![]() The bright light of day offers no comfort, and while we strain for rationalization, it’s impossible to explain some elements of this film. Without venturing into spoilers, the other members of Leatherface’s family are absolutely evil, and their depraved ramblings work in tandem with an atmosphere of inescapable dread to create a truly frightening third act, one filled with nightmarish imagery, piercing screams, and breathtaking boldness, both on the part of Tobe Hooper and the work of his cast. Still, what’s truly unsettling is the outrageous, grotesque behavior of the other Sawyers. We’ve been conditioned due to the narration, insert shots of dead animals, and absolutely oppressive sense of dread, to expect death. The (real) blood splatter on the walls, the stacked dirt, dust, and broken skeletons that line the floor, the furniture made of human bones, the half-rotted animals, and that doorway leading to the red room… before any chainsaws are revealed, we’re already terrified of what may lurk inside this house. His mask, though, is the key to it all, and is realized perfectly, as is the rest of the Sawyer home, which I’d easily call a masterpiece in production design. He’s a work of deranged genius, and his pig-like wails are so visceral, so disgusting and wrong on a fundamental level that his hulking frame and freakish speed are made all the more unsettling. Leatherface is what people remember, and rightly so. The film shows us that evil is real, and is closer and more vile than we could ever anticipate. ![]() Words fail me as I try to come up with a way to describe the absolute insanity of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Everything that follows is a spiral downwards into a dirty, disgusting hell which grows more nightmarish and horrific with each passing second. They want to visit an old house, and on their way, they pick up a hitchhiker. We’re told these events are true, but they can’t be… right? We expect a group of vaguely shallow teenagers to engage in the typical debauchery horror films feature, but the characters here aren’t looking for that. Misdirection and misinformation play a central role in the experience of watching this film, from its opening narration and newsreel exposition to the unhinged depravity lurking inside the Sawyer home. It’s gross, dirty, dated in some ways, and definitely not the film its reputation and sequels might lead one to believe.īut on its own, I’ve found it to be a singular work, one which explores the absolute evil which lurks just off the beaten path. I don’t know how to accurately rate The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. What follows is an examination of how the film shattered all of them. Having grown up watching various horror films, but never dwelling on Texas Chain Saw, I had certain expectations. I recently had the opportunity to watch Tobe Hooper’s 1974 film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in its entirety, my first viewing of the film without any television censors.
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