Product: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Original Uncut) [Region 2] (1974)
Rating: 5.0
One of the top ten best horror films ever
Okay, for everyone who is wondering if this is based on a true story, here's the scoop: Back in the 1950's there lived a man named Ed Gein who had a mother fixation. His mother died of cancer or a stroke, and because Ed had so completely worshipped his mother, after she was buried he never went into his mother's bedroom or any of the other upstairs rooms again. He spent the rest of his life living in the kitchen and one other room next to the kitchen. In the meantime, Ed Gein became schizophrenic and began robbing graves at the local cemetery near his house. He also began luring women back to his house and killing them. Some of the women he would cut up and save the body parts. Other women he would literally remove the skin from their bodies and make things such as lampshades, chair coverings, and masks out of. He would wear these human skin masks. He even went so far as to make a suit out of the skin of one of his female victims and wear it. You see, Ed Gein was fascinated by what it would be like to be a woman, and he was also fascinated by transexuals.When the police raided Ed's house, they found the body of his last victim, Bernice Worden, hanging upside down in his garage, gutted like a deer and her head was decapitated. They found bags of body parts, a severed head in the fridge, skulls with the tops sawed off and used for "bowls", and all kinds of creepy stuff. After much psychological testing it was discovered that Ed had a split personality and that he had no memory of many of the killings he committed. He was found criminally insane and spent the rest of his life in a mental hospital, where he died of natural causes. Various elements of Ed's life and his personality went into the creation of the Leatherface character. The "family" didn't exist in real life. Even Ed's real family wasn't that crazy. In reality, Ed's mom was a dominant, very religious mother who thought all women were evil temptations for her boys and thus must be avoided. She was a cruel woman who belittled her mild-mannered husband. Her husband died, and Ed had one older brother who died in a fire, but it was suspicious because Ed was able to lead the cops to the exact spot his brother was at, which leads many to suspect he murdered his brother. The movie Pyscho is also based on elements of Ed Gein's life, especially the mother fixation part and the split personalitiy part where he would dress as his mother and take on her voice and personality. The version of the Texas Chainsaw dvd i have is the Pioneer version and it's truely top-notch. The picture quality is amazing, and watching it i found it hard to believe i was watching a movie filmed in the early 70s. They did a good job of making all the night scenes very clear. Watching this movie on vhs is not even worth your time, as all of the night scenes will be so dark you won't be able to see a thing. The sound on the dvd is crisp and clear and there are a ton of great extras. The director's commentary is amazing and you'll learn a lot of great trivia facts and information on what it was like to make this movie. This commentary is really one of the best next to Evil Dead and Mother's Day. I haven't heard the commentary of The Exorcist or The Thing yet, but i'm hoping they are just as good. As for the movie itself, Texas Chainsaw is well-done. The very first time i saw it was at a midnight sreening when i was only in my early 20s and i have to admit i didn't like it. I thought the movie was way too short, the ending was unfinished, and there were so many parts of it i hated. But as the years went by, i watched the movie again and again and began to actually give this movie a chance and to understand more about it. Today, this movie is among one of my favorite horror movies of all time. It's more of a psychological headgame type of scare, more than an all out gorefest. Actually there is very minimal gore shown by today's jaded moviegoing standards. The emphasis is more on the violence and the terror and atmosphere, at which this movie succeeds. And the grainy, poor picture quality of the film gives a documentary feel to the film that adds to it. Texas Chainsaw is the one that started many of today's slasher movies. There have been many horror movies over the years that borrowed elements of this movie. Texas Chainsaw Massacre was a groundbreaking movie for its time and it paved the way for many of today's movies. Anyone who says this movie sucks is not a TRUE horror movie fan. For those of us who DO know about the life and times of Ed Gein, this movie really IS a great horror movie. Five stars for the movie and five stars for the dvd and all the extras. This is for the Pioneer edition of the dvd.