User:Paleface Jack/The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Directed by	Tobe Hooper
Written by	Kim Henkel Tobe Hooper
Produced by	Tobe Hooper
Starring	Marilyn Burns Paul A. Partain Edwin Neal Jim Siedow Gunnar Hansen
Cinematography	Daniel Pearl
Edited by	Sallye Richardson Larry Carroll
Music by	Tobe Hooper Wayne Bell
Production company	Vortex Inc.
Distributed by	Bryanston Distributing Company
Release date	October 11, 1974 (1974-10-11)
Running time	83 minutes (theatrical)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$80,000–140,000
Box office	$30.9 million

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a 1974 American horror film produced, co-composed, and directed by Tobe Hooper, who co-wrote it with Kim Henkel. The film stars Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, and Gunnar Hansen. The plot follows a group of friends who fall victim to a family of cannibals while on their way to visit an old homestead. The film was marketed as being based on true events to attract a wider audience and to act as a subtle commentary on the era's political climate. Although the character of Leatherface and minor story details were inspired by the crimes of murderer Ed Gein, its plot is largely fictional.

Hooper produced the film for less than $140,000 ($900,000 adjusted for inflation) and used a cast of relatively unknown actors drawn mainly from central Texas, where the film was shot. The limited budget forced Hooper to film for long hours seven days a week, so that he could finish as quickly as possible and reduce equipment rental costs. Hooper struggled to find a distributor, but it was eventually acquired by the Bryanston Distributing Company.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was released in the United States on October 11, 1974. While the film initially received mixed to negative reception from critics, it was highly profitable, grossing over $30 million at the domestic box office, equivalent to roughly over $150.8 million as of 2019, selling over 16.5 million tickets in 1974. It drew extensive controversy at the time because of its content and Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) originally rated it an X rating until several minutes were cut to secure an R rating. The film faced similar difficulties internationally, being banned in several countries, and numerous theaters stopped showing the film in response to complaints about its violence.

It has since gained a reputation as one of the greatest and most influential horror films, credited with originating several elements common in the slasher genre, including the use of power tools as murder weapons, the characterization of the killer as a large, hulking, masked figure, and the killing of victims. Its financial success led to a franchise that continued the story of Leatherface and his family through sequels, prequels, a remake, comic books, and video games.

Plot

In the early hours of August 18, 1973, a grave robber steals several remains from a cemetery near Newt, Muerto County, Texas. The robber places a rotting corpse and other body parts onto a grave marker, arranging it into a grisly display that is discovered by a local resident as the sun rises.

Driving in a van, five teenagers take a road trip through the area: Sally Hardesty, Jerry, Pam, Kirk, and Sally's handicapped brother Franklin. They stop at the cemetery to check on the grave of Sally and Franklin's grandfather, which appears undisturbed. As the group drives past a slaughterhouse, Franklin recounts the Hardesty family's history with animal slaughter. They soon pick up a hitchhiker, who talks about his family who worked at the old slaughterhouse. He borrows Franklin's pocket knife and cuts himself, then takes a single Polaroid picture of Franklin, for which he demands money. When they refuse to pay, he burns the photo and slashes Franklin's left arm with the pocket knife. The group forces him out of the van, where he smears blood on the side as they drive off. Low on gas, the group stops at a station whose proprietor says that no fuel is available. Leaving the gas station, the group stops by a nearby abandoned house, owned by the Hardesty family, exploring the run-down structure.

Kirk and Pam leave the others behind, planning to visit a nearby swimming hole mentioned by Franklyn. On their way there, they discover another house, surrounded by run-down cars, and run by gas-powered generators. Hoping to barter for gas, Kirk enters the house through the unlocked door, while Pam waits outside. As he searches the house, a large man wearing a mask made of skin appears and murders Kirk with a hammer. When Pam enters the house, she finds its living room strewn with decaying remains and furniture made from human and animal bones. She attempts to flee but is caught by the masked man, who impales her on a meat hook, and starts up a chainsaw to dismember Kirk's body as Pam watches. In the evening, Jerry searches for Pam and Kirk. When he enters the other house, he finds Pam's nearly-dead, spasming body in a chest freezer and is killed by the masked man.

With darkness falling, Sally and Franklin set out to find their friends. En route, the masked man ambushes them, killing Franklin with the chainsaw as Sally flees in terror. The man chases Sally into the house, where she finds a very old, seemingly dead man and a woman's rotting corpse. She escapes from the man by jumping through a second-floor window, and she flees to the gas station. With the man in pursuit, Sally arrives at the gas station when he seems to disappear. The station's proprietor comforts Sally with the offer of help, after which he beats and subdues her, loading her into his pickup truck. The proprietor drives to the other house, and the hitchhiker appears. The proprietor scolds him for his actions at the cemetery, identifying the hitchhiker as the grave robber. As they enter the house, the masked man reappears, dressed in women's clothing. The proprietor identifies the masked man and the hitchhiker as brothers, and the hitchhiker refers to the masked man as "Leatherface". The two brothers bring the old man—"Grandpa"—down the stairs and cut Sally's finger so that Grandpa can suck her blood, Sally then faints from the ordeal.

The next morning, Sally regains consciousness. The men taunt her and bicker with each other, resolving to kill her with a hammer. They try to include Grandpa in the activity, but Grandpa is too weak, and he drops the hammer repeatedly. Sally breaks free and runs onto a road in front of the house, pursued by the brothers. An oncoming truck accidentally runs over the hitchhiker, killing him. The truck driver attacks Leatherface with a large wrench, causing him to fall and injure his leg with the chainsaw. Sally, covered in blood, flags down a passing pickup truck and climbs into the bed, narrowly escaping Leatherface. As the pickup drives away, Sally laughs hysterically as an enraged Leatherface swings his chainsaw in the road as the sun rises.

Cast

Main article: List of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (franchise) characters

• Marilyn Burns as Sally Hardesty
• Allen Danziger as Jerry
• Paul A. Partain as Franklin Hardesty
• William Vail as Kirk
• Teri McMinn as Pam
• Edwin Neal as Hitchhiker
• Jim Siedow as Old Man
• Gunnar Hansen as Leatherface
• John Dugan as Grandpa
• Robert Courtin as Window Washer
• William Creamer as Bearded Man
• John Henry Faulk as Storyteller
• Jerry Green as Cowboy
• Ed Guinn as Cattle Truck Driver
• Joe Bill Hogan as Drunk
• Perry Lorenz as Pick Up Driver
• John Larroquette as Narrator

Production

• https://archive.org/details/leatherface-1973-screenplay
• https://movieweb.com/gunnar-hansen-interview-texas-chainsaw-massacre-leatherface/

Ed Gein influence

Main article: Ed Gein

Early in its conception, aspects of the film were inspired by the crimes of Wisconsin murderer and grave-robber Ed Gein. Gein's crimes, committed around his hometown of Plainfield, Wisconsin, gained widespread notoriety in 1957 after authorities discovered that he had exhumed corpses from local graveyards and fashioned keepsakes from their bones and skin. Hooper claimed to have heard details of Gein from relatives who lived near where his crimes had been committed, though Hooper admitted he did not know it was Gein until after the film's release. One detail from Gein's crimes that Hooper found particularly disturbing was Gein's penchant for crafting and wearing human flesh as masks, which both Hooper and Henkel instilled into their character Leatherface. The idea that a seemingly normal person could commit such horrific acts fascinated co-writer Henkel, who wrote this trait into the character of the "Old Man".

