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Written by Finger_Of_DOOM
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THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE **** out of ***** Genres 1974 Directed by Tobe Hooper Written by Kim Henkel Tobe Hooper Cast Marilyn Burns .... Sally Hardesty Allen Danziger .... Jerry Paul A. Partain .... Franklin Hardesty William Vail .... Kirk Teri McMinn .... Pam Edwin Neal .... The Hitchhiker Jim Siedow .... Drayton Sawyer (Old Man) Gunnar Hansen .... Leatherface/Bubba Sawyer, Jr. John Dugan .... Grandfather Sawyer If you read my review of the remake of Texas Chain Saw you'll already know that I'm a fan of this film. There are many forgettable horrors and then there are few iconic horror classics, films such as Halloween, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and Texas Chain Saw. Back in 1974 filmmaker Tobe Hooper didn't realise he was creating a cult masterpiece, what he was doing was making a film that would literally scare the flesh right off your bones. And he succeeded, so much so that the film was banned in the UK until recently, when it was released on DVD. The film centres around a group of teenagers who are recruited by Sally (Marilyn Burns) to, upon hearing that vandals have desecrated her grandfather's grave, travel across Texas to investigate. As they travel across the wasteland they pick up a hitchhiker (Edwin Neal) who isn't exactly normal. He takes a picture of the group and suddenly expects to be paid for it, when the group refuse he goes psycho on them and starts slashing himself with a razor. Freaked, they kick him out of the van. Strung out by the incident they stop at a gas station for a breather and suddenly find themselves at an old family home... where they come face-to-face with Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen) and his family of cannibals. From that point on the nightmare begins and Leatherface won't stop until they are all dead! For many years this film has been given a bad rap, people have called it vile, offensive, violent, disgusting and sick. Audiences, critics and even public officials have called this film a shocking and sick film that has no redeeming value whatsoever. If this film made you afraid to open your eyes, if it made you sick and repulsed then I think it did what it was supposed to do, after all it is a horror film. If you don't want to be subjected to it then don't see it, simple as that. But let's not get into a censorship-bashing issue, as this will certainly lead in that direction. Let's talk about the impact this film has had over the 30 years since its release. After 30 years this little no-budget film is still considered by most horror fans to be one of the scariest films of all time. Why? Because Hooper managed to tap some of our very primal fears by introducing the film as a true story. That something this vile actually happened. In fact the film, and most notably its villain Leatherface, was loosely based on the mass-murderer and cannibal Ed Gein. Stark images, gritty documentary-like camera work, real life locations in a small Texas town, and brilliant sound came together to deliver a truly memorable horror flick. What added to the overall scare factor was that Hooper managed to let the viewer use their own imagination instead of showing direct on-screen violence, for a horror flick there is very little gore. Perhaps this was deliberate, or a result of having hardly any money to make the film, either way it was effective. Also for what is essentially a B-movie the performances aren't bad at all, while certainly not Oscar-worthy they are at least not as cheesy as some B-grade horrors. This film is not for everyone, If you're a horror fan then you'll already know what I'm talking about, if you're new to horror genre then I suggest you don't see any more contemporary horrors until you take this film for a test drive. If you don't like films of this genre and are easily scared then perhaps it's a good idea to stay away. Finger_Of_DOOM's reviews also appear on DVD Compare, where they include details of the DVD release. For this review click here. Discuss this article on the forums. (0 posts) |
