2. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Here's the thing about The Texas Chain Saw Massacre:
It really isn't that bloody.
That's one of the reasons it remains so effective.
Tobe Hooper's 1974 masterpiece feels filthy, sweaty, chaotic and genuinely dangerous. The low-budget production becomes part of the horror. Everything looks like it might collapse at any moment.
A modern remake could certainly be more graphic.
That's not the problem.
The problem would be recreating that dirty, almost documentary-like atmosphere without making everything look too polished.
Give Leatherface a gigantic modern budget and suddenly he's standing in front of a beautifully lit farmhouse with a $200,000 chainsaw.
Not quite the same.
The 2003 remake demonstrated that you can make a nasty and effective Texas Chainsaw movie. But duplicating the strange, grimy magic of the 1974 original is another challenge entirely.