Gein also served as inspiration for other characters and stories before The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, such as Robert Bloch' in his 1959 novel Psycho. In addition to Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film adaption.

Development

Image: Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel

Development for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre began in the early 1970s while Tobe Hooper was working as an assistant film director at the University of Texas at Austin and a documentary cameraman. During this period, Hooper had grown increasingly disillusioned by what he described as the "lack of sentimentality and the brutality of things", witnessing ongoing acts of violence in the city of San Antonio, epitomized by the graphic coverage in the local news, "showing brains spilled all over the road", leading the young director believe that "man was the real monster here, just wearing a different face". He started developing the concept under the working titles Headcheese and Leatherface, from a story he had already written involving the elements of isolation, the woods, and darkness. While working on his feature film debut, Eggshells (1969), Hooper became acquainted with fellow Texas native Kim Henkel, who both starred in and co-wrote the film. The two became close friends during production, and when Eggshells was released to little commercial attention, they began working on their next collaborative effort, with the decision that the project would be a horror film, which they concluded more commercially viable.

Hooper and Henkel spent a significant amount of time discussing potential story ideas. Henkel, who was working as an illustrator for an educational company at the time, would meet every night at Hooper's residence, brainstorming different concepts and ideas for the project. During the creative process, they would discuss aspects of the horror genre that frightened them, in addition to their fears. One of these fears that was discussed early on was the urban fear of the country and its residents. Hooper later commented, "Back in the early part of the twentieth century, you would go out and get killed out in the country... Being out there, being isolated, before cell phones existed, even before telephones existed, but to be out there and there's no one out there to help you". Original story concepts focused on more fantasy elements, with Grimm's Fairy Tales (1812) by the Brothers Grimm cited as a major influence. Henkel stated that they were both drawn to how these tales "deal with fundamental issues that human beings struggle[d] with". The suggestion by Henkel of a modern take on Hansel and Gretel, rooted in elements of isolation and innocents lured away from civilization by malevolent forces, fit with the filmmakers' earlier discussions of their childhood fears. Alternately, Hooper suggested the story of a troll that lived under a bridge. These ideas were discarded early on, in favor of a more realistic and localized story that drew on their shared love of Universal Classic Monsters. Over the years, Henkel cited the confessions and crimes of serial killer Elmer Wayne Henley, who committed a string of murders under the guidance of rapist and fellow serial killer Dean Corll, were additional points of inspiration. Leatherface actor Gunnar Hansen refutes this, as Henley had confessed to the murders on August 8, 1973, well into production.

Hooper and Henkel began writing the completed story outline into a workable script in January 1973. Working extensively to expand upon Hooper's original idea, Hooper suggested key plot elements for the film, breaking down each potential scene with Henkel, who would write it all down. Developing the film's storyline, the two filmmakers drew upon changes in the cultural and political landscape as a central influence on the film. Hooper also cited his childhood love of horror comics published by EC Comics as a heavy influence upon the film's overall atmosphere. The intentional misinformation, that "film you are about to see is true", was a response to being "lied to by the government about things that were going on all over the world", including the Watergate scandal, the 1973 oil crisis, and "the massacres and atrocities in the Vietnam War". The idea of using a chainsaw as a murder weapon, according to Hooper, while he was in the hardware section of a busy store, contemplating how to speed his way through the crowd. Once the story outline was completed they adapted it into a working script to show potential investors and cast members, a process that took approximately three-to-six weeks to complete. Completed in six weeks, the initial 160-page first draft was heavily detailed, containing camera movements, lighting cues, character details, and more explicit violence.

Financing

In 1973, Hooper and Henkel formed Vortex, Inc., with Henkel as its president and Hooper as its vice president. Henkel recruited his acquaintance Ron Bozman to serve as the company's unit production manager, having worked with him on the film Windbreaker (1971). After completion of the script, Henkel took it to Warren Skaaren for potential financing. The executive director of the Texas Film Commission, Skaaren was impressed by the script, introducing the co-writers to his business partner Jay "Bill" Parsley, then the Vice President of Student Affairs at Texas Tech University. After meeting with Parsley, the filmmakers were able to convince him to provide additional funding with his company MAB, Inc. through which he invested $60,000 in the production. In return, MAB owned 50% of the film and its profits. Additional funds were supplied by Henkel's sister Katherine, who gave the production $1,000, and Austin attorney Robert Kuhn, who invested $9,000 in the film. Kuhn also loaned the production his own mobile home to use as a wardrobe, dressing room, and restroom for the actors.

Despite securing several financial backers, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre still struggled to attain funds through the entirety of its production. When hiring cast and crew members for the film, Bozman notified them that he would have to defer part of their salaries until after it was sold to a distributor, as they did not have sufficient funds to pay them. Vortex made the idea more attractive by awarding them a share of its potential profits, ranging from 0.25 to 6%, similar to mortgage points. The cast and crew were not informed that Vortex owned only 50%, which meant their points were worth half of the assumed value. Before the completion of the film, a total of $40,000 in cast and crew salaries had been deferred.

Casting

Casting auditions took place between June and July of 1973, inside the office of art director and production designer Robert A. Burns, as it allowed for more free space. In addition to his duties as the head of art and production design, worked as the film's casting director. Many of the cast members at the time were relatively unknown actors—Texans who had played roles in commercials, television, and stage shows, as well as performers whom Hooper knew personally, such as Allen Danziger and Jim Siedow. Having previously worked with Hooper, Danziger was approached early on to star in the film by Hooper and Henkel and immediately agreed to star in the project before reading the script.

The lead role of Sally Hardesty was given to Marilyn Burns, who had previously only acted in a few plays and worked as a volunteer on the film committee at the University of Texas in Austin. The two filmmakers met Burns during a lunch meeting with the cast and crew of Lovin' Molly (1974), a film Burns had originally been cast in the lead role before she was replaced by Susan Sarandon. Burns later learned of casting calls for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and decided to audition for the lead role in the film after being dropped from Lovin' Molly.

Teri McMinn during production of the film (1973)

Actress Teri McMinn joined the project after she was contacted by Henkel, who discovered the actress' photograph in a local periodical, the Austin American-Statesman. The former girlfriend of Hansen's college roommate, McMinn was a student at the time, working with several theater companies, including the Dallas Theater Center before she was hired to portray the character Pamela. For her last call-back it was requested that she wear short shorts, which proved to be the most comfortable of all the cast members' costumes during the shoot.

Sally's wheelchair-bound brother Franklyn, described in the script as a "Chaplinesque figure", would eventually go to Paul A. Partain, a member of a small theatre group run by high school drama teacher Nan Elkins. Elkins had suggested that Partain try for a role after learning of a casting call for the film. Arriving at the audition, he was asked to read the lines of both the Hitchhiker and Franklyn from the bus scene alongside other actors. Partain read the lines for Franklyn several times with other actors, explaining that he felt more drawn to the character with each reading. At the end of the audition, he told Hooper and Henkel he felt he could bring depth to the character of Franklin. Unknown to the cast and crew, Partain remained in character for the duration of filming, his behavior while in character between takes in filming resulted in some tension and animosity between the other cast members, who were frustrated with the actor's eccentric behavior. Some of the cast would only discover the reason years later; Partain recalls, "I was a young, inexperienced actor who didn't realize that it wasn't like theatre–You didn't have to stay in character all the time." William Vail, who originally intended to audition for the role of Franklyn, was cast as Pam's boyfriend Kirk after meeting with Henkel.

