The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Runtime: 84 mins
Synopsis: THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE is, without a doubt, the granddaddy of all splatter films. Inspired by 1950s mass murderer Ed Gein, Tobe Hooper's debut feature opens with five unsuspecting teenagers driving in a van through sun-scorched rural Texas. After a terrifying exchange with a demented... THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE is, without a doubt, the granddaddy of all splatter films. Inspired by 1950s mass murderer Ed Gein, Tobe Hooper's debut feature opens with five unsuspecting teenagers driving in a van through sun-scorched rural Texas. After a terrifying exchange with a demented hitchhiker, the group ends up at an old farmhouse. At first, the house appears to be abandoned, but soon, the evil residents begin to wreak havoc on the youngsters' lives. With her friends and wheelchair-bound brother Franklin (Paul A. Partain) disappearing one by one, the terrified Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns) must summon the strength to escape from the ghoulish family of mass murderers, who are led by the gruesome, chainsaw-wielding Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen). Hooper's low-budget exploitation horror film became a cult hit and favorite midnight movie that helped define the splatter genre by introducing such standard features as the house of terror, where innocent victims meet horrible ends, and the girl in peril who survives the mayhem to become the heroine. Spawning several sequels, as well as a 2003 remake, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE remains an untouchable work of sheer terror that continues to shock audiences all over the world. [More]
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Starring: Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Gunnar Hansen, Ed Neal, Allen Danzinger
Producer: Tobe Hooper
Screenwriter: Kim Henkel, Tobe Hooper
Composer: Wayne Bell, Tobe Hooper
Pre-order it on DVD
Reviews
It's a masterpiece, pure and simple..a smart young director summing up the basest instincts of his species.
Seeing this again recently has convinced me that it's quite a bit better than I initially judged.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre loses none of its intensity as the years go by.
The violence is outdated by today's standards, but the original Chainsaw still packs a punch with its rough look and disturbing overtones.
The picture gets to you more through its intensity than its craft, but Hooper does have a talent.
Despite the heavy doses of gore in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Tobe Hooper's pic is well-made for an exploiter of its type.
The film's intense final half achieves its unshakable effect through a combination of things aside from graphic gore.
A profoundly sensitive look at social prejudices and the toll said prejudices take on the human social organism.
An intelligent, absorbing, and deeply disturbing horror film that is nearly bloodless in its depiction of violence.
The movie is some kind of weird, off-the-wall achievement. I can't imagine why anyone would want to make a movie like this, and yet it's well-made, well-acted, and all too effective.
In his laughing-outlaw way, Hooper pointed a new direction for horror cinema. [2-Disc Ultimate Edition Reviewed]
The documentary-style approach is what pushes this flick over the top; it's a grim and glorious classic of modern horror.
This isn't any slick slasher-thriller, this is pure hysteria horror.
Related Forums

by: Lucky7s22G 2/12
News
posted by Nick Hershey June 08, 2007
In this week's Ketchup, the director's job for "Wolverine" is a two-person race, Dreamworks has plans to...
posted by Tim Ryan October 05, 2006
This week at the movies, we've got cops and robbers in Boston ("The Departed," starring Jack Nicholson,...
posted by Tim Ryan October 02, 2006
Leatherface is back, and director Jonathan Liebesman is now giving audiences the creation myth of famed killer in...
posted by Scott Weinberg August 30, 2006
I was among the initially-skeptical and eventually-impressed who actually really liked Marcus Nispel's...


Top Critic


