Directed by:
Tobe HooperCinematography:
Daniel PearlCast:
Marilyn Burns, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain, William Vail, Teri McMinn, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, Gunnar Hansen, John Dugan, Robert Courtin, William Creamer (more)Plots(1)
A group of teenagers on the road in Texas stop off at the wrong farm and encounter a family gone awry. Once abattoir workers, the decay of the Southern rural economy has left them unemployed, and the directionless father and sons take to using their butchering skills on passing people. One by one, the kids encounter members of the grisly family. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (8)
A film that will celebrate its 50th anniversary in two years. It’s hard to believe, but I only just got around to watching the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. After viewing it, I’m left with mixed feelings. I have to admit that financially, the film was incredibly successful; the cost-to-performance ratio is unmatched (I understand why people went to see it in movie theaters, as nothing similar was available at the time). The acting was somewhat irritating to me, as it often felt quite cheap, almost as if they just pulled a few people off the street and told them to give it a shot (only the main heroine’s sense of helplessness felt believable). That brings us to the story, which is arguably the biggest draw. The film manages to create a fairly oppressive atmosphere that keeps you glued to your seat. The depiction of the redneck Texas countryside is spot-on, and the scene where Leatherface first appears on screen is shocking in its unpleasantness and brutality. This all culminates in the climactic dinner scene and the final chase. So, I’m not overly thrilled, but it does have its merits. For me, it’s 6.5/10. P.S. The chainsaw dance at sunset is a luxurious touch.
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It's strange, but much more of the tension and eerie atmosphere happen in the daytime. With the onset of night comes a psychotic sequence of scenes that jolt the brain and common sense rather than the nerves. The confused running through the forest accompanied by the roaring of the "chainsaw" may not be as strange, but the dinner scene at the family table is among the weirdest things one can witness in cinema. The editing of both the visuals and sound, along with detailed close-ups of the protagonist's eye, create an almost hallucinogenic impression. The resulting effect, presumably intended to disgust the viewer, is achieved fully. All in all, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre feels like two disjointed episodes that don't quite fit together, and the connection between them, represented by the shared title, seems somewhat forced. The feeling of mutual incoherence lingers in the mind and cannot be easily dismissed.
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A very intense film full of violence and filth in the distinctive style of Tob Hooper. I was very surprised that when compared with the remake, this one is a completely different film, one that relies on the atmosphere generated by the violent behaviour of the cannibal family, but without being as graphic (the remake had blood and innards hanging everywhere), here the brutality is only hinted at. Since the viewer doesn’t see anything clearly, their fantasy can start working at full steam, which is a lot worse than when they show intestines and blood.
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The peak of the genre and a delight for connoisseurs. Ultra naturalist filmmaking without hesitation that will exhaust you physically and mentally and won’t let you sleep. The first half is non-stop tension and a brutally stifling and realistic portrayal of the lowest levels of humanity and the moral back-country, and the second half is an incredibly unpleasant reflection of the previously tapped and exploited horrors, all with brilliant cinematography and sound. A film without which the word horror would lose its meaning.
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Despite the lack of bloody naturalistic details, it is an absolutely brutal piece that I don't recommend to weaker characters. The last quarter of an hour is probably the scariest passage I've seen in the horror genre. No macabre orgy, no flying limbs, but something much worse, a concentrated mixture of terror, dismay and a certain sense of disgust at seeing human perversion in its most horrible form. The last time I had a similarly intense experience was watching the famous violent scene in Boorman's Deliverance.
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