Rewrite paragraph: Icelandic-American actor Hansen was selected for the role of Leatherface. Hansen became aware of the project through a friend, who mentioned that a group of filmmakers were making a horror film and he would be ideal for the role of the villain. Reaching out to the film's casting director, Hansen was told that the role had been given to an unknown actor. A week later, Hansen learned from his friend that the actor had been fired after getting drunk and failing to appear at a scheduled meeting with the film's crew. Hansen contacted the team again and was called in to meet with Hooper and Henkel, who held a lengthy audition where they discussed Leatherface and the character's relationship with the cannibal family. The filmmakers were impressed with the actor's imposing figure, and later cast him in the role. Having never been involved in a feature film, Hansen later explained he felt that participating in a horror film would be a unique experience. During his first meeting with the filmmakers after being cast, Hooper explained the character in detail for Hansen; describing Leatherface as being severely mentally impaired, and insane, which made the character violent and unpredictable. Hansen experimented with different vocal tones and pitches to find the right voice for the character. Hansen also visited a special needs school in Austin, observing how the students moved and spoke, in an attempt to find the proper movement and behavior.

For the role of the Hitchhiker, Edwin Neal was hired early on during the casting process. A Vietnam veteran-turned actor, Neal had recently enrolled in the acting department at the University of Texas at the time of auditions. According to Neal, he based his performance on his schizophrenic nephew. The cannibal family's elderly "Grandpa" was portrayed by Henkel's brother-in-law John Dugan.

Minor roles for the film were mostly comprised of friends and acquaintances of the cast and crew. The voice-over narration in the opening credits was performed by John Larroquette, who was friends with the film's assistant director and editor Sallye Richardson. According to Richardson, she recommended the actor to Hooper because of what she described as the "perfect voice" for the role. During post-production, Hooper flew down to Los Angeles where Larroquette was staying, and recorded dialogue with him at the post-production studio Todd-AO. In later years, Larroquette would claim that he was paid in marijuana for the role. Robert Courtin, credited as the deformed "Window Washer", was close friends with Marilyn, who contacted him for the role. Courtin was fondly remembered by the cast and crew for his pranks and cheerful demeanor.

Filming

Direction

From the outset of development, Hooper was always intended to serve as the film's director.

Hooper manipulated the actors to get genuine reactions. Cast members were deliberately kept separated from those portraying the cannibal family and were told it would elicit a more genuine reaction on film; actors were told conflicting reasons for their isolation from the rest of the cast.

Hooper's directorial style was "laid back" according to members of the cast and crew.

Cinematography

Richard Kooris was Hooper's original choice for director of photography, though conflicts with Kooris' schedule forced Hooper to abandon the idea. Recent UTA graduate Daniel Pearl was later hired after meeting with Hooper outside a film lab where Pearl was working on a recent documentary on law enforcement with Larry Carroll. Hooper was impressed with Pearl's work on the documentary after viewing the resulting film reel, offering the young cameraman a job six months later.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was mainly shot using an Eclair NPR 16mm camera, with fine-grain, low-speed Ektachrome Commercial film that required considerably more light than modern digital cameras and even most filmstocks of the day. Filmmakers had originally intended to shoot the film on Arriflex 35BL 35mm camera, but this idea was abandoned for budgetary reasons. Changing the camera format also gave the filmmakers the added benefit of a more mobile and cost-effective method of shooting on the standard theatrical 35mm format of the time, without significant sacrifices to image quality. According to Pearl, the film's cinematography was influenced by the works of photographer Russell Werner Lee, who was well known for his photographs documenting the various ethnography of American life.

The film utilizes subjective camera angles and hand-held camera techniques, which Pearl and Hooper developed together to create an atmosphere and tension reminiscent of Roman Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967). While a majority of sync sound portions of the film were shot on the Eclair NPR, handheld and specialty shots were filmed using a 16mm Clockwork Bolex. Described as "guerrilla filmmaking of the most hardcore and dedicated variety", with the film crew developing custom-made rigs and techniques for certain sequences. Several elaborate, low-budget rigs were constructed to accommodate the film's low budget, as the crew did not have enough money for a camera dolly. A large, wooden camera rig designed by the film crew was used to film tracking and dolly shots such as the opening sequence. One of Chain Saw's infamous sequences is the aftermath of Kirk's murder, where the camera slowly tracks Pam as she walks up to the house. To film the sequence, Pearl opted for a masked widescreen format with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, using the Bolex mounted on a custom-built dolly. Pearl set the dolly behind McMinn, slowly moving the rig forward as the actress walked up to the door of the house: "It scares the audience because they know where she's going... It's a shot that went down in history. People ask me this all the time," Pearl later commented.

Night sequences were often difficult to shoot, as production could only afford two five-kilowatt and one ten-kilowatt light towers for the film, resulting in underexposed reels. The sequence where Leatherface chases Sally through the woods was filmed on a forty-foot-long dolly track, as production could only afford that amount. Pearl filmed the sequence using different angles and techniques, experimenting with focal length, Pearl created a large variety of different shots that were used in the editing process. Later praise for Pearl

Filming

The farmhouse used for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was moved from La Frontera to Kingsland, Texas, and restored as a restaurant.

Principle photography began July 15, 1973, under the working title Leatherface. Scenes featuring the cannibal's house, the primary filming location, were the first to be filmed. The house itself was an early 1900s farmhouse located on Quick Hill Road near Round Rock, Texas, where the La Frontera development is now located. Filmmakers were granted access to the house for five days by the owners, with the stipulation that they were only allowed to film in three of the house's rooms. While exterior shots around the house occurred mostly during daylight hours, interior sequences were filmed at dusk and during the night, to avoid extreme temperatures.

Sequences involving the van were filmed during the first third of principal photography. The van was a fully operational 1972 Ford Club Wagon, with the center seats removed to accommodate Hooper, Pearl, the camera, and sound engineer Ted Nicolaou. Scenes were challenging to film, as windows of the van were kept up to prevent audio contamination during shooting, resulting in higher humidity and temperatures than outside. Cast members had not viewed Neal in makeup before shooting and were genuinely unnerved by his appearance. Multiple takes were filmed because of technical issues and the cast frequently messed up their lines. The effect of the Hitchhiker burning the photograph required gunpowder to ignite it, because of the low budget the pyrotechnics were not properly handled, as there were no funds to hire a professional. In the first take, the effects crew used more powder than intended, creating a burst of flame. The van suffered only minimal damage, and the crew successfully filmed the scene after a few takes.

Sally's final escape was shot outside the farmhouse on a remote and rarely-used stretch of road, miles north of Austin. Before filming, the local sheriff was notified by the film crew of the film's production, who told him not to worry if he received any complaints from the locals. According to Hansen, the sheriff would only become outraged when the film crew blocked the road for an entire day while shooting one of the film's scenes.

Dinner Scene: Nicknamed "The Last Supper" by the cast and crew.

