Product: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Original Uncut) [Region 2] (1974)
Rating: 4.0
It's not THAT scary but it was enjoyable
Awhile ago I was having a conversation with someone about musical tastes where we vastly disagreed on what was simply awesome bands and which ones were purely based around taste, such as people who love R&B; and Rap to people who prefer Dance. In a way, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, as well as the Exorcist and the Shining are like the Beatles and Led Zeppelin of horror movies: you must love them and say anything different and you're going to get lynched. So I will agree that the film is definately refreshing considering the latest crop of so-called "horror movies", yet at the same time I wonder why it didn't hit me that much.5 kids are travelling through the country and hear of a couple of houses. They decide to check it out only no one's home...seemingly at first. Pretty soon they meet Leatherface, a man in a burlap sac mask who wields a big fat chainsaw. Pretty soon, the kids start going one by one and we find a family seriously depraved and having to escape alive. It's odd how I can't say any more about the plot; not because of spoilers but because there's not a lot else to say.Like many a filmgoer, I can't stand the latest releases in horror. Instead of using atmosphere, pacing and mood to creep people out, they go for broke and show some of the more violent scenes. This film isn't even gory at all. In fact, the film's goriest scene, where one of the kids meets a chainsaw, isn't even shown onscreen. Your mind fills in what went on which can probably be even more disturbing. Adding to the realism is that it's shot in a kind of documentary-like style. One problem I had with the film was that the dread didn't feel there. There was pre-MTV style editing and extreme-closeups of eyeballs and maybe I've just seen it before but it didn't creep me out like it should've(and having a woman scream for 20 minutes doesn't help).If I saw this in 1974, I mostly likely would've been creeped out of my wits but seeing it 32 years later, it's more like "yeah it was alright although I better not say so cause then everybody will bug me about it". If you're a fan, go ahead and buy it because it's probably the best release of the film but personally, I'm not.