The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) It’s hard to believe this father of modern horror movies is now over 30 years old. I obtained a copy of the recent DVD release with remastered sound and picture and found that I did not remember a lot of the movie’s details. (That’s probably a good thing for continued mental heath.) Surprisingly, I found that only one person is actually chain sawed (in a wheel chair to boot) and the preferred instrument of terminal inducement is the short handled sledge hammer. Who knew? Prior to this movie, most horror films had about 60-80 minutes of slow build up and then 20-30 minutes of terror. Director Tobe Hooper reversed it with 30 minutes of build up and 60 minutes of unrelenting terror. This is also one of the best ‘dead teenager’ movies ever made and kind of wrote the specifications for that genre.

The movie made Tobe Hooper’s career but Tobe never made another flick quite of this impact. According to the commentary channel, when the lead ingénue’s finger is supposed to be cut so the semi-dead loony grandfather can suck on the blood, the prop tubing with fake blood didn’t work so the actor playing the lead loony (Leatherface) took the protective tape off the knife and just cut her finger on the next take. That’s low budget filmmaking at its finest? But in fact, there is surprisingly little blood spatter shown in the movie, but there is a lot of screaming and running, and chainsaw swinging. If you have never seen this classic and have a bent to be bent, give it a try. The movie is rated R for: Multiple dismemberments, girl on a hook, girl in a freezer, chicken in a cage, two jumps through glass windows, multiple screaming, multiple running, multiple mesquite forests, multiple loonies, multiple sledges to the forehead with great effect, adjustable wrench to the forehead, multiple inbred former slaughterhouse employees, questionable sausage quality, and for the poor survivor who must be asking herself if it was worth it all.