Gas Station: The gas station was Ryan’s Hills Prairie Grocery, which became Bilbo’s Texas Landmark, 1073 State Highway 304, Bastrop, Texas, east of Austin.

Cemetary scene: The opening sequence was filmed at Bagdad Cemetery, located in Leander, Texas.

Sources and information to add

• https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3505346/star-teri-mcminn-shares-texas-chain-saw-massacre-behind-scenes-photo-youve-probably-never-seen/
• https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a23810/texas-chainsaw-things-you-didnt-know/

Production difficulties

Production of the film was fraught with on-set difficulties, caused by extreme weather, malfunctioning equipment, and poor working conditions. Production was forced to restart after the first week of filming interior and exterior shots at the house. Members of the cast and crew have given contradictory statements on the real reason for the reset; Hooper and Pearl would describe a faulty or damaged camera lens, resulting in an entire week's worth of unusable footage, while other would state lack of funding or preparation as the reason.

Producer Conflicts:

Cast and Crew Conflicts:

Poor working conditions: The small budget and concerns over high-cost equipment rentals meant the crew filmed seven days a week, up to sixteen hours a day. The cast and crew found working conditions rough, with reported temperatures peaking at 110°F (43 °C) on July 26th. Hansen later stated, "It was 95, 100 degrees every day during filming. They wouldn't wash my costume because they were worried that the laundry might lose it, or that it would change color. They didn't have enough money for a second costume. So I wore that [mask] 12 to 16 hours a day, seven days a week, for a month." Most of the filming took place in the farmhouse, where conditions were described as putrid because of the lack of air ventilation and rotting set pieces.

Audio and camera problems also affected the production.

On-set injuries: Most of the cast performed their own stunts, resulting in close calls and on-set injuries. At the wrap party, Hooper noted that all cast and crew members had obtained some level of injury. He stated that "everyone hated me by the end of the production" and that "it just took years for them to kind of cool off."

Due to production problems, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, originally scheduled for 14 days of principle photography, took 28 to 56 days to wrap. The film exceeded its original $60,000 (about $371,000 adjusted for inflation) budget during editing. Sources differ on the film's final cost, offering figures between $93,000 (about $575,000 inflation-adjusted) and $300,000 (about $1,900,000 inflation-adjusted). Funds to complete the project were obtained from a film production group, Pie in the Sky, partially led by future President of the Texas State Bar Joe K. Longley provided $23,532 (about $145,000 inflation-adjusted) in exchange for 19% of Vortex.

This left Henkel, Hooper, and the rest of the cast and crew with a 40.5% stake.

Design and effects

Image: Burns decorating the set

Robert Burns was hired early in pre-production for multiple roles as the casting director, art director, and production designer. Burns had met Hooper eight years prior and had worked with the director on Eggshells, designing press kit's for the film. Preparations began two months in advance before principle photography, with a total of $30,000 allocated for props and set decorations. Props for the film were briefly put on display at the UTA Union Art Gallery once filming wrapped.

Production design

Publicity materials on what was used for the interior design

The interior of the cannibals' house was decorated by Burns, Church, and members of the production team. Most of the bones and dead animals depicted in the film were real, as the costs of acquiring them were often cheaper than the construction and purchase of alternatives. Burns drove around the countryside and collected the remains of cattle and other animals in various stages of decomposition, with which he littered the floors of the house. Additional remains were obtained from the farming community around North Dallas and from a personal friend of Burns, who worked at the site of a proposed state park. According to Burns, the animal remains "were made up of parts of eight cows, two dogs, a cat, two deer, three goats and a chicken". Props, such as the furniture, and a lamp made from a human face, were constructed by using a mixture of real and fake human bones, and a latex material for the upholstery, imitating the appearance of human skin; out of the many remains seen in the film, only ten were fake bones. The interior walls were covered with drops of animal blood that Burns obtained from a local slaughterhouse.

Leatherface Door

Makeup and special effects

Makeup and special effects were completed through a combined effort between Burns, Dorothy "Dottie" Pearl, and local plastic surgeon Dr. William E. Barnes, who was a friend of star Marilyn Burns. excluding the corpse seen in the film's opening sequence, which was made by Skaaren and loaned to the production crew. The special effects were simple and limited by the budget.

The close-up of Leatherface cutting his leg with a chainsaw was accomplished by wrapping a metal plate around Hansen's leg for protection, with a piece of meat, simulating torn flesh, covering the plate. A bag filled with fake blood was then taped over the meat which would burst once the chainsaw cut into it. Even with the metal plate, Hansen suffered a small burn from the friction of the blade heating the metal.

Leatherface

Main article: Leatherface

Burns was tasked with designing the Leatherface costume. When designing the character, a total of three separate masks were created for the character. The masks themselves were created from face molds cast by Barnes. Molds were made from locals in the area, who had volunteered to have casts taken of their heads, one of the volunteers was the film's producer Parsley, whose head cast was used to make the "Killing Mask". Once the molds were set, Burns modified them with the help of Barnes, using algenate to create facial expressions for each mask. Burns experimented with different latex mixtures to make the masks appear like layers of dried skin, eventually using a combination of liquid latex and yellow fiberglass insulation. Pieces of the material for each mask were then sewn together with a thin wire, to give off a crude and rudimentary look to the designs. A set of dentures was also created for the film, based on molds taken of Hansen by his dentist.

Grandpa

For the design of the Grandpa, described by Hooper as "an embryonic old man", Barnes cast molds of Dugan's head using algenate. The mold was then sculpted with additional details added to enhance the appearance of the mask. These details included wrinkles, cysts, and moles. It took around 7-8 hours to apply the necessary makeup and mask to Dugan, and only two masks were made as production could only afford a couple masks.

Post-production

Editing

A Steenbeck 16mm editing table was used by the filmmakers to edit the film.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre: Cutting Chain Saw - Interview with Editor J. Larry Carroll

• https://www.rogerebert.com/mzs/the-texas-chainsaw-massacre-editing-table-massacre

Once principal photography finally wrapped in August, editing began the following month.

In a film less than ninety minutes long, there are a total of 868 edits, some of them as short as four frames, or one-sixth of a second.

Several scenes in the script were omitted from the film, often because Henkel and Hooper felt they were unnecessary to the pacing and undermined the tension.

Music

Split into a separate article titled: Music and sound of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

• https://www.discogs.com/release/7802809-Wayne-Bell-6-Tobe-Hooper-The-Texas-Chainsaw-Massacre
• https://neonspublishing.bandcamp.com/album/texas-chainsaw-massacre-1974-soundtrack
• https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781845532024/page/n5/mode/2up
• https://www.slashfilm.com/1074487/how-tobe-hooper-crafted-the-terrifying-soundscape-of-the-texas-chain-saw-massacre/

Both Tobe and I loved that boundary between music and sound. That wonderful mushy grey area between "is it music?" or "is it just sound?" is an area we loved playing in, and it's an important component of what we were doing, so there becomes some indistinction, and that you the audience don't know is just fine.

— Wayne Bell in 2017 on creating the music for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

The film score was composed in collaboration between musician Wayne Bell and Hooper, with Nicolaou providing sound effects during principal photography. Hooper envisioned the film's atmosphere as an experience that "would enter your mind the way music does", opting for an aggressive aesthetic for the film's score.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is cited for its avant-garde blend of music and sound effects, an aesthetic described by British magazine Little White Lies as "a complex layering of percussive, organic and electronic sounds". Blending music with sound effects, according to Bell, was intentional, as it added to the level of unease through the uncertainty of what the audience hears.

