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The Texas Chain Saw Massacre /  USA  /  1974

With its title The Texas Chain Saw Massacre references the murder weapon. Most slasher weapons retain some efficiency, and each has blade. The chain saw, by and far, is the least efficient, and suggests the film’s exploitative content; the murders therein are expected to be gruesome and bloody. Like Halloween, however, much of what is seen is imagined.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a slasher film because of the paranoia it invokes, its relentless and increasing sense of dread. The victims are all teenagers, and the killer is appropriately hostile and disturbed — however, this film offers no characterizing background for the killer.

The film is based on the crimes of Ed Gein, as is Psycho, though neither film is an accurate depiction of the serial killer; both films merely borrow details. Chain Saw’s iconic killer Leatherface wears a mask of human flesh, similar to finds that Gein wore the skins of the women he killed. Ed Gein has become a tremendous influence on the slasher film, and is further (and more accurately?) famed in The Silence of the Lambs.

Everything about this film is made to enhance its troubling atmosphere, and this is a quality that is enhanced in its age. It is the product of guerilla filmmaking tactics, and is shot in a high-contrast, grainy film stock, resembling the footage of a home movie. These traits form a stark, realistic quality, and the characters’ fear is unmistakable.

There is also an unexpected philosophy to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. The five youths alive at the beginning, together for a brief summer excursion, pass a slaughterhouse. Afterwards, they enjoin a hitchhiker who is familiar with the place, and they talk of the controversial methods of killing, the purpose and humanity of such a place. (The conversation and ensuing theme of cannibalism evidence speculative claims that Chain Saw is a film made by vegetarians.)

This talk is foreshadowing, as the victims are treated in manners similar to those discussed at the slaughterhouse; one is hung on a meat hook, another thrown in a freezer, another (in a particular similarity to the earlier discussion) is bludgeoned with a sledgehammer. The chain saw — the weapon that distinguishes this film — is ironically unrelated.

It must be stated that this film achieves impact like few others. Even in multiple viewings the anticipation of actions does little to lessen anxiety. Had Chain Saw given reason or described the state of the killer in typical slasher fashion, the impact would be lessened. Every action in the film is entirely sporadic, providing no logical anticipation. In stride, the panicked, brutal ending comes unexpectedly.

Rumsey Taylor | © 2004 notcoming.com

Comments / 2 total / Submit Comment

1. Matt K. / 27 October 2006 / 12:59 PM

   This film is inherently readable as a text of its time, and is best reviewed by deconstructing its layers to uncover important themes and issues relevant to the early ’70s; specifically the Vietnam War, the oil crisis during Nixon’s term in office, and technological progress in relation to jobs and the labourer (the hitchhiker was put out of a job at the slaughterhouse due to progress). This film was one of the new breed of horror films in the ’70s that brought terror right into our backyard, and dispensed with the supernatural by adding a human aspect to horror. Not to overly politicise a horror film, but there’s a reason this film is so revered, and sits on the top of the heap of cheap imitations it inspired.

   Great site by the way!

2. Ladd W / 27 October 2006 / 1:56 PM

   I watched TCM this week again, and I don’t see the need to politicize it or tie it in with the relevant issues of the 70s. You can, and Matt K has done so here, but it’s a bloody horror film. It’s a horror film, but one of the most effective contemporary horror films that achieves its simplcitiy through its human element (agreeing with Matt K.). The teens may be dumb and helpless (I can’t help but laugh at the irrascible, wheelchair-bound Franklin), but they do stumble onto something that’s far more twisted and dark than they could have imagined, (an evil family farm whose exterior belies its sinister occupants) so you can’t fault the characters for that. Viewing the film again, what struck me this time around was how much Hooper referred back to the sun, heat, and the swealtering landscape in which TCM is set. Even during the opening credits, we see telescopic close-ups of the surface of the sun, boiling and fuming. Throughout the movie, in between scenes, there are visual references to the sun and heat of the Texas backroads. Overall, and like the great horror movies, TCM achieves a complete sense of setting and place, and, again in agreement with Matt K, conveys a period in American history as well, unlike TCM’s sequels and more recent remakes that have only exploited and bastardized the original film.