You’d think a franchise about a guy with a chainsaw would be pretty straightforward. Someone walks onto a porch they shouldn't be on, a motor revs, and things get messy. But if you actually sit down to watch all the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies, you’ll realize the continuity is a total train wreck. Honestly, it makes the Halloween timeline look like a simple linear equation.
There are nine films out right now, with a tenth, Texas Chainsaw Legacy, currently looming on the 2026 horizon. But don't expect them to follow a 1-2-3-4 order. This series is famous for the "forget everything you just saw" approach to sequels. Basically, every few years, a new director decides that none of the previous sequels actually happened and they’re making the "real" follow-up to Tobe Hooper’s 1974 masterpiece.
Why the 1974 Original Still Scares People
Before we get into the weeds of the sequels, we have to talk about the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It was shot on a shoestring budget of about $140,000. It’s legendary for being a "gory" movie that actually has almost no gore on screen. Hooper was trying to get a PG rating. He failed, obviously, but the result is a movie that feels like a dirty, sun-bleached snuff film because of the sound design and the sheer psychological weight of it.
The shoot was a disaster. Temperatures in the Texas summer hit 115 degrees inside the house. The cast wore the same unwashed clothes for five weeks. Rotting animal carcasses were used as props. By the time they filmed the dinner scene, which lasted 26 straight hours, the actors weren't even acting anymore; they were just genuinely losing their minds in the heat and the smell of formaldehyde.
The Split Timelines: Pick Your Own Adventure
If you want to watch these movies in order, you have to choose a "path." You can't just watch them all and expect it to make sense.
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The Cannon Path (The Weird One)
This is the original run from the '80s and '90s.
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986): Tobe Hooper came back and made a psychedelic, pitch-black comedy. Dennis Hopper fights Leatherface in a chainsaw duel. It’s glorious and totally bizarre.
- Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990): A more standard '90s slasher. Look for a young Viggo Mortensen before he was Aragorn.
- Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1995): This one is truly unhinged. It stars Matthew McConaughey and Renée Zellweger before they were famous. It involves an Illuminati-style conspiracy. Most fans pretend this one doesn't exist.
The Reboot Path (The Platinum Dunes Era)
In 2003, Michael Bay’s production company remade the original.
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003): It’s actually pretty good. It’s much grittier and more polished.
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006): A prequel to the remake. It explains why Leatherface wears the mask (a skin disease) and how the family started their "business."
The "Direct Sequel" Path (The Modern Mess)
This is where it gets confusing. Both Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013) and the Netflix Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) claim to be the only real sequel to the 1974 movie.
- Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013): Leatherface is basically a protagonist here. It gave us the infamous line, "Do your thing, cuz!"
- Leatherface (2017): A prequel to the 1974 movie and the 3D movie, showing Leatherface as a teenager in a mental institution.
- Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022): The Netflix version. It brings back Sally Hardesty (the original survivor) for a showdown, similar to how Halloween (2018) brought back Laurie Strode. It's got a bus scene that is... well, it's definitely something.
The True Story Myth
One of the biggest misconceptions about the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies is that they are a true story. The 1974 film opens with a crawl stating the events are real.
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They aren't.
Tobe Hooper used that as a marketing gimmick to play into the post-Watergate era of people not trusting the government. The character of Leatherface was loosely inspired by Ed Gein, a real-life killer from Wisconsin. Gein did make things out of human skin, but he didn't use a chainsaw, and he didn't live in Texas. He also worked alone. The "Sawyer" family was entirely a creation of Hooper and co-writer Kim Henkel.
Ranking the Carnage
If you’re a newcomer, don't feel like you have to watch all of them. Most are skippable.
- The Original (1974): Essential viewing. It’s a masterpiece of tension.
- Part 2 (1986): Watch this if you like 80s camp and over-the-top gore.
- The 2003 Remake: A solid, scary modern horror movie.
- The Rest: Honestly, just watch the bus scene from the 2022 movie on YouTube and call it a day.
The franchise has survived for over 50 years because of the mask. Leatherface isn't a supernatural demon like Freddy or Jason. He’s a "big baby" who does what his family tells him to do. That grounded, albeit twisted, family dynamic is what makes the original so much scarier than the sequels that tried to turn him into a superhero.
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How to Marathon the Series Right Now
If you actually want to do a deep dive, start with the 1974 original and the 1986 sequel to see the two sides of Tobe Hooper. Then, jump to the 2003 remake to see the best of the modern versions. If you’re still hungry for more, the 2022 Netflix film is the easiest to find on streaming, though it lacks the heart of the older films.
Stay away from The Next Generation unless you want to see Matthew McConaughey bark like a dog. You've been warned.
To get the most out of your watch, look for the unrated cuts of Part III and the 2006 Prequel. The theatrical versions were heavily censored by the MPAA, stripping away most of the practical effects work that make these films worth watching for horror buffs. Check your local streaming guides or physical media collections, as the 4K restorations released in the last couple of years are the best the films have ever looked.