Texas Chainsaw Massacre Movies in Order: Timeline Guide

Figuring out the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies in order requires more than putting nine films on a list. Since Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre arrived in 1974, Leatherface has appeared in conventional sequels, a remake, a prequel to that remake, a separate origin story, and multiple movies that return directly to the original while ignoring other installments.

The result is a franchise without one chronology connecting every movie. The earliest sequels form a loose original series, the 2003 remake created a separate two-film continuity, Texas Chainsaw 3D established another branch from the 1974 original, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 2022 went back to the original yet again.

For a first-time viewer, release order remains the best way to experience the entire franchise. If you want a coherent story, however, the individual timelines are far more useful.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre Movies in Release Order

The nine released Texas Chainsaw Massacre feature films are:

1. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
3. Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)
4. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1995)
5. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
6. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)
7. Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013)
8. Leatherface (2017)
9. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)

The fourth movie has a slightly complicated release history of its own. It was originally known as The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre before becoming more widely known as Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation. Depending on the source, you may encounter different years attached to it because of its festival, limited theatrical, and later rerelease history. For purposes of a straightforward franchise list, 1995 is the most useful year to identify the film.

Release order is particularly worthwhile with this series because the franchise’s constant reinvention becomes part of the experience. You can watch filmmakers repeatedly decide what Leatherface and his family should be, sometimes continuing what came before and sometimes keeping little more than the basic premise.

The Original Texas Chainsaw Massacre Movies

The first four movies are generally treated as the original cycle:

1. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
3. Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)
4. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1995)

Calling these a single timeline requires a little flexibility. The first sequel clearly continues the original, but the third and fourth movies repeatedly reconfigure Leatherface and the family around him. They belong to the franchise’s original era, but viewers should not expect the tightly connected continuity of a modern trilogy.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Tobe Hooper’s original follows Sally Hardesty, her brother Franklin, and three friends traveling through rural Texas. Their trip leads them to an isolated house occupied by Leatherface and a family whose relationship with the local slaughterhouse has taken a horrifying turn.

The film establishes nearly everything that would remain recognizable even as later installments changed the details: Leatherface’s masks made from human skin, the chainsaw, the disturbed family surrounding him, and unsuspecting travelers wandering into a situation they do not understand until it is far too late.

It is also the one movie nearly every later version of the franchise wants some relationship with. Some films continue it, one remakes it, and others use it as the point from which an entirely new continuity begins.

Where to watch: Available to stream; sold on physical media and digitally.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)

Tobe Hooper returned to direct the first sequel 12 years later, but he did not simply recreate the relentless tone of the original. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 pushes the franchise toward grotesque comedy while bringing back Leatherface and other members of his family.

The story introduces radio DJ Vanita “Stretch” Brock and Lieutenant “Lefty” Enright, a former Texas Ranger with a personal connection to the victims of the first film. Lefty has spent years searching for the killers and eventually discovers that the family is still very much active.

This is the clearest direct continuation within the original sequel cycle. After this point, continuity becomes considerably looser.

Where to watch: Available to stream; sold on physical media and digitally.

Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)

The third movie again follows travelers who encounter Leatherface, this time introducing another version of the murderous family around him. Michelle and Ryan are driving through Texas when their path crosses with a hitchhiker named Tex and eventually leads them into Leatherface’s world.

Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III occupies an awkward position in the franchise. It was sold as another sequel and contains connections to the earlier films, but it largely rebuilds Leatherface’s family rather than continuing the aftermath of the second movie in a straightforward way.

It is best approached as part of the original sequel era without worrying too much about making every family member and previous event line up perfectly.

Where to watch: Available to stream; sold on physical media and digitally.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1995)

The fourth movie once again reshuffles the formula, following a group of teenagers who become stranded after leaving their high school prom. Their night eventually brings them into contact with Leatherface and a new group of relatives, including Vilmer, played by Matthew McConaughey. Renée Zellweger stars as Jenny, the movie’s primary survivor.

The Next Generation acknowledges that earlier massacres occurred, but it is even less interested than its immediate predecessor in functioning as a conventional serialized sequel. It also introduces bizarre new ideas about the forces behind Leatherface’s family that the franchise never meaningfully develops elsewhere.

For viewing purposes, it works as the final film of the original era. Eight years later, the series would abandon that continuity altogether and start again.

Where to watch: Available to stream; sold on physical media and digitally.

The 2003 Texas Chainsaw Massacre Remake Timeline

The first clean reboot of the movie series consists of two films:

1. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)
2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

That is the chronological order. If you are watching them for the first time, however, release order works better: watch the 2003 remake first and then its 2006 prequel. The Beginning was designed with the assumption that audiences already knew where the story was heading.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

The 2003 film remakes the basic premise rather than continuing the previous movies. A group of young people traveling through Texas encounters Leatherface and the murderous family surrounding him, but the details and characters are rebuilt for a new continuity.

One of the most obvious changes is the family name. The original movies generally associate Leatherface with the Sawyer family, while the remake continuity uses the Hewitt family. Andrew Bryniarski takes over the role of Leatherface, and R. Lee Ermey’s Sheriff Hoyt becomes one of the defining characters of this version.

No knowledge of the earlier sequels is required. This movie is a fresh starting point.

Where to watch: Available to stream; sold on physical media and digitally.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)

Rather than making a conventional sequel to the successful remake, the next movie went backward. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning takes place before the 2003 film and provides an origin for its version of Leatherface and the Hewitt family.

The movie follows two brothers and their girlfriends whose trip through Texas brings them into the Hewitts’ path. It also expands the backstory of Sheriff Hoyt and explains how several elements seen in the remake came to be.

