By Geno McGahee
In 1974, a film was released and it made horror history. It has spawned many sequels and a remake, and now, in 2012, we see another attempt to revive the series and capture the magic of the one and only TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE.
TEXAS CHAINSAW 3D is being released this week, which is why I’ve decided to take a look back at one of my own personal favorites and review it again. I didn’t have much of a choice in the matter, actually. My hard drive that held many of my reviews was fried and they are gone, gone, all gone.
Tobe Hooper would write and direct this 1974 original and it almost looks like what you would imagine a snuff film would. It has this demented home video look and the score is creepy and unsettling. Actually, with John Larroquette doing a beginning narration talking about the “mad and the macabre,” you already know that you are in for an experience. You are then brought right to a grave where dead bodies are posed in certain positions…some deranged artwork. That gets you disturbed and then you are kept there for the next 83 minutes.
A group of friends are in a van and they are travelling to see Sally’s (Marilyn Burns) grandfather’s grave. Along for the ride is the incredibly annoying, wheelchair-bound Franklin (Paul A. Partain). These two characters, brother and sister, are the standouts of the group…although, Franklin’s reasons for standing out have a lot to do with his whiney and abrasive personality.
On the road, the group sees a hitchhiker (Edwin Neal), and picks him up. It’s obvious quickly that the hitchhiker is not right. He talks strangely and is scaring the van full of young adults. Out of nowhere, he takes out a knife and cuts Franklin, and then jumps out of the moving fan. As the van takes off to get away from him, he begins kicking it and sticking out his tongue. This is why you never pick up a hitchhiker.
The visuals throughout this film are very good and add to the creep element. The spiders and beaten up abandoned old house that they stumble upon has a spirit of its own and then they find another house…one that is not abandoned.
One of the best scenes in horror film history is the first time that we see leather face. When one of the unlucky guys enters the house and approach a metal door, it is violently swung open and a quick panning shot to the face of Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen) is used to show just how messed up he is. He then hits him with a hammer, sending his body into convulsions before dragging him into the room and slamming the metal door behind him. The scene is intense, scary, and violent. Leatherface immediately becomes a memorable horror character from just that one first scene.
As the members of the group disappear, Sally must push her fat, crippled brother through the woods to try to find out what’s going on. Out of nowhere, here comes Leatherface and he chops up Franklin into little pieces right in front of Sally. It’s another one of those TCM memorable moments.
Sally is captured and that’s when we see just how disturbed the situation is that she has found herself in. She is tied to a chair made of human body parts and is introduced to a family that includes Leatherface, the hitchhiker, a weird uncle of some sort, and the nearly dead but bloodthirsty, Grampa. It is a nightmare.
Sally reacts the way that anyone would in this sort of situation. She screams and goes crazy. I see so many characters turn bad ass and go on a killing spree of their own to get revenge. In action films, this works. Horror is supposed to appeal to your nature and our natures as humans is to survive. So, we are more likely to run from a chainsaw then we are to confront it and try to stop it. Sally runs and runs fast. She jumps out a window and finds the back of a pick up truck to lead her to safety. As she drives away and Leatherface swings around the chainsaw in anger, she laughs hysterically. She has gone mad. This was an awesome way to end it and it’s something that you never see anymore. The movie is so effective as it disturbs you and just keeps raising the tension, but to end it with the star surviving but her mind not really making it was great.
TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE is an absolute classic that holds up today without a worry. It’s still disturbing and intense. The new TEXAS CHAINSAW 3D is saying all of the right things and is trying to make a genuine sequel to the original. It will be interesting to see what they come up with. In the meantime, if you haven’t seen the 1974 entry, what are you waiting for? This is a can’t miss!
Rating: 10/10
