Texas Chainsaw Massacre/Butterfly Effect (2005) (Back to Back)

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: Tobe Hooper's TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE appeared like a nightmare in 1974, establishing a whole new genre of horror film. Thirty years later, the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE is back. Directed by well-known commercial and video director Marcus Nispel, and produced by Michael Bay (ARMAGEDDON, PEARL HARBOR), this remake begins in the same place as the original. Five friends are driving through Texas on their way to a concert in Dallas. But when they stop to pick up a hitchhiker, their trip takes a turn for the worse. The friends--Erin (Jessica Biel), Kemper (Eric Balfour), Morgan (Jonathan Tucker), Pepper (Erica Leerhsen), and Andy (Mike Vogel)--have no idea what they're in for when they ask the local sheriff (R. Lee Ermey) for help. It isn't long before the blood begins to pour and the notorious chainsaw of the maniacal, murderous Leatherface starts to roar.

Although considered relatively low budget (9.5 million) by 2003 moviemaking standards, Nispel's remake is worlds away from the no-budget feel of Hooper's original. Where that film left much of the actual gore off camera, Nispel and Bay up the ante by showing every death in all its gruesome detail. They also up the dramatic ante, building to a final act that is relentless and terrifying.

THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT: Playing God has its consequences, which is the theme of the tricky time-travel shockfest THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT. J. Mackye Gruber and Eric Bress, who share writing and directing credits, make a splash with a gripping script that never fails to throw twists and loops into the plot. Both thematically and visually, the film is similar to the perfect commercial filmmaking in the team's script for FINAL DESTINATION II.

Here, Evan Trehorn (Ashton Kutcher) is a college student who has suffered from blackouts and memory loss since he was a child. Tormented by deeply repressed childhood memories, he has visions of his best friend and first love Kayleigh (Amy Smart) as a child (Irene Gorovaia) whose Dad (Eric Stoltz) is a child molester, and whose brother Tommy has a serious sadistic streak. In search of greater clarity, Evan pores over his journals and is physically transported back in time where he is still a young boy (John P. Amedori) and has the ability to change what happened. But soon he realizes that changing history has caused calamitous results elsewhere. A mesmerizing thriller with a dark underlying mystery, THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT is delightfully chilling.