Sound mixing was an integral part of the film's atmosphere and score, achieved through recording a wide range of musical instruments, with sound crew members comprised of recent college graduates. When creating the sound design, Hooper and Bell blended music and sound so they would sometimes "clash" together. Hooper deliberately incorporated the sounds of animals into certain scenes, in an attempt to recreate sounds occurring in a slaughterhouse. Hooper and Bell worked closely with each other, performing a variety of music compositions to create potential scores for each scene. Tracks were created before the scenes were filmed, these were based only on certain plot points, such as scenes of extreme tension, the presence of characters in a room, or chase scenes. To achieve the unsettling tone, various stringed and electronic musical instruments were used, such as cello, double bass, Lap Steel Fender guitar, and various percussion instruments. Pianos, children's instruments, and wind instruments were also used to create the sounds of striking an object. Manipulating the intensity of natural sounds in the film was important. In the scene where Leatherface attacks Kirk with a hammer, Hooper and Bell highlight the sounds of bones and brass instruments in the same rhythm: "Our brain is trying to process the information we are given, but this information is on the verge of disgust, something we have never seen before," Bell commented.

Opening Titles sound file- Ogg

The film also features seven original songs, written and performed by local artists. The song "Fool For A Blond", written and performed by Roger Bartlett, is briefly heard as the group picks up the Hitchhiker. According to Hooper, he chose this song specifically for the scene because he felt it created an atmosphere of lightness, creating a strong contrast between what the viewer hears and sees. Add other songs

• "Waco" by Timberline Rose
• "Glad Hand" by Timberline Rose
• "Daddy's Sick" Again by Arkey Blue
• Misty Hours of Daylight by Arkey Blue
• "Feria De Las Flores" by Los Cyclones
• "Poco A Poco No" by Los Cyclones

Over the years, the film's soundtrack has received recognition for its subtle provocation of disorientation and dread. Rolling Stone later included it as one of the 35 best horror film soundtracks, defining it as "dirty, outlaw country music combined with warped mainstream music" and deeming it "background noise turned into an avant-garde soundtrack". The soundtrack has been cited by the experimental pop band Animal Collective as a strong influence upon their musical output. Attempts were made to track down the original artists to record an official soundtrack album for the film. Issues with copyright holders made the project unfeasible, and the project was abandoned.

Title

Skaaren is credited for coming up with the film's title.

Distribution

• https://www.chicagotribune.com/1990/03/06/hollywoods-mr-fix-it/

In the summer of 1974, Skareen began shopping a rough cut of the film, in hopes of acquiring a distributor to finance the remaining editing costs. Columbia Pictures briefly showed interest during this period, offering to pay production in advance for the deal, but rescinded a week later. David Foster, who later produced the 1982 horror film The Thing, arranged for a private screening for West Coast executives of Bryanston Distributing Company, and received 1.5% of Vortex's profits and a deferred fee of $500 (about $3,100 inflation-adjusted). On August 28, 1974, Louis "Butchie" Peraino of Bryanston agreed to distribute the film worldwide, from which Bozman and Skaaren would receive $225,000 (about $1,400,000 inflation-adjusted) and 35% of the profits.

Release

Context

The cinematic output of the 1970s has been described by historians as a fertile and electic period for horror and exploitation cinema.

Marketing

See also: Exploitation film, Grindhouse, and Drive-in theater

To gain public interest in the film, Bryanston Distributing started an extensive marketing campaign for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, placing multiple advertisements in the local newspapers.

False advertising as a "true story" helping it attract a broader audience, while additional advertisements promoted the film as "the first horror film made in Austin".

Theatrical screenings

• https://web.archive.org/web/20110711002506/http://www.filmvault.com/filmvault/austin/t/texaschainsawmass4.html
• https://www.the-numbers.com/market/1974/top-grossing-movies

Bryanston scheduled The Texas Chain Saw Massacre for an October 1st premiere in Austin, Texas. Neal attended a number of these screenings in Austin, intentionally frightening attendees once his scene appeared on the screen until the theatre owners told him to desist from this practice. It was screened nationally in the United States on October 4th, as a Saturday afternoon matinée, and on October 30th, it opened in one-hundred-five theaters in New York, and an additional forty-five theaters in Los Angeles. An opening in New York's Cinema Village a year later was deemed a huge hit. Attending the screening, journalist Michael Wolff commented on the opening as "a cultural experience but an acquired taste", with cinemagoers filling the air with pot smoke as the film played.

By March 27, 1975, Toronto-based newspaper Exalibur reported the film was currently screening in two-hundred-thirty theaters across the country. Midnight screenings of the film were highly successful, continuously attracting crowds of cinema-goers for the next couple of years. For eight years after 1976, it was annually reissued to first-run theaters.

Box office

https://web.archive.org/web/20080614093502/http://www.boxofficereport.com/database/1974.shtml

United States

It grossed $602,133 ($2.9 million in 2024) in the first four days of its theatrical release. In its first five months of release, it grossed $5 million to $7 million ($24 million to $33.7 million in 2024) in North America.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre earned $14.421 million ($69.3 million in 2024) in distributors' rentals during its theatrical release in 1974 in the United States and Canada, making it the 14th highest-grossing film of that year, despite its minuscule budget.

After a year-long theatrical run, it had grossed $20 million in ticket sales, approximately $96.2 million in 2024.

In total, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre grossed an estimated $30.8 million in the United States and Canada, totaling approximately $148 million as of 2024.

International

Home media sales

Controversy

• https://web.archive.org/web/20110711002506/http://www.filmvault.com/filmvault/austin/t/texaschainsawmass4.html

Litigation

Main article: Bryanston Distributing Company

Bryanston Distributing Company was already responsible for producing films with huge success. At the time of Bryanston's acquisition of film distribution rights to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, news had been circulating of the Peraino's purported connection to the Colombo crime family. Years later Bozman stated, "We made a deal with the devil, [sigh], and I guess that, in a way, we got what we deserved." They signed the contract with Bryanston and, after the investors recouped their money (with interest),—and after Skaaren, the lawyers, and the accountants were paid—only $8,100 (about $50,000 inflation-adjusted) was left to be divided among the cast and crew.

Eventually, the producers sued Bryanston for failing to pay them their full percentage of the box office profits. A court judgment instructed Bryanston to pay the filmmakers $500,000 (about $3,100,000 inflation-adjusted), but by then the company had declared bankruptcy.

Rating and censorship

See also: Video nasty and Film censorship

The Motion Picture Association of America's (MPAA) ratings board had been established several years before to replace the defunct Hays Production Code. The MPAA had already been criticized for its indirect censorship—reportedly almost a third of the films submitted to it had been recut to avoid an X rating. Since many theaters did not show those films and newspapers did not run ads for them, the X rating greatly limited a non-pornographic film's commercial prospects. A year before the release of the film, the MPAA had already fallen into controversy with its certification of William Friedkin's The Exorcist, with accusations of rating tampering. During principal photography, producers of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre reportedly urged Hooper to aim for a commercially profitable PG rating by toning down the film's violent content, and Hooper had reportedly hoped the MPAA would give the complete, uncut release print the PG rating due to its minimal amount of visible gore. Instead, it was originally given an X rating. After several minutes were cut, it was resubmitted to the MPAA and received an R-rating. A distributor restored the offending material, and at least one theater presented the full version under an R rating. In February 1976, two theaters in Ottawa, Canada, were advised by local police to withdraw the film lest they face morality charges.

