The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Runtime: 83 minutes

Directed by: Tobe Hooper

Starring: Marilyn Burns, Allen Danzinger, Paul A. Partain, Gunnar Hansen

From: Vortex

I know, another famous horror movie that I’m talking about here, and it’s pretty difficult to think of anything new and fresh to say about this film (recently voted by a British magazine as the best movie ever in the genre), but I picked this for a few reasons. It wasn’t too long ago that I saw this again. Someday I’ll talk about some of its sequels-or maybe I’ll even see one of the two remake movies… but I do realize they don’t have the best reputation. I was going to watch something today online (not technically legal, but hey, who cares?) but plans changed. I do promise that the rest of the month I’ll try to be more obscure/interesting with my horror movie reviews.

Now, I have seen the second and third movie in this series; I say that the second one is wildly overrated in some circles. It’s actually a horror/comedy (!) and much of the comedy didn’t work for me. Meanwhile, the more serious third one-at least in unrated form-is wildly underrated. One of these days I’ll explain why in further detail.

As for this movie, it is low-budget greatness. Indeed, a lot of its effectiveness is that not only was it unnerving the entire time, but it looking like a low-rent print no matter which format its in makes things very creepy. It’s not slick, in other words. It’s brutally simple in various ways. Five young people (including a physically handicapped person in a wheelchair) visit a old homestead in the middle of nowhere Texas that belonged to the relatives of two of the five. They run into a wacked-out hitchhiker who gets thrown out after a straight razor attack. They find the homestead but stuff happens and a nearby house is actually the lair of Leatherface (Hansen) and family. Once they meet…

The movie has a reputation for being excessively violent or what have you, but actually there’s hardly any gore at all. It’s just so intense and brutal it *seems* like it is a gorefest a la a Jason Voorhees motion picture.

From the beginning to the very end it’s so unnerving, from the narration (by John Larroquette! So the story goes, his payment for the narration… a joint! Swear to God that’s the story) to the opening shots of a rotting corpse. It doesn’t let up from there. If you haven’t seen this, it’s a must-see as it’s well-deserving of its reputation and its huge influence on the horror genre.

I'll be back Wednesday night; like I said, something more interesting will be reviewed that time.