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Parents' Guide to

Texas Chainsaw 3D

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 18+

Dumb characters, lots of gore, in seventh Chainsaw movie.

Movie R 2013 92 minutes
Texas Chainsaw 3D Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 15+

Based on 9 parent reviews

Rarityfan2019
Rarityfan2019 Adult
January 20, 2020
age 18+

Here We Go Again

More gore, more saucy moments and more redneck fun. Let us see if this years Texas Chainsaw Massacre will be the biggest in the series since the 1974 one.

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much sex
Too much swearing
Too much consumerism
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
hobo J.
hobo J. Adult
November 16, 2017
age 2+

wow

it had no blood
See all 9 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Immediately following the events of the 1974 movie, a band of local vigilantes burns down the Sawyer farm, and a baby is secretly rescued from the scene. Years later, the grown-up Heather (Alexandra Daddario) works as a butcher in a supermarket. She learns that her blood grandmother has died and left her a mansion and decides to take some friends to see it. Unfortunately, a hitchhiker decides to ransack the place and accidentally unleashes Leatherface (Dan Yeager), who has quietly been living in the basement. Leatherface goes on a rampage, while Heather learns the terrible secret of what really happened on that day all those years ago.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (9 ):
Kids say (22 ):

TEXAS CHAINSAW 3D starts with some good ideas. It follows immediately on the trail of the original classic, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and introduces the main character as Leatherface's cousin. The movie touches slightly on the idea of families looking out for one another, which makes for an interesting dynamic toward the end. Unfortunately, the bulk of the movie is just another slasher flick, albeit a non-supernatural one.

Characters usually suffer their terrible fates through blatant stupidity, such as trusting the mysterious hitchhiker alone in a house full of valuables. They rarely behave in an even remotely logical manner -- for example, there's a scene in which a cop explores the Sawyer mansion alone. Director John Luessenhop shoots cleanly in order to capitalize on the 3-D effects, but there's nothing particularly scary or even imaginative here. Overall, it's better than some of the entries in this series but nowhere near as powerful as the first.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Texas Chainsaw 3D's violence. Do the gore and blood seem excessive for the genre? Are they necessary to the story? What impact does it have on you?

  • What's the appeal of horror movies in general and slasher movies in particular? Why has the Texas Chainsaw series lasted so long?

  • Who is the villain in this movie? Is it Leatherface, or are regular people to blame for these events? Or is it more of a gray area? Do horror movies have to have obvious villains?

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