Empire Magazine (2008) Greatest Movies List - #199: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

After watching The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) I came up with a theory: it is partly responsible for the modern veganism movement. Here is a movie that not only takes time to describe the horror of a slaughterhouse where no one has ever heard the term "humane treatment", but then also lets the victims know exactly how those slaughtered animals feel. Although there is only a total of four deaths in Tobe Hooper's highly influential horror movie, they all suffer in very graphic ways much like the cows that end up in hamburgers. Some are impaled on a meat hook, some have their skulls cracked with a hammer and of course, as the title clearly states, some meet their end at the end of a chainsaw. 

I am fortunate to be in a relationship with someone who also appreciates horror movies (It chapters 1 and 2 were two of our dates) so last weekend when we saw that the original chainsaw massacre was available on Netflix this close to Halloween that seemed like a good way to spend a Saturday evening. I don't know what that says about us, but we honestly didn't find the movie to be that scary even though when released it was banned in various countries. To be fair, movies have gotten a lot gorier since then, both in horror and other genres. People die a lot more graphically in both Hostel and Saving Private Ryan than in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. While watching it I did however enjoy mentally checking off all the elements typically associated with horror movies and was pleasantly surprised by a few things I did not expect.

The first thing that gets checked off the list is the creepy hitchhiker (Edwin Neal). I'm sure in real life most hitchhikers are decent people just hoping to get a ride, but in horror movies they are a herald of bad things to come. The one picked up by five young friends on their way to a family home has lots of red flags, from his general demeanor to his love of his family slaughterhouse. Then of course there is that moment when he takes a picture of wheelchair-bound Franklin (Paul A. Partain), burns the picture, and then slashes Franklin’s arm with a straight razor. Naturally the friends kick the hitchhiker out of their van after that unpleasantness, but they have not seen the last of him.

Next on the checklist is the creepy owner (Jim Siedow) of a gas station, who coincidentally is out of gas just as the group of friends happen to be driving through. He might be out of gas, but this man also serves barbecued meat at his establishment. Once you realize the owner's connection with Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen), the chainsaw-wielding murderer who wears a mask made of human skin, it becomes clear that barbecued meat is probably not up to code.

This brings us to the next horror staple on the list, the masked killer armed with a deadly object. Just like Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and more recently, Victor Crowley, Leatherface is a big guy who wears a mask and has a signature weapon. Of course, a chainsaw is a lot heavier than a knife or a machete, but somehow that doesn't seem to slow him down. As for his mask made from human skin, this is yet another inspiration from the work of real-life murderer Ed Gains. At this point, were Ed Gains still alive he should ask for dividends from all the movies loosely based on his gruesome crimes.

Leatherface’s first onscreen appearance is quite sudden, as he opens a door, bashes a man's head without hesitation, and then disappears behind a metal door with his victim. A variation of that scene happens for his next few victims, and surprisingly his grunts and body language indicate he is not having the best of time either. Perhaps he is getting tired of people wandering into his house?

The last horror staple on the list is the redeeming factor for most horror films, the Final Girl. Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns) is the last woman standing after her friends and her brother have been butchered and stuffed in meat freezers. In lots of horror films the Final Girl might get the upper hand and maybe even make the killer afraid for a change. That is sadly not the case here since Sally spends a good chunk of the movie running, screaming, and losing her sanity as the horror just piles on. However, you have to hand it to her, she is a good runner. Twice she jumps through a window in order to evade Leatherface and somehow still has the energy to keep running.

A scene when Sally is tied to a chair is one of the most disturbing ones in the movie. Close-up shots of Sally's panicked eyes are inter-cut with the sight of Leatherface and the rest of his deranged family having the world's most disturbing dinner. This gruesome story started with a voiceover by John Laroquette (falsely) claiming that what the audience is about to see is based on true events. The fact that most of the actors are unknown and that the movie is shot low-budget, almost documentary style, could give audience members the impression they are right there with Sally witnessing the horror. It's not as disturbing today on a small screen, but for audiences who were seeing it for the first time on the big screen in the 1970s, it must have been quite the experience.

One thing that took me by surprise is the fate of the one black character in the movie. Another unwritten rule of the horror genre is that unfortunately the black character dies first. The one in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre does not even have a name or lines of dialogue, however in his short onscreen time he not only manages to survive, but to hurt Leatherface with his own chainsaw. There have been a slew of sequels, remakes, and sequels to the remakes of this movie, and yet I think none of them featured the one character who first managed to hurt the killer. That just seems like a missed opportunity. 

Although not as scary or disturbing as many other horror movies, I'm glad I got to see Tobe Hooper's film. Leatherface is now one of those classic horror movie monsters so it was about time I saw his very first movie, which has been buried under a pile of sequels and reboots. He has also been parodied in a humorous country music video, which I watched right before the movie. Sadly, there are probable more young people who have seen that music video than those who have seen the movie it is parodying. For the sake of Marilyn Burns' acting, and her running, why not watch both?