Internationally, the film was subjected to extensive cuts and censorship. On February 27, 1975 British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) secretary Stephen Murphy informally viewed The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. While he opined that the film was well-made, Murphy was concerned by the high level of terrorization of its characters and its focus on what he described as "abnormal psychology". It was also screened for board members of the British Film Institute (BFI), who expressed their disgust over the film. The BBFC refused certification of the film when it was submitted for classification on March 14th, with the board noting local councils would most likely deem the film unacceptable. A slightly shorter version was submitted to the Greater London Council for approval after the BBFC refused to certify it, and the council ruled that the film could be screened in London under an X certification if no cuts were made. Some local councils approved the film for screenings in their districts while others banned the film. After its initial UK release, including a year-long theatrical run in London, it was later banned in the United Kingdom on the advice of Murphy and his successor James Ferman.

While the British ban was in effect, the word "chainsaw" itself was banned from film titles, forcing imitators to rename their films. By the early 1980s, the British Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had increased prosecution and confiscation of films they deemed a violation of the 1959's Obscene Publications Act, and the publication of the "Video Nasties" list by the DPP sparked public demand for more censorship. While not deemed a true Video Nasty by the DPP, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was often linked to the more severe "Section One" portions of the list. Officially, it was listed by the DPP as a "Section Three" Video Nasty, and while it could not be prosecuted for obscenity, the film was liable to seizure and confiscation under a "less obscene" charge. The unrated theatrical cut was submitted to the BBFC in 1984 for a home media release was also refused certification. In 1998, despite the BBFC ban, Camden London Borough Council granted the film a license. After the retirement of BBFC Director Ferman the following year, the board passed the film uncut for theatrical and video distribution with an 18 certificate, almost 25 years after the original release. A year later it was shown on Channel 4.

When the 83-minute version of the film was submitted to the Australian Classification Board by distributor Seven Keys in June 1975, the Board denied the film a classification, and similarly refused classification of a 77-minute print in December that year. On July 1, 1981, the 83-minute print was submitted by Greater Union Film Distributors was again refused registration. It was later submitted by Filmways Australasian Distributors and approved for an R18+ rating by the ACB in 1984. It was banned for periods in many other countries, including Brazil, Chile, Finland, France, Ireland, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, and West Germany.

Reception

Contemporaneous reception

Upon release The Texas Chain Saw Massacre received mixed to negative reviews, and open hostility for its dark, oppressive tone and violence. Many critics declined in reviewing the film based on its content, while others were derisive, calling it "vile", and a "violent piece of junk". Linda Gross

• https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-lat-review-texas/23517794/
• https://latimes.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-the-texas-chainsaw/134291344/

Variety

• https://variety.com/1973/film/reviews/the-texas-chain-saw-massacre-1200423121/

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times

• https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-texas-chain-saw-massacre-1974

The Hollywood Reporter

Patrick Taggart of the Austin American-Statesman

John McCarty of Cinefantastique

Donald B. Berrigan of The Cincinnati Enquirer

Stephen Koch of Harper's Magazine

Plot: The plot was criticized as "absurd".

Violence

Performances: Reviews of the actors' performances were generally positive, while some criticism was directed at the characters. The Cincinnati Enquirer's Donald B. Berrigan singled out Burns' performance as "one of the most sustained and believable acting achievements in movie history."

Cinematography

Audience reaction

Audience members walked out of theaters in disgust during a sneak preview in San Francisco. Cinema-goers had purchased tickets to a Disney film and were, instead, shown the film. Many of them purportedly demanded their money back. Despite its mixed critical reviews, controversies over its content, and viewer reaction, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was an unexpected hit, with some theatres screening it to packed viewership.

Reports of strong audience reactions were widespread. Many viewers vomited during screenings, while others were reported to have cheered during the kill scenes.

Over the years, several studies have been made on the psychological effects of the film. In 1984, Journal of Communication published a study by media and psychology professors, documenting the psychological effects on a group of men viewing five films depicting differing levels of violence against women. On first viewing The Texas Chain Saw Massacre they experienced symptoms of depression and anxiety; however, upon subsequent viewing, they found the violence against women less offensive and more enjoyable. The scientific journal Sex Roles published a study which investigated the gender-specific perceptions of slasher films, involving 30 male and 30 female university students. One male participant was quoted saying the film was "intensely unpleasant". In their documented response, the viewer described being drained after viewing the film, and particularly disturbed by the screaming and torment depicted in the film. They went on to state that their perception of the gore and graphic violence "made me feel awful—almost guilty—for watching it." According to Jesse Stommel of Bright Lights Film Journal, the lack of explicit violence in the film forces viewers to question their fascination with violence that they play a central role in imagining. Nonetheless—citing its feverish camera moves, repeated bursts of light, and auditory pandemonium—Stommel asserts that the film involved the audience primarily on a sensory rather than an intellectual level.

Accolades

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was selected for the 1975 Cannes Film Festival Directors' Fortnight and London Film Festival. In 1976, it won the Special Jury Prize at the Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival in France.

Post-release

Home media

• https://www.mandatory.com/fun/662573-sxsw-2014-interview-tobe-hooper-on-the-texas-chainsaw-massacre-restoration
• https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/classic-1970s-horror-movies-coming-to-criterion-channel-in-october/
• https://www.mediaplaynews.com/original-texas-chainsaw-massacre-film-headed-to-4k-ultra-hd-blu-ray/?hilite=texas+Chain+Saw+Massacre
• https://www.mediaplaynews.com/research/top-20-selling-blu-ray-and-4k-discs-for-week-ended-1-20-24/?hilite=texas+Chain+Saw+Massacre

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre has appeared on various home video formats. In the United States, it was first released on VHS and Capacitance Electronic Disc (CED) in the early 1980s by Wizard Video, and Vestron Video. Around this same time, it was briefly released on VHS in the United Kingdom by Iver Film Services, including cut and uncut versions of the film until its ban by the BBFC. Releases of the film on VHS and CED expanded significantly in the late 1980s and 1990s, both in the United States and overseas.

VHS

• Wizard Video
• Media
• Video Treasures
• Derann- UK
• Astral Media- Canada
• VPS- Germany
• K-tel- Australia
• JVC (Victor)- Japan

DVD/Laserdisc It was released on LaserDisc by MPI Home Video in the United States in November 1993, followed by its DVD debut on October 6, 1998, distributed by Geneon USA. In the United Kingdom, Blue Dolphin released the film for the first time on DVD, following the end of its almost 25-year ban in the UK.

