Top 10 Scariest Texas Chainsaw Moments

“The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” (1974)

Tobe Hooper’s 1974 original relies surprisingly little on gore to get a reaction out of the audience, its bluntness doing more than cheap theatrics ever could. Speaking of blunt things, Kirk unwittingly enters the Sawyer house looking for help and gas. Upon investigating some squealing noises, he’s greeted with a face only a mother could love and a hammer to the head. Immediately after, Kirk’s girlfriend Pam does some investigating of her own, finding a few too many bones for her home decor tastes. She too is captured by Leatherface, who hangs her from a meathook and forces her to watch him shred Kirk. What a way to end a road trip.

“Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III” (1990)

If the “Texas Chainsaw” movies have taught us anything, it’s that appearances can be deceiving. When it comes to the Sawyer clan, a bright-eyed little girl and a fresh-faced Viggo Mortensen can be capable of some very wicked deeds. After getting caught in a bear trap, Ryan is captured by Leatherface and brought back to the house to be “prepared,” so to speak. He’s then suspended upside down by Tex and Tink, the latter of whom has devised a more efficient system of killing their meals. With one pull of a handle, a sledgehammer swings down and kills Ryan like he’s livestock, while his bound girlfriend Michelle is forced to look on helplessly. At this point, couples really shouldn’t be traveling near the Sawyer residence.

“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2” (1986)

It took a while for the franchise to get a sequel, but thanks to the slasher boom of the 1980s, “Texas Chainsaw” managed to rejoin the party with time to spare. As silly as this scene is, it establishes the sequel’s campy tone whilst giving us a pair of opening victims we vehemently root for to die. After harrassing protagonist Stretch on her radio show, intoxicated teens Buzz and Rick run into the Sawyers. Still on the air, Leatherface posts up in the back of a pickup and gives the boys the ride of their lives. He saws his way through the vehicle, decapitating the driver and causing a crash that kills the passenger. Now that’s what we call a Buzz cut.

“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning” (2006)

Though this prequel wasn’t nearly as successful as the remake it followed, it did do right by its title by giving us a moment we hadn’t yet seen. When Chrissie sneaks into the Hewitt house, she finds her boyfriend Eric strapped to Leatherface’s operating table. Unable to free him before the big guy comes back, Chrissie hides underneath the table. Though she screams, she can’t be heard over the roar of the chainsaw as Leatherface tears through Eric and flicks his blood at her from below. As if that’s not horrific enough, Chrissie then has to watch as Leatherface fashions his first face with Eric’s. Honestly, if you’re gonna wear someone’s face, Matt Bomer is a pretty good-looking candidate.

“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (2003)

R. Lee Ermey was a fantastic character actor with plenty of screen presence, so you gotta know that the remake would be getting some good work out of him. After their trip has already gone horribly wrong, Erin, Morgan and Pepper encounter Sheriff Hoyt, but they soon learn he might be more twisted than anyone else in the Hewitt clan. He torments them, before forcing Morgan to “recreate” the way the hitchhiker took her own life earlier on. The standoff gets even more intense when Morgan turns the gun on Hoyt, who goads him into pulling the trigger. Turns out the gun was empty, however, giving Hoyt another reason to take away Morgan and terrorize him.

“The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” (1974)

Sally’s brother Franklin is easily one of the most annoying horror movie characters, but even though we’re rooting for his death, we’re absolutely terrified when it actually happens. After Leatherface comes out of nowhere and dices Franklin, Sally makes a run for it through the woods. With realistic lighting making it that much more visceral, the scene deftly captures the intenseness that would later define the franchise. Sally soon finds herself at the Sawyer place, but it turns out to be a real house of horrors. After Leatherface saws through the front door, Sally says, “Nope!” and promptly jumps out the window. Yeah, we don’t blame her.

“Texas Chainsaw 3D” (2013)

True to its name, this 2013 reboot has all sorts of deadly objects flying at the camera, but its most pulse-pounding moment comes with some good, old-fashioned claustrophobia. After watching Leatherface eviscerate her friend Kenny, Heather starts fleeing, but like any clumsy horror protagonist, she trips and falls. Now unable to outrun Leatherface, Heather comes across a cemetery and opts to hide in the coffin of an open grave. Unfortunately, she’s unable to keep quiet, so Leatherface does what he does best. The chainsaw inches away from her, she’s surreptitiously saved when Leatherface is distracted by her cheating boyfriend and best friend, whom we’d much rather watch die.

“The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” (1974)

We definitely wouldn’t want to attend a Thanksgiving with the Sawyer family after watching this. After Sally is captured, she’s taken back to the house and restrained. From here, the insanity never ceases, as they have the emaciated grandfather “feed” off her by sucking on a wound. The shock understandably forces Sally to pass out, but things don’t get much better when she comes to. Actor Marilyn Burns’s facial expressions in the scene make the terror feel incredibly palpable. Fortunately for her, the family then tries to get Grandpa to take her out, giving her another window to escape, both figuratively and literally.

“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (2003)

For horror fans, the “Texas Chainsaw” remake proved surprisingly effective as it changed the trajectory of the genre for the decade to come, and this scene is a shining beacon of why. After watching Leatherface kill Morgan, Jessica Biel’s Erin tries to hide in a nearby slaughterhouse, but Leatherface is there to bring some slaughter of his own. The ensuing cat-and-mouse chase is incredibly thrilling, and Leatherface keeps proving that while she can run, she can’t hide. However, Erin takes advantage of this by turning the butcher into the butchered, cleaving away an entire arm and making it a lot harder for him to hold that chainsaw of his.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

The Hitchhiker, “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” (1974)
This Is Why You Don’t Pick Up Hitchhikers, Kids

Final Confrontation, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2” (1986)
Chop Top Is No Leatherface, but He Makes for an Intimidating Final Boss All the Same

Carnival Chase, “Texas Chainsaw 3D” (2013)
With Leatherface Looming, We Probably Would’ve Just Let Gravity Take Us Out

Jedidiah Decapitates Elizabeth, “Leatherface” (2017)
Jedidiah Fulfills His Destiny as Leatherface by Taking Out the Final Girl

Wearing L.G.’s Face, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2” (1986)
We Get Leatherface Has a Thing for Stretch, but This Ain’t Exactly a Ring Proposal

“The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” (1974)

We pick things up immediately after Sally’s second window escape, as she desperately tries to get away in the early-morning light. Leatherface and the original Hitchhiker give chase, with the latter meeting a much-deserved end upon being flattened by a semi. While we know Sally is the ostensible final girl, we genuinely fear for her safety considering the rampant mayhem that’s preceded. Thankfully, the truck driver is able to get Leatherface to accidentally injure himself, giving Sally enough time to get in the back of a passing pickup. But when it fails to start, we’re on pins and needles as Leatherface approaches. While Sally does indeed escape, her manic cry-laughter and the dying sounds of the chainsaw in the film’s final moments are haunting.