Chronologically, The Beginning comes first. From a storytelling perspective, watching the 2003 movie before the prequel preserves the order in which this version of the mythology was originally revealed.

Where to watch: Available to stream; sold on physical media and digitally.

The Texas Chainsaw 3D Timeline

After the remake continuity ended, the franchise returned to Tobe Hooper’s original movie and created another branch:

1. Leatherface (2017)
2. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
3. Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013)

This is the chronological order of the three films. Leatherface takes place before the original, while Texas Chainsaw 3D continues from the aftermath of the 1974 massacre.

Leatherface (2017)

Despite arriving four years after Texas Chainsaw 3D, Leatherface is a prequel. The story explores the youth of the character who will eventually become Leatherface, beginning with his childhood in the Sawyer family and following events surrounding his confinement in a mental institution.

This movie can be particularly confusing for anyone familiar with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. Both movies explore the origins of Leatherface, but they belong to completely different continuities. The Beginning is part of the Hewitt-family remake universe; Leatherface belongs with the Sawyer-family continuity surrounding Texas Chainsaw 3D.

Where to watch: Available to stream; sold on physical media and digitally.

Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013)

Texas Chainsaw 3D ignores the original sequels and instead begins by returning directly to the ending of the 1974 movie. The story reveals what happened to the Sawyer family shortly after Sally Hardesty escaped and then moves forward to follow Heather Miller, played by Alexandra Daddario, after she learns that she has inherited property in Texas.

Heather’s family history connects her directly to Leatherface, giving the movie a very different relationship between its protagonist and the franchise’s killer. The film therefore creates a new continuation of the original rather than fitting between any of the earlier sequels.

Taken with the later Leatherface prequel, this gives the branch a three-film chronological order: Leatherface, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and Texas Chainsaw 3D.

Where to watch: Available to stream; sold on physical media and digitally.

The 2022 Texas Chainsaw Massacre Timeline

The newest released movie creates the shortest and simplest viewing path:

1. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
2. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)

Once again, the filmmakers returned to the original rather than continuing one of the franchise’s more recent branches.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)

The 2022 movie takes Leatherface into the modern era as a group of young entrepreneurs arrives in the largely abandoned Texas town of Harlow with plans to redevelop it. Their presence eventually brings Leatherface out of the life he has been living for decades.

The movie also brings Sally Hardesty back into the story, now played by Olwen Fouéré. Sally has spent years carrying the effects of her encounter with Leatherface, giving the film a direct connection to the survivor of the 1974 original.

For practical viewing purposes, this is another alternate continuation of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. You do not need the 1986 sequel, the 2003 remake, Texas Chainsaw 3D, or any of the other movies to follow it.

Where to watch: Available to stream; sold on physical media and digitally.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre Timelines at a Glance

The table also shows why trying to create one chronological list of all nine films does not work. The Beginning and Leatherface are both prequels involving different versions of Leatherface, while Texas Chainsaw 3D and the 2022 movie each create a different continuation of the 1974 film.

Should You Watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre in Release or Chronological Order?

For a first viewing of the entire franchise, we recommend release order. The continuity changes are easier to understand when you see the movies in the order audiences received them, and part of the appeal is watching different filmmakers reinterpret Leatherface over nearly five decades.

Chronological order is more useful when you want to watch one specific continuity. The remake universe is particularly easy: watch The Beginning followed by the 2003 Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The Texas Chainsaw 3D branch can be watched as Leatherface, the 1974 original, and Texas Chainsaw 3D, although release order remains a perfectly reasonable choice because the prequel was made last.

If you simply want the shortest route from the classic film to the newest released interpretation, watch The Texas Chain Saw Massacre followed by Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022).

Why Is the Texas Chainsaw Massacre Timeline So Complicated?

The franchise has repeatedly reached the same solution when filmmakers wanted a new direction: return to the basic idea of Leatherface and start rebuilding.

That process began even during the original sequel cycle, when later movies changed the family around Leatherface and became increasingly loose about continuity. The 2003 film made the break explicit by remaking the original with the Hewitt family. Texas Chainsaw 3D then discarded the existing sequels and created a new continuation from 1974, while the 2022 movie returned to the same starting point for yet another branch.

It is an unusually clear example of why horror franchises so often develop multiple timelines. Leatherface is recognizable enough to survive major changes to the mythology around him, allowing new filmmakers to retain the character without accepting every decision made by previous sequels.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre Movies in Order FAQ

How many Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies are there?

There are nine released feature films in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, beginning with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in 1974 and running through Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 2022.

What is the correct order to watch the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies?

Release order is the best choice if you want to watch all nine movies. There is no single chronological order because the franchise contains multiple continuities, including a remake universe and separate branches from the 1974 original.

Why is the original called The Texas Chain Saw Massacre?

The official title of the 1974 movie separates “chain saw” into two words: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Later entries generally use “Chainsaw,” which is why the spelling changes throughout franchise lists.

Is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning a prequel?

Yes. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning is a prequel to the 2003 remake. It is not a prequel to the 1974 original.

Is Leatherface a prequel to the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre?

Yes. Leatherface (2017) serves as a prequel to the 1974 movie within the continuity that also includes Texas Chainsaw 3D. It is separate from the 2003 remake and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning.

Is Texas Chainsaw 3D a sequel to the original?

Yes. Texas Chainsaw 3D continues from the 1974 original while ignoring the earlier sequels. Its opening directly revisits the aftermath of Sally Hardesty’s escape.

Is Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2022 a sequel to the original?

Yes. For viewing purposes, Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) works as another direct continuation of the 1974 film and does not require viewers to watch the intervening movies.

Are the 2003 and 2006 Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies connected?

Yes. They form their own two-film continuity. Chronologically, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning takes place first, followed by The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003).

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