“HOW and WHY are they similar or different, paying close attention to ideas/theories about the ways genres repeat themselves and the wider contextual

The ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ (1974), is known as the "most influential film” of the slasher genre for a reason. The immense gore and torture give the film its prowess as the founder of the slasher films. The plot involves a group of friends on a road trip to visit the Hardesty family grave site in rural Texas. Their gas tank has run low and the group detours to the abandoned Hardesty house, where the friends are attacked by a family of cannibals, including the chainsaw-wielding Leather face. While the 2003 re-make is similar to the original but with added twists, the film involves a group of teenagers on the way to a concert, on the way they pick up a hitchhiker who is panicked and talks about a "really bad man" before shooting herself. They go to seek help from the sheriff before the group is all attacked by the menacing leather-face.

Both films have many similarities one is that the film itself is about teenagers, this makes the target audience identify with them as the primary audience is teenagers aged 18+. This idea of using teenagers is prominent in both the ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ re-makes as this is the main thing by using teenagers it creates a sense of fear and the idea that there is no hope. Furthermore both tests also are also similar in the setting as both films are shot in rural Texas, in an abandoned house. This was done in order to represent that the teenagers are all alone, as they have no escape! Also the abandoned house is the main setting for all the killings and torture scenes, this is the house the Hardesty family grew up and where they had set their business of the slaughter house.

However they are different in the sense that the 2003 re-make has a women who is the hitchhiker, which is unlike the 1974 version as that one has a man being the hitchhiker, they are both crazed however the girl in the 2003 re-make kills herself by shooting herself in the head with a gun while the 1974 version the guy cuts himself with a knife. This was done in order to distinguish the fact of the ‘final girl’ scenario as the girl in the 2003 version just escaped from the grip of leather-face and is very distraught when the group is about to go back in. The ‘final girl’ idea is also in both the ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ films, however the final girl in the 2003 version is killed when she shoots herself, but the new ‘final girl’ in Erin survives the whole ordeal.
In contrast the two films are similar in the way that they both have the serial killer in Leather-face the notorious killer is in all the re-makes as he is the person that makes the film.

His disturbed mind and cannibalistic style show the audience the menacing and uncontrollable killing instinct that he has. His un-capability to kill the ‘final girl’, sets in motion Tuchman’s theory that ‘women are being symbolically annihilated’ is hindered and changed as the ‘final girl’ survives therefore paving the way for the up-rise of women in cinema as the ‘final girl’ nowadays is common especially amongst slasher films. In addition they are similar as they both use the tool of the chainsaw this is done because it actually shows through the eyes of the killer how he slowly cuts pieces away from the body. This is the key weapon as it takes a very cold heart to kill someone in that manner.

On the other hand they different, as in the original ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ (1974) one of the group members is in a wheelchair however in the re-make the uncle of Leather-face is in a wheel chair this was done in order to portray the vulnerability of man, as in the 1974 version the boy is crippled and is weak. However in the 2003 version the man is also crippled and weak but he is part of the killing family so it can be said that people won’t expect a man in a wheel chair to be any harm. This links with the binary opposition of feeble vs. strong, as the both men are weak but the teen in the 1974 version had enough strength to go look for his friends while the 2003 version showed that the man is weak but he has a strong nephew in Leather face.

All in all the films are similar in the sense that they have not changed anything that made ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ unique from other films. But it is different in the actual plot as the group in the 2003 version is going to a concert. Both films are highly entertaining and further make it clear how this film can be called the granddaddy of the slasher films.