The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
is a Classic Among Classics.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
raised the bar for horror movies with dark craziness, ferocity and the
birth of Leatherface.
Review by: The Zombie Master Lee
Roberts October 26, 2006
Release:
1974 Written and Directed by: Tobe Hooper
Starring: Marilyn Burns as Sally Paul
A. Partain as Franklin Edwin Neal
as The Hitchhiker Gunnar Hansen as
Leatherface
1974: The year of Watergate, Dungeons and Dragons, and Patty Hearst.
Hillary Swank was born and Jack Benny died. Right along side Chinatown,
The
Godfather, Part II,
and Young
Frankenstein, a
film is released that would raise the bar for
horror films to follow.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre starts by informing us
about a string of grave robberies and desecrations that are taking
place.
We then meet Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns) and her brother Franklin
(Paul A. Partain) as they travel with three of their friends to check
out their grandfather’s grave amid fears that it too has been
desecrated.
Upon discovering that the grave site is safe they then decide to go to
their grandfather’s old house. Along the way they pick a
hitchhiker (Edwin Neal) that totally freaks out everyone by cutting
himself and Franklin and being an all around crazy person.
What
follows is a classic among classics. Tobe Hooper created a masterpiece
of horror with a little budget (the profits for financing came from a
film called Deep Throat), a story that came to him
in a hardware store, and an atmosphere that is as much a part of the
story as Leatherface himself.
Gunnar Hansen is Leatherface. It is my belief that he should be placed
in the same group as Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, and Lon Chaney Jr.
Though many have tried no one has been able to match the ferocity and
passion that Hansen puts into Leatherface.
I recommend viewing
The Texas
Chainsaw Massacre on the Ultimate Edition DVD. The transfer
is excellent and you begin to forget that it was shot on 16mm film and
that the lighting wasn’t great. It also has two great
documentaries about the making and behind the scenes of TCM.
The Texas
Chainsaw Massacre
is one of those films that not only belongs on your classics shelf but
would lead someone to question your devotion to the genre if you did
not have a copy of it. I am not sayin’ anything,
I’m just sayin’. Questions
or comments about The Texas Chainsaw Massacre?
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,
,
and 
, a
film is released that would raise the bar for
horror films to follow.
We then meet Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns) and her brother Franklin
(Paul A. Partain) as they travel with three of their friends to check
out their grandfather’s grave amid fears that it too has been
desecrated.
What
follows is a classic among classics. Tobe Hooper created a masterpiece
of horror with a little budget (the profits for financing came from a
film called Deep Throat), a story that came to him
in a hardware store, and an atmosphere that is as much a part of the
story as Leatherface himself. 
Blink
Del.icio.us
Digg
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Simpy
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Y!
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