The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Midnight Showing) (1974)

September 9, 2018

Directed by: Tobe Hooper

Written by: Kim Henkle, Tobe Hooper

Starring: Marilyn Burns, Edwin Neal, Allen Danziger

Budget: $300,000

Quote: "The old way... with a sledge! You see, that way's better. They die better that way."

Trivia: According to John Larroquette, his payment for doing the opening narration was a marijuana joint.





What is it about this film that makes it such a beloved movie? Ask anyone for their top five favorite horror movies and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre almost always makes it onto the list. Almost forty five years after the movie came out their are still screening it at midnight movies to sold out audiences. The title is absolutely perfect but really misleading. Despite being a brutal film, there is very little blood in the movie. Every moment in the film is carefully built to create a realistic but terrifying atmosphere. Set in the middle of nowhere, Central Texas, I believe that a family like the murderous family in the movie exists. The cast of unknown actors, their pithy dialogue, the low quality film (looks a lot like a documentary), and especially the voice over at the introduction (claiming this is a true story) all help to make the film seem real. That is part of Hooper's genius. He has an uncanny ability to make the unbelievable, believable.

I'm not going to write a review on the movie because since it came out in 1974 it has been reviewed and discussed to death. Instead I'm just going to jot a few thoughts:

• Franklin is not the bad guy. His character is pretty unlikable but it wasn't until this showing that I finally realized that his friends are the assholes. They are the ones that are exploiting him for his parent's guest house. After helping him off the van the first time, they pretty much ignore him for the rest of the movie.
• The scene with the grandfather and the sledgehammer is still one of the weirdest, unsettling, and funny scenes in horror history. There are a whole mix of emotions watching this walking corpse try to hold a sledgehammer, let alone swing it.
• There are so many elements to the film that will utilized to create the slasher genre. Along with Black Christmas, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre helped created the genre: masked villain, group of teenage victims, unique murder weapon, motivation is simply murder, etc.
• Along with Deliverance, which came out two years before, this film deserves credit with creating a terrifying stereotype about backwoods peoples. The two films are even constantly references in other film when characters come upon an odd family.
• In many ways, this is also an animal rights film. It begins with a discussion about the slaughter of animals using pneumatic guns and sledge hammers. The discussion is a rather dark look at the slaughter house industry. It is also no coincidence that the family involved in slaughtering animals has now also moved onto slaughtering humans. Meat is meat. The movie could be viewed as a look at man's cruelty towards other sentient beings.
• From the first moment with the hitchhiker and his craziness the film does not let up. The is a feeling of tension throughout the entire film.