The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Review

Two couples and some chick's wheelchair-bound brother are in a mini van travelling through rural Texas to visit what could be the desecrated gave of the grandfather of a couple of them. They pick up a hitchhiker who is just back from a trip to the closed local slaughterhouse to reminisce about the good old days or some such. Proving you shouldn't pick up a hitchhiker in rural Texas, the dude cuts himself then Franklin, the wheelchair-bound dude. The rest of our Scooby gang quickly eject the hitcher.

Our team stop at a gas station to fill up, and get some of that mighty fine home made BBQ. Unfortunately the station is out of gas and everyone troops off to the old dilapidated house Franklin and his sister Sally were brought up in. One of the couples, Kirk and Pam, improbably decide to go swimming. This just isn't their day as the waterhole is dried up, but heck, there's another house back there and by the sounds of things it has a generator, meaning gas for the van. Wandering over to the house, Kirk and Pam come across a whole bunch of cars and such hidden below camouflage netting. Don't these people watch horror flicks! Pretty soon Kirk meets the deformed, obese, and squealing Leatherface, who coincidentally helps Pam to hang around (hehehehehe) for a while. Get ready for a gruelling experience - it's city kids versus cannibalistic hillbillies, and as the tagline says, who will survive and what will be left of them? Ready to drop in on the Sawyers for dinner?

TCM kicks off in the most bizarre fashion possible before roping itself into being a straightforward horror flick and then going haywire once again as Sally is invited to dinner by our Texan inbreds. We get an opening narration to indicate this isn't going to be all wine and roses, and which by the by tries to indicate the whole "based on a true story" BS that has limited the TCM franchise. For no apparent reason, solar flares are shown. A drawn out POV on a dead armadillo on the highway gets injected for God alone knows what reason. Pam starts spouting some new age astrological stuff. Now tha's all just as confusing as hell, but actually does begin to make sense if you analyse what Hooper has going down in the rest of this deceptively simple-looking movie. Without putting too much into it, Hooper is indicating that there's some sort of cosmic destiny awaiting our group of young people, and somehow forces are coming into play that will bring chaos into their world. Or of course Hooper could be just padding out his movie. Your call on that one, I tend to have a bet each way to be honest.

Tobe Hooper's movie is one of the handful in the dark genre that separate the true horror fans from those who simply dabble in the genre with out any understanding of what's going down. It's the difference between gradually mounting unease and having everything splashed on the screen with neon signposts and a loud crashing score to underline this is a "scary" part of the movie. Hooper attempts, and achieves wonderfully well, a creeping ability to get under his audience's skin and keep them in a state of unease throughout. That would be as opposed to say Eli Roth, whose movies you forget half an hour after watching. Hooper's movie is a keeper, and coincidental a cult classic, while Roth's movies won't be remembered in five years time. Hooper provides a blueprint for future movies that turns up in the most surprising places, see Greg McLean's Wolf Creek for example.

One of the greatest ever horror movies that still works today for new audiences

The Texan director and crew made TCM in order to send "a sky rocket" up to Hollywood and to generally get noticed. And you have to say a movie titled The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with the tagline "Who will survive and what will be left of them?" is going to be pretty hard to miss, given the 1974 release date. Arguably not only did Hollywood notice Hooper but he also directly laid the foundations for the 1980s avalanche of "massacre" movies masquerading as slashers. It's pretty hard not to note the impact Hooper's movie had on the horror genre, and the boost it gave independent moviemakers everywhere. Unfortunately the Firector did get noticed by Hollywood, and that old "monkey's paw" thing has since come into play with a whole bunch of bad film decisions from this good old boy.

So what's working in TCM and why is it held in such high regard? The plot for the movie is deceptively simple; five kids are visiting "granddad's grave" and run out of gas in the Texas outback. They run across a local cannibal family, who by the by hardly break any Texan laws in the movie as a Texan can protect his/her house from trespassers in the most extreme fashion possible, and are whittled down one by one. The movie's final act sees Sally going up against Leatherface as one of the more plausible "final girls" yet thrown onto our screens. Sally isn't going kick arse on us, she'll be lucky to have any sanity left by the end of the movie and simply does what one expects, tries to get out of Dodge stage left as quick as possible.

