Yep , just when you thought it was safe to sharpen the ole Black & Decker in the garage -what happens...someone goes and makes a mass murdering family with an affection for power tools movie! In this case; "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", a better produced, but unfortunately less gory and less scary, remake of the classic 1974 Tobe Hooper (Gremlins , Salem's Lot) cult hit film about a murderous cannibalistic backwoods Texas family (where else would they live...really!) and a van full of happy go lucky, reefer smokin teenagers who have the unfortunate luck of running across them.

This new version is well directed by Marcus Nispel and adequate performances by the sexy Jessica Biel (7th Heaven) and Eric Balfour (6 feet under) aren't enough to make up the descrepancy in the writing which it boasts is based on Tobe Hooper's screenplay, but seems to be missing a lot of the details and disturbingly humurous charm of the original horror classic. If there is a bright spot in the film, it's from R. Lee Ermey (Full Metal Jacket,The Frighteners,Mississippi Burning) who portrays Sheriff Hoyt, who is in reality a member of the murderous Hewitt clan. Much like other remakes in recent memory(Planet of the Apes, Psycho..come to mind) this is a movie that didn't have to be remade. So if you really want to be scared and want to watch power tools wielded and operated by a real psychopath-the one true "Leatherface", rent or buy the original 1974 classic...Tobe Hooper's "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" you'll never look at hedge trimmers the same way ever again. On a scale of 1 to 5, I give this new movie...2 Chainsaws.

Happy Halloween :)