With surprisingly, little blood.
I admit, I'm not as big a fan of the Texas Chainsaw franchise as some. However, it is a landmark in the slasher film genre such as other films of the era like Black Christmas and Halloween. And, with the recent passing of its visionary director, Tobe Hooper, I would be remiss if I did not pay tribute to one of the directors who inspired other filmmakers to this very day.
The plot begins innocently enough - with a corpse propped up on a gravestone with radio reports of grave-robbings playing over it!
...got to admit, I did not see that coming.
Joking aside, the story actually begins with five friends making their way through Texas in a van. Unfortunately, this episode of Scooby-Doo takes a terrible, terrible turn when the crazy looking hitchhiker they pick up (who looks suspiciously like an even crazier James Franco) turns out to be a crazy man who cuts his palm, stabs one of them, and has to be thrown out of the van. I'd love to say this was the end of the adventure and they went on their merry way unabated, but running out of gas sees them having to stop off in a small Texas town...and right into Hell.
This film really deserves it's spot as one of the most terrifying horror movies of all time, and at clocking in at only an eighty-four minute runtime, it puts most other horror films to shame. Much like the original Halloween, it's actually fairly quick and the pacing is good. Even with the blood (of which there is very, very little) a lot of the suspense and build up is done here to great effect, and the film does a create a sense of dread that builds slowly more and more as it builds to the climax.
For me, the absolute highlights that will soon be a regular part of my nightmares are Leatherface's "trophy room", the scene where a character falls into the room with human bone decorations, and the entire dinner scene. It's disturbing to the core and contains very minimal blood and gore, using really only imagery to be just chilling. That's actually something I'll happily credit the film with, atmosphere. As I said before, the sense of dread builds and then slowly peels away to reveal layers and layers of terror beneath.
One of the reasons for the lack of gore is, I know, the budget. Tobe Hooper had an even smaller sum to work with than John Carpenter did with the original Halloween, but not a dollar of it seems to have been wasted. Every scene is there because it needs to be there for the story. It's just a shame, again like Halloween, that so many modern horror productions can't even come close to matching a level of terror that a no-budget 1970s production manages to do with thirty minutes less than a standard film runtime.
With a bunch of complete unknown actors to boot!
And then there's Leatherface, portrayed here by the late Gunnar Hansen. He only shows up for the kills themselves. He lacks the stalking of Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees, and thankfully also lacks the wisecracks of Freddy Krueger. No, Leatherface is a killer who is ready to get down to business, and he does so with surprising directness. The most elaborate death in the film is where a woman is hung on a slaughterhouse hook (the wounds conveniently off-camera) and he cuts her up with a chainsaw.
Also, to give this film a point that I can't make about Halloween, no one has to talk up how badass Leatherface is. There's no Doctor Loomis character running around to monologue about how Leatherface is pure and simply evil, a force of nature that cannot be contained, controlled, or destroyed. He just is, and it shows by his few actions.
Honestly, the flesh suit is just window dressing. Leatherface is a walking death machine all on his lonesome.
And, unlike the three aforementioned killers...Leatherface isn't stopped by the end of the movie. Indeed, the last shot of the film as the last survivor escapes (laughing that maddening laughter all the while) is Leatherface dancing in the light of the setting sun, whirring his chainsaw around...and then the film just...stops...
Chilling.
I see why this film has a place in horror history as one of the greats. Unfortunately, much like the other slasher film franchises I could mention, Texas Chainsaw got the most horrifying part of any slash film franchise...
The sequels.
Rest in peace, Mr. Hooper. You'll be giving nightmares to many, many generations to come.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is, at the time of this writing, owned by New Line Cinemas.
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