Hooper's movie may seem simple but there's quite a bit bubbling away underneath the blood drenched surface either intentionally or not. For example, the Sawyers, as we learn their family name to be in the second TCM movie, are if anything a microcosm of the then current U.S. family unit. The gas station dude fits the role of the long-suffering father figure: "�Look what your brother did to the door! Ain't got no, no pride in his home". Leatherface fits the mum role, and rather than being the evil incarnate one would expect, is more flustered by unexpected guests but still manages to clean house. And finally the hitchhiker fits in as the rebellious teenager: "Hey, Leatherface and I do all the work here. He does the killing, I do the grave digging. You don't do anything. You're just a cook". Whether or not Hooper is making comment on the social disintegration of the family unit is a moot point, the references are there for anyone prepared to have a look under this movie's skirt.

Of course, the most notable thing about TCM, and something completely missed by the less than impressive Director of the remake, is that Hooper is doing a Hitchcock on us. TCM appears to be gory but it's all smoke and mirrors - there's a surprising lack of claret being tossed around the set here. Sure there are some shocking scenes: Leatherface's entrance, which still ranks as one of the best in the genre, Pam finding out what those hooks and rails are used for, and Franklin discovering that if anything Hooper is an equal opportunity filmmaker. But for all the on-screen mayhem, you are not actually seeing what you think you are seeing; like Hitchcock, Hooper is able to convince his audience that they are seeing blood and guts cascading throughout the movie. TCM end of day is as prim and proper as your maiden aunt. But hey, even the best of us got fooled back in the day, "(TCM) is as violent and gruesome and blood-soaked as the title promises -- a real Grand Guignol of a movie." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, Jan 1 1974. Really Roger? - you want to point out the blood-soaked scene?

What really makes Hooper's movie work is the oppressive atmosphere, the fact that no one is safe, and the effective use of cut scenes. TCM even today remains a harrowing experience to sit through with sudden shock scenes interspersed through mounting tension. The final third of the movie for many movie viewers remains pretty unwatchable as the Director cranks it up and keeps the pace flowing to an unexpected conclusion. There's no overriding social moral to the story, stuff simply happens in a forgotten corner of Texas and ominously Hooper indicates that it's happened before.

Marilyn Burns (Sally) heads a pretty much unknown cast. Burns is pretty good here and joins the ranks of scream queens able to fully use their lungs, loved her final scene where clearly the roos have taken to the top paddock with some gusto. For no apparent reason, Burns was unable to leverage her headlining in a controversial movie into a career of any note, which is unfortunate as the gal can act. Allen Danziger (Jerry) and William Vail (Kirk) are pretty interchangeable and leave no lasting impact. Paul A. Partain (Franklin) is working as the irritation factor, still a shocker when he runs into Leatherface. Edwin Neal (the hitchhiker) passes for what little comic relief there is here but is working as the demented younger sibling. And finally Gunnar Hanssen (Leatherface) works better than a whole herd of massively built psycho killers, as approved by modern casting agents who have no idea what they are dealing with. Hanssen is believable, the modern equivalent look like escapees from the WWF.

On the T&A front, the armadillo is buck-naked at the start of the movie.

Wayne Bell and Tobe Hooper handed in the score which at best can be described as minimalistic. Possibly not a CD purchase kids but by heck it's working for the movie with enough happening to add to the overall atmosphere. Top notch stuff and gets the Sminds vote of approval.

TCM is one of those classic horror flicks that go to defining what the modern horror movie is. This is genre filmmaking at its best without the modern move to simple shock tactics or all-out PG-13 lite. Hooper made the movie he wanted to make in order to get noticed, but refrains from making anything either didactic or designed simply to put bums in seats. The movie has stood the test of time and year in year out gets re-released to the delight of horror fans everywhere. I found the movie a gruelling experience to sit through but enjoyed every last minute as Hooper weaved his magic.

To date there have been four sequels to Hooper's original movie (or five, depending on who you want to believe), a remake made for brain-dead teenagers, and a prequel to the remake also made for brain-dead teenagers. Thankfully the conveyer belt over at Platinum Dunes seems to have stalled on the TCM roll out, preferring to destroy other classics recently. Since this review was originally written a new movie tumbled onto our screens but hardly anyone bothered with it as it was worse than the normal Dunes efforts.

If you are a horror fan then TCM is must-see stuff, but be warned that this is nowhere near the gore-infused bloodbath that the movie's reputation would have you believe. I actually think that's a good thing but may be in the minority here. For non-horror fans this might be a movie to give a wide berth to, as it's a pretty harrowing experience to sit through and big bad Tobe is going for your jugular throughout. They just don't seem to be able to make horror movies of this standard anymore and TCM underlines what a complete load of rubbish we are being served up currently with the odd exception. If after a movie that will stay with you after the end credits roll, then try some of that Sawyer family BBQ for dinner.