Product: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Original Uncut) [Region 2] (1974)
Rating: 5.0
The Granddaddy of Modern Slasher Flicks
Most serious fans of horror are already familiar with director Tobe Hooper's magnum opus THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, but for those who aren't, here's a basic rundown:In the early 1970s, a group of friends are traveling through rural Texas on their way to visit the ancestral home of Sally and Franklin, two members of said group. A chance encounter with a bizarre hitchhiker is the first in a long string of unimaginable horrors that eventually lead to death for some members of the group. Included in these shocking events are whacks on the head with a sledgehammer, folks hanging from meat-hooks, and, of course, the titular chainsaw killing. One member of the group actually gets a vis-à-vis meeting with those responsible for all the carnage, a cannibalistic family that includes, among others, a blood-drinking grandfather and big brute that wears a mask made of preserved human flesh.One of the first contemporary slasher films, THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE is also often cited by filmgoers as one of the scariest and most disturbing. And THAT even after 30 years since its first release! One of the reasons the film is still so effective as a shocker is its sense of realism. The film begins with a voice-over that proffers the film as a depiction of true events. This is a quite effective device--one "borrowed" by several later films--as it plants a subliminal seed in the mind of the audience and thereby makes the film's images seem all the more startling and realistic. The film was also shot in 16mm and then resized to 35mm for theatrical release, and as many cinema aficionados know, this resizing often results in a detracting grainy quality to the overall aesthetics of a film. But with THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, the resulting graininess gives the film a documentary-like feel that only serves to heighten the illusion that one is watching real-life events. In addition, most of the actors in the film were basically inexperienced unknowns, but their actions and delivery of dialogue come across as very authentic and sincere, and such acting makes the audience relate more fully with the characters, which in turn helps the production to seem less like commercial entertainment and more like slice-of-life filmmaking.Hooper has often stated that his inspiration for the film's plot was the infamous necrophiliac and purported cannibal Edward Gein, a real-life ghoul whose reported deeds frightened Hooper in his youth. For those who don't already know, Ed Gein was a backwoodsy Wisconsin farmer who, during the 1950s, raided cemeteries and collected various body parts from the corpses. He is known to have made clothing and household items from the preserved skin and bones of his "trophies," and, although it was never substantiated, it was rumored that he ate some of the human flesh. Gein was caught and arrested in 1957 after actually killing the proprietor of a hardware store, then taking her body to his barn and preparing it in the manner of a hunter dressing a deer. It is true that Hooper's film retains some of the elements of the real-life case--specifically the mask of human flesh and the bodies on meat-hooks--but it can hardly be considered a retelling of Gein's activities. Nonetheless, Hooper's aesthetic approach to directing, together with the film's aforementioned production values, enable Hooper to successfully recreate on film the fear he felt as a child when listening to stories of Gein's grisly exploits.Despite the film's reputation for being chock-full of blood and gore, there is really very few scenes of actual bloodletting. Most of the violence and gore is implied via set dressings (lots of bones and blood spatter), the lead-ins to the killings, and the bizarre behavior of the nefarious family of flesh-eating miscreants. Still, the acting is genuine enough and the narrative intense enought that both work to embellish the gruesomeness in the mind of the viewer, and many filmgoers who have seen the film only once swear that it is the most graphically violent and the bloodiest film they have ever seen.As mentioned above, the acting in this film--specifically that of the then-unknowns portraying the group of friends--comes across as very genuine and slice-of-life. Playing Sally, Marilyn Burns is especially effective as she emotes true terror through her facial expressions...and her screaming. Yes, Ms. Burns is one of the first in a long line of slasher-film Scream Queens, and she's also one of the best.All true fans of classic horror or slasher films will want to add this groundbreaking film to their collections. So that you can see it in its intended widescreen aspect ratio, be sure to purchase one of the recent DVD versions of THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE. Most of these DVD editions also include a cool feature commentary with director Tobe Hooper, director of photography Daniel Pearl, and the actor who wielded that titular chainsaw, Gunnar Hansen. Some of the DVDs also include other extras like deleted scenes, alternate footage, bloopers, and other fun stuff.