Young friends on their way to visit a relative’s grave come to a town. First they pick up a weird hitch-hiker near a slaughter house (uh-oh!). Then visit an eerie gas station and an old house that seems deserted at first; is it really? Nope.
A family of cannibals occupy the place and the most aggressive and the deadliest one of them is a nutcase called “Leatherface” (Gunnar Hansen); he is called that because he doesn’t have a face, at least we never see it, so he puts on masks he had created out of human skin. Oh yes… and by the way… he has a noisy toy (!) that he can’t do without: a chainsaw sound of which gives you the chills.
This is one of those movies that set a new tone in the history of horror/thriller genre. There were many sequels and some prequels and what not afterwards some of which were crap some of which were okay but none of them could achieve the success of creating such level of intensity and disturbance as this one did.
He director Tobe Hooper was a documentary cameraman before he made this movie and in my opinion that’s what separated this movie from the others at the time. It has a very realistic feeling to it right from the start. You know it’s not a documentary but it doesn’t seem manufactured either and you can’t help but stay at the edge of your seat, not to mention what you’re seeing is young people stuck in a van in Texas heat, you almost feel as uncomfortable as they seem to be. The flow of the movie is perfect and the transition to the fright part of it is so sudden, when Leatherface appears for the first time, that you can’t help but go
“What the hell just happened? This is not how it is built in the movies!”
and you’re right but that’s one of the reasons it will give you nightmares if you keep watching.
The gore in the movie is not one would expect in a movie that is called “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. As some of the sequels proved to be true it’s not about what you do see, it’s more about the suspense that what you don’t quite see creates.
From the beginning there were budget problems because not many people were too keen on producing such a film and believed that it could succeed; so Tobe Hooper used amateurs who were excited to be a part of it and it is my understanding the financing was achieved through unclear and kind of shady ways as a result of which the makers and especially the actors didn’t get paid what they deserved although the movie was a huge success.
Some critics loved it some hated it but public didn’t care. They accepted it as a classic right from the beginning.
Gunnar Hansen is very impressive even though we never see his real face and Marilyn Burns adds chunks to the terror you feel by playing the perfect victim. Unfortunately both of these legends died not so long ago: Marilyn Burns (2014), Gunnar Hansen (2015).
I was stunned the first time I saw this film and the times after that didn’t change much. It’s definitely not for everyone. One of my memories about this movie is this:
About a decade ago some friends of mine called me up and said they had a visitor over from Sweden for the weekend and they wanted to have movie night. They said they wanted to see something a really scary not just an ordinary crap you’d rent and would turn out to be a disappointment. Knowing that I was a horror and thriller fan they wanted to know what I would recommend. "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" was the first name came to my mind at that moment. But I warned them this is really intense and not for the fainted hearted; just hearing that made them want to see it right away; it was almost like they took pride in watching something unwatchable. The next day they called
“What the hell did you make us watch? Our friend asked ‘how can you be friends with someone who watches movies like this?”
Hey I had warned you.
I hate violence and I couldn’t harm a spider or a bee, etc. Sometimes I have no choice, but I feel awfully guilty about it so I try my best to avoid harming even an insect.
What people who don’t like horror/thriller/slasher movies don’t understand is just because someone watches extreme movies like these it doesn’t mean that they like seeing violence or sporting it in real life. Most of the time it’s about being scared, finding yourself in the shoes of the potential victim in the movie and trying to get out of a sticky situation with him/her. It’s almost like being on a Roller-coaster: you’re falling but you’re not; but that survival sensation kicks in and scares the hell out of you; it makes you forget your everyday problems and takes you away for a while; that excitement wakes you up and makes you feel alive.
G.R.Senn
