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Thanks to a smart script and documentary-style camerawork, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre achieves start-to-finish suspense, making it a classic in low-budget exploitation cinema.
All Critics (59) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (52) | Rotten (7) | DVD (7)
Morally retrograde it may be, but then so are nightmares. The point is that this one, though often crude and raw, really leads the imagination. What also works in its favour is that it doesn't pretend to do anything more than scare the pants off you. Apr 7, 2015 | Full Review…
Morally retrograde it may be, but then so are nightmares. The point is that this one, though often crude and raw, really leads the imagination. What also works in its favour is that it doesn't pretend to do anything more than scare the pants off you.
Derek Malcolm
This abattoir of a movie boasts sledgehammers, meathooks and chainsaws, and the result, though not especially visceral, is noisy, relentless, and about as subtle as having your leg sawed off without anaesthetic. Oct 14, 2014 | Full Review…
This abattoir of a movie boasts sledgehammers, meathooks and chainsaws, and the result, though not especially visceral, is noisy, relentless, and about as subtle as having your leg sawed off without anaesthetic.
Chris Peachment
The picture gets to you more through its intensity than its craft, but Hooper does have a talent. Sep 19, 2007 | Full Review…
The picture gets to you more through its intensity than its craft, but Hooper does have a talent.
Dave Kehr
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. Sep 19, 2007 | Full Review…
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.
Variety Staff
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. Oct 3, 2006 | Rating: 2/4 | Full Review…
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.
Roger Ebert
A movie that goes a lot deeper than just a maniac with a chainsaw, and more political than many may realize. Dec 3, 2018 | Full Review…
A movie that goes a lot deeper than just a maniac with a chainsaw, and more political than many may realize.
Chauncey K. Robinson
One of the best horror films I've seen, since it picks up the trend at that time and expresses it to the maximum to offer us a title that still holds its full strength. [Full review in Spanish] Aug 28, 2017 | Full Review…
One of the best horror films I've seen, since it picks up the trend at that time and expresses it to the maximum to offer us a title that still holds its full strength. [Full review in Spanish]
Mikel Zorrilla
Along with Night of the Living Dead and The Last House on the Left, it ushered in the modern age of horror in the 1970s. It is one of the great transgressive American horrors and is still the film upon which Hooper's reputation is built. Oct 28, 2016 | Full Review…
Along with Night of the Living Dead and The Last House on the Left, it ushered in the modern age of horror in the 1970s. It is one of the great transgressive American horrors and is still the film upon which Hooper's reputation is built.
Sean Axmaker
My personal philosophy remains unmoved by skill and prowess when it comes to an idea this drastic. A chainsaw is a cheater's instrument, a device that disrupts all threads of rhythm and psychology. Nov 3, 2015 | Rating: 2.5/4 | Full Review…
My personal philosophy remains unmoved by skill and prowess when it comes to an idea this drastic. A chainsaw is a cheater's instrument, a device that disrupts all threads of rhythm and psychology.
David Keyes
Nauseated and shaken, I walked out of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre after half an hour of its butchery. Sep 28, 2015 | Full Review…
Nauseated and shaken, I walked out of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre after half an hour of its butchery.
Clancy Sigel
No matter how many filmmakers have attempted to recreate the all-out insanity of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," very few have even come close. Apr 26, 2015 | Rating: A | Full Review…
No matter how many filmmakers have attempted to recreate the all-out insanity of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," very few have even come close.
Cole Smithey
A genuine classic of the genre, a punishing, unrelenting nightmare that never allows viewers even a moment of sanity or security. Oct 20, 2014 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review…
A genuine classic of the genre, a punishing, unrelenting nightmare that never allows viewers even a moment of sanity or security.
Matt Brunson
An unforgettable horror classic that proved low budget can be terrifying when done right, taking a careful time to build up its tension to an almost unbearable degree before fraying our nerves to pieces with its horrendous sadism, hysterical editing and documentary-style camerawork.
Super Reviewer
Unlikable characters and amateur acting makes it hard to get into this. But once the really horrible slaughtering starts you can't help but shift uncomfortably in your seat. Especially the last twenty minutes are really creepy, albeit unintentionally funny at times. But you can imagine what an impact the film must have had in its time.
Tobe Hooper's controversial classic is a landmark stamp in the genre of horror and a step towards the slasher sub genre. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a rare low-budget overnight sensation that produced hysteria and is still a disturbingly entertaining film for audiences then and now. 4/5
While groundbreaking for its time and responsible for establishing many elements of B movie horror, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre doesn't hold up as well as I had hoped. The acting is over the top and as bad as can possible be expected, but it doesn't really hurt the film that much. The camerawork is unique and adds a nice change of direction for the film. The story itself is unpredictable and suspenseful for about half the movie, but as soon as people start getting killed off it degenerates into typical horror fashion until a few twists are presented towards the end. This is actually a pretty tame film by today's standards (it cuts away from any kills when they are happening so you don't see guts and gore), but the way it is presented still makes it seem depraved. The fact that this film was banned back in the 70's is kind of funny. You could say the story is somewhat exploitive, especially towards the end, but nothing made my stomach turn. Overall, it was a solid low budget horror film that is respected due to its influence on the genre and for that I recommend it. Just don't expect it to live up to other classics like Psycho and Halloween.
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