The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

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Horrorphile - July 2008

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

July 3rd 2008 02:12

Yes, it’s about time I reviewed this seminal piece of modern horror. Along with Night of the Living Dead (1968) and The Exorcist (1973), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) cemented the new “hardcore” style of filmmaking in the horror genre. The modern horror movie was here to stay, although this landmark wasn’t wholly recognised at the time. In fact The Texas Chainsaw Massacre suffered terribly at the hands of censors and distributors.

The movie wasn’t released uncut outside of America until 1978 where it was released in West Germany under the title Bloodright in Texas. It was banned in Australasia until 1982 and in the UK until 1999. In Japan the movie was re-titled The Devil of Punishment. Curiously producer/director Tobe Hooper hoped to receive a PG rating from the MPAA so he purposefully kept the on-screen violence to a moderate level and omitted any expletives from the dialogue. However, and rightly so, the MPAA refused to give the movie anything lower than an R.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre victim's remains

The movie's gruesomely effective opening sequence

And yes, for a film of such frightening and disturbing intensity, there is very little on-screen bloodshed, so in that respect it bears similarity to another seminal, but “restrained”, modern horror, John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978). In fact, the title itself is one of modern horror’s most deceptively effective.

The Texas Chin Saw Massacre Paul Partain

Paul Partain as Franklin

Shot on 16mm and blown-up to 35mm, the movie was filmed in chronological order over a short period in the blistering Texan summer using profits the film company had made from it’s previous release, Deep Throat. The working titles were Headcheese and Leatherface, the release title was decided upon late in post-production. The narration at the beginning of the movie which states that the following events are based on real events which occurred on August 18, 1973 (which is actually false, though screenwriters Hooper and Kim Henkel did take inspiration from southern serial killer-cannibal Ed Gein) is voiced by none other than comedian John Larroquette. Strange, but true.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Teri McMinn

Teri McMinn as Pam

Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns), her invalid brother Franklin (Paul Partain), her boyfriend Jerry Allen Danziger), Kirk (William Vail) and his girlfriend Pam (Teri McMinn) are traveling in a van to visit the abandoned home of the Hardesty grandfather. Along the way they pick up a hitchhiker (Edwin Neal) who is mentally unhinged, to put it mildly. After he deliberately cuts himself, and then slices Franklin, he’s kicked out, but not before he makes various threats.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Gunnar Hansen

Gunnar Hansen as Leatherface

Later the five arrive at the decrepit homestead. Kirk and Pam venture off to the local swimming hole, only to discover it’s dried up. They spot a farmhouse and decide to arrange for some petrol. It is here that they run foul of the Sawyer family. Jerry investigates, and after dark Sally, reluctantly pushing Franklin’s wheelchair, also goes searching.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Gunnar Hansen, Teri McMinn

Leatherface works on Kirk, while Pam on a meathook screams her heart out

I hadn’t watched this movie in quite a while, and I’d forgotten how damn surefooted it is as a horror movie. Of course it has a cult following, and is considered by many as the Granddaddy of horror movies, but I’d always thought of it as messy and depressingly lo-fi. Watching an excellent new DVD transfer it was like re-discovering the film. I never realised how well shot the movie is; Hooper composes and edits the film brilliantly, with his cinematographer Daniel Pearl (who’d end up shooting the 2003 remake) and editors Sallye Richardson and Larry Carroll.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Jim Siedlow

Jim Siedlow as the cook

The spare score, by Hooper and Wayne Bell, is truly unnerving, a fantastic use of mechanical and animal sound effects grating, grinding, squealing and groaning. Two stunning uses of sound and vision are during the opening sequence where police camera flashes illuminate decomposing bodies in the darkness whilst a terrifying metallic screech accompanies each flash. The other example is when Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen) kills the first victim – also the most horrific death as it comes suddenly and brutally – with a sledgehammer and slams shut the steel sliding door.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Edwin Neal and Marilyn Burns

The hitchhiker (Edwin Neal) holds Sally (Marilyn Burns) steady for grandpa

Hooper films all the night scenes in available light, which adds a genuine sense of claustrophobia. And he draws out the perverse “domestic” action in the gas station back room to an unbearable level where Sally’s ghastly ordeal becomes a demented climax, extreme close-ups of her terrified bloodshot emerald eyes, her face contorted in utter shock and sheer abject horror, as skeletal Grandpa sucks on her cut finger (a real wound).

Leatherface with his trusty toy

WARNING! CONTAINS SPOILERS!

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Marilyn Burns

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was a landmark movie, and it still packs a visceral, emotional wallop. No horror movie up to that point had captured and exploited such realism (which verges on the surreal). The tone and atmosphere were authentic in their grim darkness. The images of a blood-caked Sally sobbing/laughing hysterically on the back of the pick-up truck zooming away, leaving Leatherface limping in frustrated circles, whirling his chainsaw around and around in the early morning light are some of modern horror’s most memorable.

Sally at tether's end

[On a special tangential note, in 2003 influential American magazine Entertainment Weekly ran a survey for the top cult movies. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre came in at #6, the only modern horror movie in the top ten. Curiously, but not entirely surprising, the rest of the top ten were all dark in tone: The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) at #2, Freaks (1932) at #3, Harold and Maude (1971) at #4, Pink Flamingos (1972) at #5, Repo Man (1984) at #7, Scarface (1983) at #8, Blade Runner (1982) at #9, and The Shawshank Redemption at #10. At #1? This Is Spinal Tap, one of my very favourite comedies, black of course.]

Here's the original trailer (warning: for those uninitiated, it contains spoilers):

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

8 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Damo

July 3rd 2008 02:27

He still looks like a scary dude.
Big man with a big mask and a big chainsaw.

Just a side note: Repo Man (1984) That film means a lot to me. I was working in a car detailers when it came out. So I can relate to all the characters.

Comment by Bryn

July 3rd 2008 06:31

Horrorphile

Damo, actually I find the cook the creepiest, but yeah ol' Leatherface still menaces large.
I haven't seen Repo Man in years! About time I tracked a copy down ...

Comment by Cibbuano

July 3rd 2008 08:02

Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak

man, that looks intense... I don't think I've ever seen the first one..

Comment by Damo

July 3rd 2008 08:51

Bryn

If you lived in Melbourne I'd watch it with you.

Comment by JohnDoe

July 4th 2008 04:02

Film & TV on DVD

Bringing out another classic i see, TCM is still a masterful excercise in verite suspense. If the remake had paid even a miniscule of attention to why the opriginal worked it may have been watchable.

Comment by Wayne F

July 4th 2008 07:05

Bucket Movies
Bucket Snipets

I f***ing loved this movie. When I watched it for the first time I was pretty freaked out as to how hardcore, violent and dark the movie was for the time it was released. I can watch this movie again today and still feel a tingle down my spine because it is a true horror movie. The remake was a terrible heap of shit. This is a classic. Cheers for the memories Bryn... I'm gonna go watch the movie now

Comment by Ayda

July 4th 2008 21:25

Phantasmelodia

I saw the remake with Jessica Biel. It was loads of fun but I cannot say it was a successful horror movie. I haven't seen this one yet but I guess, just like Amityville Horror, "based on a true story" marketing instantly catapults the creepiness factor into the skyline. At least for the likes of me...

Comment by Bryn

July 5th 2008 03:21

Horrorphile

Wayne and Ayda ... Oddly I didn't mind the remake, and even odder I didn't mind the prequel ... Perhaps it was because I found the female leads in both so distracting that I failed to recognise the crap they were floating in.

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