• Pioneer
• Elite
• Geneon - Oct 6, 1998; Oct 14, 2003
• Blue Dolphin- May 22, 2000
• Universal Pictures- Mar 10, 2003; Mar 22, 2004
• Import Vendor- Jun 12, 2006; Jan 5, 2010; Feb 8, 2011; Oct 14, 2014
• Dark Sky Films- Sep 26, 2006; Sep 30, 2008; Sep 16, 2014; Oct 14, 2014
• Second Sight Films Ltd- Nov 3, 2008
• Mpi Home Video-Apr 15, 2014; Jun 5, 2018; Feb 28, 2023; Mar 1, 2024
• Maljack Productions Inc- Oct 6, 2020

Blu-ray

Video game

Main article: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1983 video game)

A video game based on the film developed by VSS, Inc. and published by Wizard Video Games. The game was released in 1983 for the Atari 2600, as an action-based platformer. In the game, the player assumes the role of Leatherface and attempts to murder trespassers while avoiding obstacles such as fences and cow skulls. Critical reviews for the game were largely negative. As one of the first horror-themed video games, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre caused controversy when it was first released due to its violent nature; it sold poorly as a result, as many game stores refused to stock it.

Analysis and interpretations

Possibly split into a separate article

Contemporary American life

Hooper's apocalyptic landscape is ... a desert wasteland of dissolution where once vibrant myth is desiccated. The ideas and iconography of Cooper, Bret Harte and Francis Parkman are now transmogrified into yards of dying cattle, abandoned gasoline stations, defiled graveyards, crumbling mansions, and a ramshackle farmhouse of psychotic killers. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre [is] ... recognizable as a statement about the dead end of American experience.

— Christopher Sharrett

According to film scholar Tony Magistrale, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre paved the way for horror to be used as an exploration of social commentary.

Developed at a time of the 1973–1975 recession and public mistrust of authority, the film explores the impacts upon urban communities in the wake of industry advancement and economic hardships. Robin Wood characterized Leatherface and his family as victims of industrial capitalism, their jobs as slaughterhouse workers having been rendered obsolete by technological advances. He states that the picture "brings to focus a spirit of negativity ... that seems to lie not far below the surface of the modern collective consciousness". Naomi Merritt explores the film's representation of "cannibalistic capitalism" concerning Georges Bataille's theory of taboo and transgression. She elaborates on Wood's analysis, stating that the family's values "reflect, or correspond to, established and interdependent American institutions ... but their embodiment of these social units is perverted and transgressive."

Thematic connections between the film and the exploration of family life in the works of Alfred Hitchcock were noted by critic Christopher Sharrett. He argued that since Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) and The Birds (1963), the American horror film has been defined by the questions it poses "about the fundamental validity of the American civilizing process", concerns amplified during the 1970s by the "delegitimation of authority" in the aftermath of political scandal. Describing the film's themes as a continuation of Psycho's exploration into the absurd and diseased underbelly of contemporary American life and American Gothic, writing that Hooper brings these themes to their logical conclusion by "addressing many of the issues of Hitchcock's film while refusing comforting closure".

In Kim Newman's view, Hooper's presentation of the cannibal family during the dinner scene parodies a typical American sitcom family: the gas station owner is the bread-winning father figure; the killer Leatherface is depicted as a bourgeois housewife; the hitchhiker acts as the rebellious teenager. Newman

Industry and vegetarianism

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre has been described as "the ultimate pro-vegetarian film" due to its animal rights themes. In a video essay, film critic Rob Ager describes the irony in humans' being slaughtered for meat, putting humans in the position of being slaughtered like farm animals.

Social and political subtext

• https://euppublishing.com/doi/pdf/10.7227/GS.10.1.6

Violence and the final girl

The film has been the subject of extensive critical discussion in its depictions of violence; critics and scholars have interpreted it as a paradigmatic exploitation film in which female protagonists are subjected to brutal, sadistic violence. Film historian Stephen Prince comments that the horror in the film is "born of the torment of the young woman subjected to imprisonment and abuse amid decaying arms ... and mobiles made of human bones and teeth." As with many slasher films that came afterward, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre incorporates the "final girl" trope—the heroine and inevitable lone survivor who manages to escape the horror that befalls the other characters: In the film, Sally Hardesty is tormented and tortured, but manages to escape her tormenters with the help of a male truck driver.

Critics argue that even in exploitation films in which the ratio of male and female deaths is roughly equal, the images lingering in the mind of the audience is the violence committed against its female characters. Sociologist Leo Bogart highlights specific points in the film in support of this: three men are killed quickly, but one woman is brutally slaughtered—hung on a meathook—and the surviving woman endures physical and mental torture.

Legacy

• https://variety.com/2017/film/columns/a-tribute-to-tobe-hooper-texas-chain-saw-massacre-1202539952/

Retrospective reassessment

In the years following its release, critics have reevaluated The Texas Chain Saw Massacre as one of the greatest—and most controversial—horror films ever made.

• https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/horror-movies/best-horror-movie-of-1974-texas-chain-saw-massacre

Critics later frequently praised the film's aesthetic quality. Aesthetic

Atmosphere

Suspense

Soundtrack

Contemporary reviews

• Bruce Westbrook of the Houston Chronicle:
• TV Guide:
• Mike Emery of The Austin Chronicle:
• Kim Newman Empire:https://web.archive.org/web/20120324020824/https://www.empireonline.com/reviews/review.asp?FID=3841
• Eric Henderson of Slant Magazine:https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-texas-chainsaw-massacre/
• Alan Jones of Radio Times:https://web.archive.org/web/20151005070618/https://www.radiotimes.com/film/cnkc6/URL

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, which has compiled old and contemporary reviews, reports that 89% of 71 critics provided positive reviews for the film, with an average rating of 8.20/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Thanks to a smart script and documentary-style camerawork, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre achieves start-to-finish suspense, making it a classic in low-budget exploitation cinema." On Metacritic, a similar website that aggregates both past and present reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 90 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

It has appeared in several publications as one of the best horror films of all time. In 2005 British film magazine Total Film ranked it at number 1 in their list of the greatest horror films ever made, and in 2010 it was voted into first place in an additional Total Film poll of leading directors and stars of horror films. In a 2010 Total Film poll, it was again selected as the greatest horror film; the judging panel included veteran horror directors such as John Carpenter, Wes Craven, and George A. Romero.

The Village Voice ranked the film in its Top 250 "Best Films of the Century" list in 1999, based on a poll of critics. In 2008 the film ranked number 199 on Empire magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time". It has been ranked at number one in similar lists, such as MovieWeb (2022), Entertainment Weekly ranked the film sixth on its 2003 list of "The Top 50 Cult Films".

• https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-stand-up-desk/texas-chainsaw-massacre-behind-the-story/
• https://www.rogerebert.com/features/you-like-this-face-jumping-into-the-void-with-the-40th-anniversary-of-the-texas-chainsaw-massacre
• https://ew.com/article/2003/05/20/why-texas-chainsaw-massacre-one-top-10-cult-movies/
• https://web.archive.org/web/20170827115755/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/aug/27/tobe-hooper-appreciation-texas-chainsaw-massacre-american-family

• https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/sep/29/texas-chainsaw-massacre-top-horror
• https://collider.com/best-horror-movies/
• https://www.timeout.com/film/best-horror-films
• https://movieweb.com/scariest-important-horror-movies/#the-exorcist-1973

Indie Film

• https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-lists/declaration-of-independents-the-30-greatest-american-indie-films-19373/
• https://www.gamesradar.com/50-best-indie-films/

A year after its theatrical release, the film was selected by New York City's Museum of Modern Art as a part of its permanent collection, and was inducted into the Horror Hall of Fame in 1990, with director Hooper accepting the award. The Academy Film Archive houses the Texas Chain Saw Massacre Collection, which contains over fifty items, including many original elements of the film.

