1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die- The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

#609- The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Starring: Marilyn Burns, Jim Siedow, Gunnar Hansen
Directed by: Tobe Hooper


Plot Summary: Siblings Sally and Franklin Hardesty are traveling with their friends Jerry, Kirk and Pam to visit the grave site of the Hardesty's grandfather. After having a dangerous run in with a hitchhiker, the group finds that they are low on gas and continue on their trip. Looking for help, they stumble upon a house occupied by Leatherface, a mask wearing, chainsaw wielding psychopath who begins picking off Sally's friends one by one.


When it comes to mainstream horror films I wanted to cover for this month, particularly in the slasher genre, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was one of the films I wanted to see most. Usually looked at for being controversial at the time (I've been using that phrase a lot this month, but then again, it is the horror genre), the film laid the ground work for what slashers like Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers would be able to bring to the genre, while also giving the audience a natural form of fear that many modern audiences probably wouldn't pick up on while looking at what is commonly known about the series.

The selling point of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is the introduction of Leatherface, played by Gunnar Hansen. Leatherface is not used as much as people would think (in fact, even the chainsaw is not used that much, despite what the title would suggest), as there is more of a focus on many terrifying events the group has to encounter on the road. Leatherface is the most memorable aspect of the film though because of his look and how he acts in comparison to other slasher villains. While he wears a mask, he is not some indestructible force, but rather a large, intimidating phenom that can impose his strength on his victims. Also, he wears a mask made of human skin and chases you with a chainsaw, now that's someone I would never want chasing me...just saying.

Marilyn Burns plays Sally Hardesty, our female protagonist. Sally doesn't get a whole lot of depth to her, more or less blending into the group. She doesn't really come into the forefront of the characters until the rest of them begin disappearing. The best scenes featuring Burns is when Sally is fleeing from Leatherface, screaming her lungs out and really capturing the fear someone would have if they were in her situation. I often wondered whether the reaction I was seeing was Sally reacting to Leatherface or Burns reacting to the man in the mask wielding the chainsaw. Either way, you'd probably run and scream like that too, making it seem all the more realistic to see and hear.

While Leatherface is the main character in this franchise, the first film offers an even greater form of horror in a surreal aspect of having a film inspired by true events. The film was marketed as an actual story that took place (that's somewhat true, the film was inspired by Ed Gein), and even the way the film is shot gives the idea that this could be real. The footage shown to us looks like something out of a documentary and the cast interactions seem much more natural than reading from a scripted dialogue. The horror really comes out at the end of the film (particularly the last 30 minutes, which I will NOT spoil), where Sally encounters horrific events that no audience member would want to experience, and the fear stays with the audience at the thought that they COULD happen.


Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The horror genre owes a lot to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It took the slasher genre that was introduced through earlier films and helped popularize and modernize it for horror films to follow its patterns. I recommend that all horror fans should see, and even own the film in your collection.

Comment below to share your thoughts on the movie or to discuss a topic that I left out of my review

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and movie images are copyrighted by Bryanston Pictures