Product: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Original Uncut) [Region 2] (1974)
Rating: 5.0
high art VS. low art
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre falls into a special category. Like most cutting edge 70's and 80's low-budget horror classics, this film is fuelled by raw creativity and accidental genius. The tone is very raw, and I always get the image of the grainy Texas sun blaring down on the desert when I think of this film. The element that makes this film a classic is its constant organic build. It starts with blatant images of corpses rotting in a graveyard, with a news report dubbed over it. I can't even describe how every frame of this film is brilliant. The shot of the bizarre retarded gas station attendant staring up at the sun has a horrific beauty. The guy who plays the gas station/barbeque shop owner delivers a strangely mesmerizing performance. Even though the film begins on the ground, it flows and escalates until it is elevated to the upper stratosphere of metaphysical surrealism by the film's perplexing and perfect conclusion. I watched this film for the first time expecting a typical low-budget gore fest, but instead, experienced true and rare low-budget horror genius. Please, watch this film with a loved one (with the lights on).