The film that the Texas Board of Tourism probably hates the most – “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” – has been reincarnated for the new millennium.

This remake takes the slasher horror formula created by the original and puts a contemporary sheen on it.

The new version is scary and it plays off of your fright reflex, but it does not go to the deeper devices of horror that the original pioneered.

The acting, like in most other horror films of this type, is pretty bad. The plot has been greatly altered from the original and all of the subtlety removed.

Just like any other slasher horror picture, the bad guy gets to feast on a bunch of face boys and teeny boppers.

In this remake, five stupid teens pile into their hippie van to attend a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert and smuggle marijuana from Mexico.

In the original, the teens go to check on a relative’s grave to make sure it was not desecrated in a recent string of grave robbings.

In both films, the teens run into a family of psychotic killers, including the towering freight train of a man, Leatherface. He wears the skin of his victims as a mask and wields the infamous chainsaw.

One aspect of the remake that thankfully remained the same is the imposing stature and incredible speed of Leatherface. Even though he weighs twice as much as the teens, he is able to run them down while carrying the large piece of hardware.

Though Leatherface is the dominant presence in the film, actress Jessica Biel’s breasts, buttocks and belly are the real stars of the picture. The camera is glued on her body parts, which are framed by a pair of tight blue jeans and a cheap T-shirt arranged to show most of her midriff.

The new version also makes a blatant attempt at simulating the 1970s. Though the hippie kids don’t wear bell-bottoms and other hippie gear, they are on a pilgrimage to see Lynyrd Skynyrd. To prove this, Biel’s character whips out a case full of Skynyrd 8-tracks and rattles off a few song names.

Such a reference to the ’70s is proof that the filmmakers didn’t have confidence in the more subtle touches that show the audience that the events took place 30 years ago.

The 2003 version of the film uses the new tricks of slasher films, including quick scares, bloody deaths and scenes in which the protagonists trap themselves in an easily found hiding space.

In the 1974 version, Director/writer/producer Tobe Hooper added foreshadowing and camera tricks that gave a sense of dread and conveyed an idea of professionalism. Hooper’s version made a statement on Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and survival. Leatherface, a hulking, psychotic killer, was able to chase and kill people much smarter than himself.

Another aspect that made the original memorable was that most of the killing happened during the day under the hot Texas sun. The final image of Leatherface groaning and wildly waving his chainsaw at the sky became an icon in American cinema. Leatherface did his deeds during the day in the original, and it is somehow scarier because he doesn’t fear being seen or getting caught.

Since all new horror movies must take place on dark and stormy nights, the new film has most of its pivotal scenes in a poorly lit cellar, in a slaughterhouse and outdoors.

The most notable characteristic of slasher movies is the grisly and scary way that people are killed.

However, the original version of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” has surprisingly little blood in it. Most of the killing in the film is implied or shown at angles that don’t reveal the actual mutilation.

With other horror franchises, blood and gore became more widely shown, and the new version of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” uses tons of it.

While the old version of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” has a message and skillfully progresses the plot and atmosphere through foreshadowing, the remake is more content at gutting the concepts behind the original with a rusty chainsaw.