The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Few films have cast as long a shadow over the horror genre as Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Released in 1974, it arrived during a period when American cinema was pushing hard against the limits of what audiences and censors would tolerate, sitting alongside a wave of gritty, low-budget genre pictures that were more interested in unsettling you than entertaining you in any comfortable sense. The premise is simple enough: five young people travelling through rural Texas stumble upon a farmhouse that turns out to be anything but abandoned. What follows in those 83 minutes earned the film an immediate, visceral reputation that has barely faded in the fifty-odd years since. It was banned outright in several countries (the UK kept it off shelves for years), which only added to its notoriety. Whether you consider that a badge of honour or a case of censorship overreach probably says something about your relationship with horror as a genre.

Hooper made the film on a shoestring, produced through the small independent outfits Vortex, Henkel Productions and Hooper Productions, and the roughness of the production is visible in every frame. That rawness, shot on 16mm and blown up, gives it the quality of something found rather than made. Hooper had made relatively little of note before this point, and the film functions as both a calling card and a cultural provocation. It draws, loosely, on the same real-life inspiration that fed Psycho before it, though Hooper and co-writer Kim Henkel pushed the material into something altogether more feral. For a sense of what Hooper went on to do with the same property, it is worth checking out The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, a film that takes a conspicuously different approach to the material. For context on what else was happening in genre cinema at the time, the site also has thoughts on Westworld and Fantastic Planet, two other films from the same fertile early-seventies period that were doing their own strange, disquieting things.

The cast is largely composed of unknowns, which suits the film's aesthetic perfectly. Marilyn Burns leads as Sally, and her performance is, to put it politely, committed, a fact that will mean something different depending on how you respond to the film as a whole. Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain, William Vail and Teri McMinn fill out the group of friends, each given just enough character to register before the film gets on with its business. The real presence, of course, is the masked figure of Leatherface, a genuinely iconic creation in the history of horror cinema whose first appearance on screen remains one of those moments the genre keeps returning to as a benchmark. Whether the film surrounding that moment holds up as well as the moment itself is, of course, exactly what this review is here to address.

90 minutes of screaming. It's one of those weird films that's in the "Must see at least once" category but also not very good. Don't get me wrong, it's a classic. I know it's a classic. It's one of those 'You have to see this at least once' films just to experience it's significance to the slasher horror genre. There are some jaw-dropping moments that do stick with you (such as the first appearance of Leatherface) but overall, it's just not that good of a film. I watched it as a young teenager and thought yeah... it's good. I watched it again recently with my Girlfriend (who'd never seen it before) and I felt a little lost. Why had I recommended this classic film? It was just a grating experience of a woman screaming for WAY longer than I remembered the first time round. Overall, I think it's just ok. It's got some good moments, it got some bad moments.

I think that tension between reputation and actual experience is something a lot of people quietly feel but rarely say out loud about this one, and it was oddly reassuring to sit with it properly this time. There are horror films that reward repeat viewing and horror films that are better as memory or mythology than as the thing itself, and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre might belong more in the second camp than the first. The moments that land really do land, and I wouldn't tell anyone not to watch it. But if you go in expecting the relentless masterpiece the legend promises, you might find yourself watching the clock more than the screen. Some classics earn their place in the canon; some just squatted there long enough that nobody argues anymore.

Rating: ★★★  | Year: 1974  | Watched: 2004-03-03

View on Letterboxd →

Trailer

▶ Watch the official trailer for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) on YouTube

Where to watch

Watch in the UK
Stream: Shudder · Shudder Amazon Channel
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi

Watch in the US
Stream: Amazon Prime Video · Peacock Premium · AMC+ Amazon Channel · Philo
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US

Affiliate disclosure: Movies With Macca may earn a small commission on purchases or subscriptions started via these links. It costs you nothing extra.

Related on Movies With Macca

More from Tobe Hooper: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
More from the 1970s: Fantastic Planet (1973) · Here and Elsewhere (1976) · Italianamerican (1974) · Punishment Park (1971)
More horror: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) · Viy (1967) · Nightmare City (1980) · Angst (1983)