Underrated 2003 True Story-Inspired Horror Remake Now Streaming Free

November 8, 2025

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Halloween may be over, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop revisiting the horror movies on your watchlist, especially if they’re as underrated as the 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It’s been added to Tubi‘s free streaming catalog as part of their November update, and no matter what season it is, this one’s worth checking out.

Starring Jessica Biel, Eric Balfour, Jonathan Tucker, and R. Lee Ermey, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is, of course, a remake of Tobe Hooper’s 1974 original, which is widely regarded as one of the best horror movies of all time. Released during the remake craze of the early 2000s, Massacre is one of the few Platinum Dunes productions that’s actually pretty decent.

The film follows a group of young people traveling along a deserted Texas road when they come across a family of cannibals, whose victims are hunted by the chainsaw-wielding monster known as Leatherface. Per the Rotten Tomatoes synopsis:

In this remake of the horror classic, a group of young travelers, including Erin, Andy, and Morgan, comes across an isolated rural home while driving through Texas. Unfortunately for them, the decrepit house is the residence of a family of deranged backwoods killers, most notably a hulking masked brute known as Leatherface, who begins to hunt the stranded youths down. Will any of the friends survive the nightmarish ordeal?

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was a box office hit upon release, grossing over $107 million from a modest budget of $9.5 million. Although it was successful among audiences, it was panned by critics. Today, it has a 37% critics’ rating at Rotten Tomatoes, while the audience score is significantly higher, at 58%.

The film had a notable physical release by New Line Home Entertainment, which contained the usual bonus features that were very popular on DVD releases. One particularly eerie item was the collection of crime scene Polaroids that included in an envelope with bloody stains all over it. To say the photos are unsettling is an understatement.

Was 2003’s ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ Also Inspired by the Crimes of Ed Gein?

jessica biel in the Texas chainsaw massacre

New Line Cinema

The following paragraph contains spoilers for 2003’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.Like the 1947 original, the plot of the film isn’t directly drawn from real events surrounding the crimes of Wisconsin’s serial killer Ed Gein; instead, it’s loosely inspired by Gein’s unspeakable acts during his rampage, and doesn’t reference anything regarding his actual crimes. Nevertheless, that doesn’t make the movie any less effective.

In fact, one thing that the remake does very well is lean into realism in its narrative structure. The film’s ending is similar to the original, but then screenwriter Scott Kosar adds a final scene that will give you the creeps as it shows footage of law enforcement officers going through the scene of the crime. The analog style of the video is genuinely disturbing, and it reveals Leatherface in a final shot that’ll get your heart racing as you try to recover from a genuinely effective slasher.