Cultural impact

Split into Separate article: Titled: Cultural impact of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

• https://books.google.com/books?id=Qlo6l0VGJNAC&pg=PA167&dq=%22Paul+Partain%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiK_beipr2EAxXjHjQIHax0Dy04ChDoAXoECAsQAg#v=onepage&q=%22Paul%20Partain%22&f=false

The film has had a significant impact on the horror genre and popular culture, noted as one of the first feature films from Austin to gain significant critical and commercial attention. By 1975, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was already considered a cult film, gaining a large following among horror fans. In 1999, Richard Zoglin of Time wrote that it had "set a new standard for slasher films". It is listed in the film reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre set the template for subsequent horror films, to the extent that deranged and often cannibalistic country folk terrorizing groups of teenagers and young adults becoming a staple of the genre. Through the 1970s and 1980s, many films attempted to capitalize on the popularity of the film by featuring the word "Massacre" in their titles, with examples including Meatcleaver Massacre, The Slumber Party Massacre, Microwave Massacre, Zombie Island Massacre, Nail Gun Massacre, and Mountaintop Motel Massacre. According to Entertainment Weekly writer Rebecca Ascher-Walsh, it laid the foundations for the Halloween, Evil Dead, and Blair Witch horror franchises, with being unrivaled as the best of the horror genre. Many filmmakers have listed the film as a major influence upon their works, Wes Craven crafted his 1977 film The Hills Have Eyes as an homage to Chain Saw, while Ridley Scott cited Hooper's film as the predominant inspiration for his 1979 film Alien. French director Alexandre Aja credited it as an early influence on his career. Horror filmmaker and heavy metal musician Rob Zombie sees it as a major influence on his work, including his films House of 1000 Corpses (2003) and The Devil's Rejects (2005). When developing his 1990 film The German Chainsaw Massacre, Christoph Schlingensief stated he conceived the film after he had viewed bootleg copies of Chain Saw and its sequel.

Television

• Home (The X-Files)
• The Beast (Neon Genesis Evangelion), Some stylistic influence
• White Bear (Black Mirror)

Game

• Dusk (video game)
• Zombies in Resident Evil
• Baker family

Referenced in:

• Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Sprites reference the film.

Parodied in:

• "Saturday Night Live" Candice Bergen/Martha Reeves/The Stylistics (TV Episode 1975)
• Motel Hell (1980)
• Tucker & Dale vs. Evil

Music/Bands: Music artists have made references to the film, with some also citing the film as a major inspiration for their works. The 1984 single "Too Much Blood" written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards from their band The Rolling Stones, was partially influenced by the original film. American death metal band Mortician based their 1997 and 1999 songs "Hacked Up for Barbecue", and "Chainsaw Dismemberment" upon the film.

• https://www.stereogum.com/2092075/the-number-ones-michael-sembellos-maniac/columns/the-number-ones/
• Bites (album), Audio samples from the film.
• La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One, Audio samples from the film.
• Rigor Mortis (band), influence on some of the lyrics.
• Who Will Survive, and What Will Be Left of Them?
• Cornbugs
• Love in Slow Motion, "a sort of Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets The Devil's Rejects".
• Butcher Babies
• Carpenter Brut

Filmmakers influenced

Leatherface has gained a reputation as a significant character in the horror genre, responsible for establishing the use of conventional tools as murder weapons, as well as the image of a large, silent, killer devoid of personality. His trademark face mask, and chainsaw have since become instantly recognizable images in popular culture. Don Sumner called The Texas Chain Saw Massacre a classic that not only introduced a new villain to the horror pantheon but also influenced an entire generation of filmmakers.

Franchise

Main article: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (franchise)

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre's commercial success resulted in the production of eight other films to divided critical favor. The franchise itself is known for its inconsistent tone and fractured in-film timeline due to the frequent changes production rights with various companies.

Following New Line Cinema's purchase of distribution rights and profitable 1981 theatrical re-release of the first film, Hooper began brainstorming ideas for a sequel. The project did not culminate until 1983, nine years after the release of the first film, when The Hollywood Reporter announced the project in a November 2nd trade advertisement. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 was released in 1986, it was considerably more graphic and violent than the original, with Hooper opting to focus on the dark humor he felt was not picked up on in the first film. The film was not successful and received polarizing critical reviews. A third film, Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III was released in 1990, though Hooper did not return to direct due to scheduling conflicts. The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, starring Renée Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey, was released in 1995. While briefly acknowledging the events of the preceding two sequels, its plot is a virtual remake of the 1974 original.

An official remake was released by Platinum Dunes and New Line Cinema in 2003. It was followed by a prequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, in 2006. A seventh film, Texas Chainsaw 3D, was released on January 4, 2013. It is a direct sequel to the original 1974 film, with no relation to the previous sequels or the 2003 remake. A prequel, titled Leatherface, was released exclusively to DirecTV on September 21, 2017, before receiving a wider release on video on demand and in limited theaters, simultaneously, in North America on October 20, 2017. The latest entry, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, was released exclusively on Netflix on February 18, 2022.

See also

• 1974 in the United States
• List of American films of 1974
• List of horror films of 1974
• List of films considered the best

Works cited

Books

• Adler, Tim (November 3, 2011). Hollywood and the Mob: Movies, Mafia, Sex and Death. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4088-2786-4.
• Allon, Yoram; Cullen, Del; Patterson, Hannah (December 25, 2002). Contemporary North American Film Directors: A Wallflower Critical Guide (2nd ed.). Wallflower Press. ISBN 978-1-9033-6452-9.
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Periodicals

Essays and journals

• Bernard, Mark (September 1, 2011). "Cannibalism, Class, and Power: A Foodways Analysis of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE Series". Food, Culture & Society. 14 (3). Routledge: 413–432. doi:10.2752/175174411X13046092851073. ISSN 1552-8014.
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• Merritt, Naomi (February 2010). "Cannibalistic Capitalism and other American Delicacies: A Bataillean Taste of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre". Film-Philosophy. 14 (1). Edinburgh University Press: 202–231. doi:10.3366/film.2010.0007. ISSN 1466-4615. OCLC 909882530.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
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Magazines and newspapers

• "Video Cassette: Top 25 Rentals" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 94, no. 7. February 20, 1982. ISSN 0006-2510. OCLC 732913734.
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Media

• Ron Bozman (Production manager) (2008). The Business of Chain Saw: Interview with Ron Bozman from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (DVD). Dark Sky Films.
• David Gregory (Director) (2000). Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Shocking Truth (Documentary). United States: Blue Underground.
• Gunnar Hansen (Actor) (2008). The Texas Chain Saw Massacre audio commentary (DVD). Second Sight Films.
• Tobe Hooper (2008). Tobe Hooper Interview (DVD). Dark Sky Films.
• Tobe Hooper (Director) (2008). The Texas Chain Saw Massacre [DVD commentary] (DVD). Dark Sky Films.
• Brad Shellady (Director) (1987). The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Family Portrait (Documentary). United States: Cinedigm.

External links

• Official Site
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Visit to the Film Locations
• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre at the American Film Institute Catalog
• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre at AllMovie
• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre at IMDb
• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre at the TCM Movie Database