream but nothing is shown.
a child is abandoned by a parent or guardian
spoiler Kinda. Child is thrown in dumpster but saved.
someone leaves without saying goodbye
Yes
there's child abuse
Yes
a woman is brutalized for spectacle
Yes
there's domestic violence
spoiler Not quiet violence, but the main antagonist manipulates his disabled nephew a LOT.
there's abusive parents
Yes
someone gets gaslighted
Yes
an animal dies
spoiler A cow is hit by a car. It's brief, but graphic.
there's a dead animal
Yes
a dragon dies
Yes
animals are abused
spoiler While there isn’t specific shown abuse of domestic pets, animal death from possible mistreatment is part of reoccurring imagery. Questionable butchery conditions, display of bodies , and various roadkill are seen at various points in the film.
there's finger/toe mutilation
spoiler Bloody severed fingers are in a kitchen, though the act of severing then is not shown.
there's amputation
Yes
there's Achilles Tendon injury
Yes
someone breaks a bone
Yes
hands are damaged
Yes
someone is restrained
Yes
a woman gets slapped
Yes
someone's mouth is covered
Yes
a baby cries
Yes
a non-human character dies
Yes
a major character dies
Yes
someone dies
Yes
the r-slur is used
spoiler it's said repeatedly, and all used against the same character.
someone disabled played by able-bodied
Yes
a parent dies
Yes
a family member dies
Yes
someone is kidnapped
Yes
there are jump scares
Yes
There's audio gore
Yes
someone is eaten
Yes
someone wets/soils themselves
spoiler A woman declares she needs a bathroom break but is refused one. What seems like urine is actually water breaking. If you are sensitive to that, you will need to miss the first few minutes of the movie. Kind of too important to miss IMO.
there's spitting
Yes
teeth are damaged
spoiler A knife is stabbed into a character’s mouth- while teeth are not specifically shown, their mouth is bloody. In addition, another character has had all of their teeth pulled (though we do not see the act itself). Shortly after this scene, one character slams another’s head into the ground, damaging his teeth.
there's decapitation
Yes
there is copaganda
spoiler Police brutality commited by one of the antagonists is shown in the film but it is not celebrated.
there's incarceration
Yes
needles/syringes are used
spoiler A character is seen stitching a mask, though the needle is not in much focus.
Autism specific abuse
spoiler A character is heavily suggested to be neurodivergent and is given constant abuse for it.
a mentally ill person is violent
Yes
there's body dysmorphia
Yes
there's dissociation, depersonalization, or derealization
Yes
someone has an anxiety attack
Yes
there's body dysphoria
Yes
someone has a mental illness
Yes
someone has a meltdown
Yes
someone's throat is mutilated
Yes
someone struggles to breathe
spoiler A character is suffocated for a period of time with saran wrap, and is heard loudly gasping for breath.
someone asphyxiates
Yes
somebody is choked
Yes
there are sudden loud noises
Yes
shaky cam is used
Yes
there's screaming
Yes
someone is watched without knowing
Yes
a baby is stillborn
Yes
there's childbirth
spoiler Relatively brief scene- less than five minutes In the very beginning, although it is abnormally bloody due to unexplained complications.
a pregnant person dies
spoiler She dies due to unexplained complications occurring directly after childbirth.
there is a baby or unborn child
Yes
there's ableist language or behavior
spoiler As with nearly every film in the Texas Chainsaw universe, ableist language and behavior is prevalent. A character with a clear neurodivergence is treated like (and referred to as) an animal FREQUENTLY throughout.
there are homophobic slurs
Yes
there's fat jokes
spoiler There is a visual gag where an overweight character is used as a prop to block a door from opening.
someone speaks hate speech
spoiler Extremely antagonizing language toward neurodivergent and/or mentally ill individuals. Character is referred to as a r****d MULTIPLE times, as well as a ‘dumb animal.’ While this technically fits under the ‘ableism’ category above, such inflammatory language deserves a more specific warning here as well. Dehumanizing/demonizing behavior overall.
religion is discussed
Yes
someone self harms
spoiler Briefly during an early flashback sequence, a character can be vaguely seen self-mutilating their face. In a much later scene, Thomas/Leatherface draws a knife down a character’s arm in a way that might be highly triggering for those sensitive to this topic.
there are incestuous relationships
spoiler No, but there are mocking comments made about having sexual relations with family members/cousins.
there is sexual content
Yes
there are nude scenes
spoiler Not fully nude but underwear
someone is sexually objectified
Yes
there's BDSM
Yes
someone is sexually assaulted onscreen
Yes
sexual assault is mentioned
spoiler It’s implied, but mention.
the ending is sad
Yes
a car crashes
spoiler Yes- a car crashes and characters are left bloody and wounded afterwards. There is no fire or rolling.
a person is hit by a car
spoiler A cow is hit full-on by a car in a graphic display. At the very end, police officers are hit by an on-coming car in once again a fairly graphic display.
a car honks or tires screech
Yes
there's blood/gore
Yes
there's gun violence
spoiler Guns can be seen frequently throughout the film and are used at various intervals.
there's excessive gore
Yes
there's torture
spoiler The two male leads get tortured, one gets his face wrapped in plastic wrap and is set free, the other gets beaten.
there's body horror
Yes
there's cannibalism
Yes
there's shaving/cutting
Yes
someone is stabbed
Yes
Someone becomes unconscious
Yes

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