The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Evil is a human characteristic--ignorance is no protection, and only leaves you defenseless like cattle. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) is the story of a group of five young people who take a trip into deep Texas to check on the integrity of the final resting place of the grandfather of siblings Franklin (Paul A. Partain) and Sally (Marilyn Burns), following reports of an unknown party desecrating graves. Afterward, they visit the abandoned homestead of the siblings' grandparents, but tragically discover that their neighbors include a butchering psychopath called "Leatherface" (Gunnar Hansen), a degenerate monster who terrorizes them with his trademark chainsaw.
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The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is unequivocally a horror film, and the title is no hyperbole. The opening montage evokes a primal and instinctive terror, with its chilling juxtaposition of flash bulbs taking crime scene photos of corpses with the two-tone profiles of solar flares. A narrator giving a newscast talks of assorted ghastly crimes--like the graveyard vandalism--as well as other moments of madness, suggesting a kind of sweeping, all-consuming hysteria. Moments where the camera is focused on the sun or the moon suggests that it casts a spell over the denizens in this corner of the Deep South, warping the sanity of those under its light, reducing people to a more bestial state of mind. Scenes such as those at the graveyard have old drunks muttering to themselves, and these are the least of the terrors in these rustic badlands, where new age hippie kids like these five unsuspecting souls are far removed from their element. Perhaps only Franklin possesses the kind of earthy, Texan mentality that fits best in these parts, familiar enough with the practices of the slaughterhouse to comment on it when the van drives past, while the rest of them go on about horoscopes. Franklin is still a decent young man, unlike the wily, skittish, and even crazy hitchhiker (Edwin Neal) they pick up, who carries on about his fascination with the slaughterhouse, carrying creepy photographs of carcasses in his roadkill-inspired pouch. His stay with the party is brief, after he decides it would be a good idea to slice up his hand with Franklin's knife, and then to return the favor to Franklin with his own straight razor, cackling like a madman all the while. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is replete with multitudes of grisly tableau, from the erected corpse on a spire in the graveyard to the entirety of Leatherface's home, where bones of various sorts make up the decor, and the skin from human faces are repurposed as lampshades. These terrifying set pieces make it more than understandable why Sally spends virtually the entire final act of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre perpetually screaming at the top of her lungs.
Originally an independent film on a comparably smaller budget, the "lo fi" quality of the cinematography augments the snuff-like aesthetic, where the cinéma vérité feel gives the film a nauseating level of verisimilitude, with ichor-coated meat hooks and Leatherface's chainsaw spewing gasoline fumes you can almost smell. Surprisingly, most instances of extreme violence occur off screen, although they are heavily suggested by the direction of Tobe Hooper and the reactions on the traumatized faces of the surviving victims. This effect leaves the audience with the unsavory task of assembling the ghastly crimes in their own imaginations, which in turn creates an even deeper level of revulsion. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre also presents this shocking episode of brutal violence as though it were a "true event", borrowing details of Leatherface's killings from the infamous serial killer, Ed Gein. Framing the violence in this way plays to the terrible idea that this killing spree is something which could plausibly occur to some real-life unfortunate traveler who took a wrong turn in Texas--this "true story" convention has been borrowed by films like Fargo for a similar effect. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre preys on the same paranoid terror which keep audiences glued to their radios or televisions, listening to provocative news programs, which only reinforces the sense that the world is going to hell. The film further exploits the impression that the world is a chaotic and murderous place by emphasizing the disparity in lifestyles between the post-hippie victims and the dirt-poor, depraved psychopaths lurking in filthy, reclusive houses far off the main road. Along with Sally and Franklin, her friends--Jerry (Allen Danziger), Kirk (William Vail), and Pam (Teri McMinn)--are somewhat sheltered and even conceited. Pam spends copious amounts of time commenting on astrology, claiming that the state of "evil" in the world has to do with "Saturn in retrograde", rather than it being due to the dark side of human nature. Jerry and Kirk, on the other hand, come across as a couple of "too cool" dudes who are only bothering with the trip because it's likely that it will get them laid, and they rarely show any real empathy for anyone, including Franklin and his handicap. When Kirk and Pam go off and casually trespass on neighboring property, it speaks to a kind of arrogance and sense of entitlement, which does little to endear these overgrown kids to the audience. In a similar slasher movie, there might be a faint sense of vindication in seeing terror befall such pompous, disconnected flakes like these people; but the level of brutality and viciousness which is inflicted upon them goes far beyond any kind of justifiable retribution. The abject horror wrought by the killings of Leatherface sends a clear message that some homes have unlocked doors because the community is good, but to steer clear of the others which are little more than a ramp leading the unsuspecting into a charnel house.
Recommended for: Fans of a shocking and unsettling horror film, designed to rattle and provoke unease in the audience. The naturalistic setting combined with the imposing "monster" that is Leatherface makes the killer's mere presence elicit a kind of blood-curdling terror.
Originally an independent film on a comparably smaller budget, the "lo fi" quality of the cinematography augments the snuff-like aesthetic, where the cinéma vérité feel gives the film a nauseating level of verisimilitude, with ichor-coated meat hooks and Leatherface's chainsaw spewing gasoline fumes you can almost smell. Surprisingly, most instances of extreme violence occur off screen, although they are heavily suggested by the direction of Tobe Hooper and the reactions on the traumatized faces of the surviving victims. This effect leaves the audience with the unsavory task of assembling the ghastly crimes in their own imaginations, which in turn creates an even deeper level of revulsion. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre also presents this shocking episode of brutal violence as though it were a "true event", borrowing details of Leatherface's killings from the infamous serial killer, Ed Gein. Framing the violence in this way plays to the terrible idea that this killing spree is something which could plausibly occur to some real-life unfortunate traveler who took a wrong turn in Texas--this "true story" convention has been borrowed by films like Fargo for a similar effect. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre preys on the same paranoid terror which keep audiences glued to their radios or televisions, listening to provocative news programs, which only reinforces the sense that the world is going to hell. The film further exploits the impression that the world is a chaotic and murderous place by emphasizing the disparity in lifestyles between the post-hippie victims and the dirt-poor, depraved psychopaths lurking in filthy, reclusive houses far off the main road. Along with Sally and Franklin, her friends--Jerry (Allen Danziger), Kirk (William Vail), and Pam (Teri McMinn)--are somewhat sheltered and even conceited. Pam spends copious amounts of time commenting on astrology, claiming that the state of "evil" in the world has to do with "Saturn in retrograde", rather than it being due to the dark side of human nature. Jerry and Kirk, on the other hand, come across as a couple of "too cool" dudes who are only bothering with the trip because it's likely that it will get them laid, and they rarely show any real empathy for anyone, including Franklin and his handicap. When Kirk and Pam go off and casually trespass on neighboring property, it speaks to a kind of arrogance and sense of entitlement, which does little to endear these overgrown kids to the audience. In a similar slasher movie, there might be a faint sense of vindication in seeing terror befall such pompous, disconnected flakes like these people; but the level of brutality and viciousness which is inflicted upon them goes far beyond any kind of justifiable retribution. The abject horror wrought by the killings of Leatherface sends a clear message that some homes have unlocked doors because the community is good, but to steer clear of the others which are little more than a ramp leading the unsuspecting into a charnel house.
Recommended for: Fans of a shocking and unsettling horror film, designed to rattle and provoke unease in the audience. The naturalistic setting combined with the imposing "monster" that is Leatherface makes the killer's mere presence elicit a kind of blood-curdling terror.