The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Tobe Hooper, USA 1974, 81 mins

"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... 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 Chainsaw Massacre."

All this is, of course, a load of rubbish. While taking some ideas from the notorious case of Wisconsin necrophile Ed Gein (who also provided an inspiration for Psycho), there was no real Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The film has as much claim to truth as any other, in that the events depicted did happen to the extent that they were staged for the camera. This fakery aside it is undeniable that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a powerful film. It is not that the movie is particularly graphic, with very little blood actually being spilled on screen. Rather, it's a very disturbing film, being a near literal application of Hitchcock's dictum that "actors should be treated like cattle". For the first half of the film director Tobe Hooper builds our expectations brilliantly, using an unnerving musique concrete score and a rough, documentary-style approach. Then, when the chainsaw wielding Leatherface finally makes an appearance, we're plunged into a kind of inverted fairy tale world where conventional distinctions - good/evil, acceptable/unacceptable, human/animal cease to apply. By the end of the film you can understand why the BBFC kept the film off our screens for 25 years as too horrible - even if they couldn't come up with a satisfactory explanation for their actions. Now, if only they'd see fit to certificate Wes Craven's horror debut, Last House on the Left. If you think Texas Chainsaw is a disturbing film you ain't seen nothing yet...

Review by Keith H. Brown
Taken from EUFS Programe Autumn 1999