Today I’ll feature a double feature…sort of. The B-Horror movie It’s Alive had a commercial that scared me to death when I was a kid. I would hear that baby scream at night. Both of these movies came out in 1974 so I’m sure they were billed together at some places. I reviewed It’s Alive a while back if you want to follow that link…now to our featured movie…The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
This is the first film I think of when I think of Drive-In Theaters…
The spoken intro:
The film which you are about to see is an account of the tragedy which befell a group of five youths, in particular Sally Hardesty and her invalid brother, Franklin. It is all the more tragic in that they were young. But, had they lived very, very long lives, they could not have expected nor would they have wished to see as much of the mad and macabre as they were to see that day. For them an idyllic summer afternoon drive became a nightmare. The events of that day were to lead to the discovery of one of the most bizarre crimes in the annals of American history, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
Who spoke these words? Future Night Court and film star John Larroquette. So would this also be one of the first mockumentaries?
I don’t like slasher films unless they are smart or good. This one was probably the first one. Just like Animal House was the first of its kind of comedy…I didn’t like the bad copy movies that kept coming after but I love this original.
I saw this 1974 movie in the 1980s at a theater when they reissued it. It was sadly not a drive-in theater. My dad had me for that weekend and asked me what I wanted to see. There it was…The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was on the marquee and of course, I picked it. A wonderful father and son movie? Probably not but it worked for us.
Ok… let’s get on with the movie. The look of it is wonderful…and not in a clear way but in a 1970s film way. The look sets the mood for this movie. It has a long look…what I mean is everything seems to be just a tiny bit stretched and everything looks taller than life in some parts. Also, the sun in the seventies was singled out in films. The film has a soft look to it and the sun glows. I’m not sure if it was the camera lens, the development of the film, or if the sky was clearer than now.
We have 5 teenagers in a van…we know where this was heading. That is now days though after the bad slasher movies followed the same blueprint. This was fairly new to the viewers back then. Everything seemed so realistic in this film not cartoonish. The actors and actresses talked like real life…not a Hollywood script. The first taste of the bizarre was a hitchhiker they picked up. A guy that slowly gets crazier as the ride continues until they throw him out.
They get to their destination and that is when things start going sideways. I’m going to save you all of the gory details but it is thrilling, suspenseful, and scary. The closing scene to me, is one of the most famous in horror movie history. Notice the sun in the shot above and how it radiates.
The film’s raw and realistic style, combined with its disturbing themes of cannibalism, madness, and sadism makes you feel for the characters… It’s like you are stuck in the film with them. The state of Texas is a character also…the oppressive Texas heat and desolate rural landscape contribute to a sense of isolation and vulnerability. Even for a fifty-year-old movie… it can still shock and disturb you.
Tobe Hooper directed this movie and went on to direct Poltergeist and other well-known horror movies.
The Plot:
The story follows a group of friends who travel to rural Texas to visit an old homestead. Along the way, they encounter a family of cannibals, including the iconic character Leatherface, who wears a mask made of human skin and wields a chainsaw. The group is systematically hunted and killed in gruesome ways.
Quotes:
- Old Man: I just can’t take no pleasure in killing. There’s just some things you gotta do. Don’t mean you have to like it.
- Old Man: [to Sally] Why, old Grandpa was the best killer there ever was. Why, it never took more than one lick, they say. Why, he did sixty in five minutes once. They say he could’ve done more if the hook and pull gang could’ve gotten the beeves out of the way faster.
You can see the complete movie below and the trailer at the bottom.
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