The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Dir: Tobe Hooper

Writ: Tobe Hooper, Kim Henkel

When I first heard of this movie, years and years ago, I was scared. It was all true! And a guy goes on a killing spree with a chainsaw! No way would I ever watch that, and why would I want to!?

But, the other day, I picked up a copy and prepared myself.

It is great. It is one of the best horror films I have seen. It feels like something... partially owing to Art Director Robert Burns's brilliant work with costume and set, and partially owing to the shoot locations and limitations (mid-summer Texas, 27 hour shoots, twisted ankles, cut actors, flying woodchips etc.), I can actually connect a sensation with what I'm seeing on screen. I don't need to give myself over to fantasy too far to know that that chainsaw is spitting hot oil all over the set, or that the shoot is covered in the wafting smell of collected animal carcasses, or that the crew are running for safety while Leatherface dances with ecstasy/loss/insanity. After seeing so many slick films that use these horror tropes, masks, running teenagers, cannibalism etc., and feeling nothing, it is such an experience for them to mean something... to feel the sweat and smell the rancid cooking when the family sits down to eat, the hot sticky sun and the smell of the woods when the kids stumble across the abandoned campground, and to feel the cold and the disorienting dark as the lead girl runs from Leatherface.

Now I know that this was an insane shoot, because I watched the Director's commentary. People got cut, and injured, and overworked, money was always an issue even long after release, and risks were taken which I would've doubted anyone would've gotten away with. I'm not saying that movies should adopt this gung-ho approach in order to achieve the same memorably vibrant tactile experience that this movie delivers. I'm just saying that, if I have reason to doubt the effect of this movie, I just need to remember all of the stale and slick horror films I've watched which don't feel like anything, despite the highly styilised aesthetic and convincing gore. There is not that much blood in Chainsaw. When they had to decide on how to mount the girl on the meathook, they chose, for practicality partially, to not go over the top with it. It doesn't protrude. You see no blood. It's good old fashioned acting and suggestion.

A classic for a reason.

P.S. It's not all true. It was based loosely on Ed Gein, who also inspired Psycho and Silence of the Lambs.