Product: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Original Uncut) [Region 2] (1974)
Rating: 5.0
Soul shattering
Tobe Hooper's 1974 objet d'art "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" stands as a sublime classic in the horror genre, a singularly influential picture that inspired countless other now famous films. If a viewer seeking to become intimately familiar with the genre does not watch this film, and watch it early on in their viewing career, they will not understand that Hooper's gruesome little gem influenced to some extent movies such as "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th." Director Hooper unfortunately went on to a haphazard career in Hollywood, churning out some winners ("Poltergeist," "Lifeforce") and a lot more losers ("Eaten Alive" being the absolute worst of the lot). But it's this extremely low budget hour and a half of pure terror that will immortalize him in the minds of fans. Perhaps the film's greatest aspect is its staying power: this film delivers the shocks no matter how many times you watch it. I decided to return to this nightmare again recently in order to see how the movie fared in its DVD release, and soon discovered that "Chain Saw" is just as viscerally terrifying as it was when I first saw it nearly twenty years ago on a grainy videotape.The opening narration by John Larroquette tells us right from the start that the story we are about to witness isn't going to be a pretty one, and indeed it isn't. Five young people--Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns), her wheelchair bound brother Franklin (Paul A. Partain), Jerry (Allen Danziger), Kirk (William Vail), and Pam (Teri McMinn)--head down into the heat blasted climes of rural Texas on a rather morbid road trip. A rumor that ghouls disturbed graves in the area where Sally's and Franklin's grandfather once lived inspires these kids to check up on his burial plot. Dear god, they should have stayed home! After checking in at the creepy local cemetery and running into a few of the weird locals, the kids decide to head over to the old family house. As the five victims...er, road trippers cruise by a slaughterhouse, regaled by Franklin's morbid descriptions of how the workers kill the cows, they stop to pick up a hitchhiker (Edwin Neal). From this point forward, "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" embarks on a rollercoaster ride of abject horror that no other movie has ever, ever managed to convey to an audience this effectively. For this abhorrent hitchhiker is a member of a family of murderous cannibals, consisting of Grandfather Sawyer (John Dugan), his son Drayton (Jim Siedow), and a misshapen, hulking brute known forever after as Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen).After the kids kick the hitchhiker out of the van for being a total weirdo, they eventually find the old abandoned house. Unfortunately, a couple of them notice another house in the distance and decide to investigate. That this is a mistake of cosmic levels is soon revealed as our hapless travelers discover the myriad horrors of the Sawyer household, a household that is by turns a slaughterhouse, a museum of various items constructed out of human bones, and a refuge for a group of lunatics operating far beyond the bounds of any rational human understanding. One by one the travelers fall prey to the chainsaw wielding, flesh mask wearing Leatherface and the other members of the family. By the time we get through the dinner party scene and that lingering shot of a madman swinging a chainsaw in frustrated rage, it's far past apparent that "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" is a masterpiece of terror. It's also a movie so well known for its blood drenched scenes of gory carnage, what with the chainsaw and all, that it received a Category III rating in Hong Kong and an 'X' in some other countries.Problem is, "Chain Saw" is a relatively bloodless film. Oh sure, Sally Hardesty's shirt has seen better days by the time the movie rolls around to its conclusion, and Leatherface accidentally cuts himself with the saw at one point, but don't expect to see a gorefest in this film. It's part of the legendary magic of the picture that people think they saw a bloodbath of epic proportions. What we do see in many ways is far, far worse. Hooper gives us a film that resembles a grainy documentary of real events, replete with a sense of pervasive doom that roars off the screen with volcanic force. Here's a movie where the audience can almost feel the Texas heat, can almost feel the sweaty clothing worn by the characters, and can almost feel the claustrophobic dimensions of the Sawyer house closing in for the kill. All of these elements, combined with some nauseating sound effects and pop out of the dark scares, create a truly riveting film in which gore (or the lack thereof) is the least of your worries.I usually peruse most of the extras included on any given disc, but "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" DVD version is one where I went out of my way to listen to every word on the commentary track. Tobe Hooper and Gunnar Hansen have a great time yucking it up, from making fun of the annoying personality of the Franklin character to providing great insight into the soul shattering dinner scenes. The disc even includes deleted scenes that, if left in the film, would have provided more build up to the eventual massacre and more depth to the Leatherface character. That you should see this picture if you claim to be a horror fan goes without saying. And now that a Special Edition DVD version exists with a great audio and picture transfer, along with plenty of nifty extras, there is absolutely no excuse to pass this classic by.