The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) is a slasher/thriller directed by Tobe Hooper about a group of teenagers/young adults to a relatives homestead when they are preyed upon by a crazy and sick family of cannibals. As friends from their group start to die of one by one the other characters strive to survive and to escape the property of this sick and strange family.
The movie is said to be based on "A True Story" which the cinematography really makes it feel that way. Tobe Hooper did an excellent job on making this film feel so frightening, realistic, and raw. The way the scenes are shot are almost like a Paranormal Activity where it looks like a character from the movie is filming it with a video camera. Doing this really makes you feel like you are there and that everything happening really is based on "A true story".
This movie takes place around the time the movie came out (1974) and it really shows that this movie was made around that time period. The clothing, hairstyles, the van that the main characters are in really sets the setting. The main slasher Leatherface has an AWESOME costume. With his bloody apron and his face mask that is made out of human skin, it may not seem really scary by reading this but when you are watching the film it feels like you are there and makes everything seem more terrifying. This was also one of the first movies of its kind so I can only imagine what the people back in the early 70's were thinking about this movie.
The character development of Leatherface in this movie I thought was really interesting as well. At first the audience can see him as this evil powerhouse of a killer but as the movie progresses you can see him as being a puppet for the cannibal family. Beginning of when Leatherface is introduced he is seen going around on a killing spree on all of the kids from the friend group with his chainsaw. Once they are all in the house you can see the other cannibal family members use him as a puppet in a way to feed themselves with the human flesh and really see and understand the mental state he is in. It does not make you sympathize with him but it collectively gives you information of the cannibal family as a whole, that they are sick individuals who just prey on innocent people for food.
This is not a movie where you go and watch for the story-line. It is almost more for the experience of watching it. It is kind of slow at first and it can be very confusing for some and even turn people off of the movie, but once you watch it for a couple more times or even just get farther into the movie the experience of following these characters knowing something bad is going to happen is really fun and I think this film did excellent in that in many ways.
In all, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) was an excellent film. With the filming making you feel like you are there and that this actually was based on a true story, to the kind of hidden character development on the villain, it is a great film if you enjoy the slasher genre. It may take a couple of watches to fully understand and comprehend what really is going on but once you watch it more and more you get to understand how sick, thrilling, gross, grainy, realistic and brilliant this movie is. This movie is a good-good for me and is up there for being one of the most thrilling and influential thriller movies of all time.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) was most definitely and excellent film! It seemed very realistic considering it was produced in 1974 and it was based on a true story. The movie being based on a true story made it even more frightening, which is why it is one of the most known and successful horror movies of all time. Good-good is the correct rating for this masterpiece of a film.
ReplyDeleteI feel like no movie represents a post Nixon Era America like Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The Ed Gein murders happened in recent memory and the oil crisis was still going strong. "hence why not having oil in the gas station was a natural occurrence."
ReplyDeleteI feel your description of the character Leatherface is spot on. In our world when we thing of Slasher Villains they are depicted as brick walls unable to be stopped, Leatherface is much different. This is because this movie was made before the block busters of Halloween and Friday the Thirteenth and had more marketable freedom to really develop a iconic figure that well represents the film.
Heat is the strongest motif of the film and is also a good plot point. Makes such a headache for all characters and causes many of the dehydrated decisions. The heat, as Tobe Hooper said, was supposed to represent the super heated political climate at the time with Vietnam and Watergate. Heat makes stupid decisions.
The Soyer House in the film is claustrophobic, hot, and cluttered, leading to the most regurgitate reaction to a movie I have ever had. I say this as a good thing.
The title itself is quite genius. It paints such a grotesque picture just by reading it. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.