Product: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Original Uncut) [Region 2] (1974)
Rating: 3.0
Tobe Hooper's only good film
"The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is the type of low-budget gem that succeeds not because of fine acting, a tight script, and professional filmmaking, but because of atmosphere and raw, unrefined tension. The simple story has been the template for countless rip-offs: teens driving through Texas get stuck out in the country, and are picked off one-by-one by Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen), a savage butcher who treats his victims like cattle. The grainy film stock and occasionally unsteady camera movements heighten the terror beautifully, giving the film a convincing--almost documentary--feel (it makes the mostly pedestrian acting justified). Through all this, Tobe Hooper seemed to set himself up as a valuable low-budget director; it's unfortunate he never found another project worthy of his talents (or perhaps the inflated price tags of films dulled his skills permanently).Along with the directoral debuts of Wes Craven (1972's "Last House on the Left") and David Cronenberg (1975's "Shivers"), "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is proof that the 1970s were a defining period for cinematic horror, a time when films were made out of conviction--not for attention and $$$, like they are now ("Scream" & "I Know What You Did Last Summer," anyone?).