Rating:*****
Starring: Marilyn Burns, Edwin Neal and Allen Danziger
Obviously, we all know any drunk fool saying shit like that should have their warnings heed, but our five kids doesn't know that rule too well. So after finding out that grandpa's resting place is A-okay, the kids head back to the van and off to face Texan road once again. Along the way, they spot a lonesome hitchhiker and decided to give ole "Dracula" a ride. Of course, things go from awkward silence to eccentric as the hitchhiker begins rambling about good meat and slaughtering cows, boasting that he came from a family of cattle herders. Franklin enjoys the subject and shares stories with the guy, including the best ways to kill a cow by smashing its head with a sledgehammer.
It then goes insane as the Hitchhiker suddenly grabs Franklin's pocket knife, cuts his own palm and cutting the the boy's hand with the knife. Thinking the man overstayed his welcome, they kick him out of the van while he smears what appears to be a blood symbol on the car's side.The unfortunate events continue when the van putters on low gas and the only nearby gas station was dried up on fuel. Luckily (?) for them, there's an old barn a couple of miles down the road and the gang thought they could have the people there help them out with their gas problem. Problem is, this ain't no ordinary house and its occupants are less than thrilled on having visitors...
With a title like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, you can expect the worse to come from a powertool-driven horror movie with the messiest terror ever to exist on film, interestingly without relying much on the gore. Its this film's underlying simplicity that makes it scary; it doesn't show you nightmares, it builds to it. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) didn't just handed the audience its chainsaw violence as easily around the first few minutes into the plot but, rather, it lets you wait for it. And once it's shown, it refuses to let you go.Also adding to the terror is the macabre direction of the film such as the psychological and emotional implications of Leatherface shifting masks for one occasion to another, a family of deranged cannibals bickering with one another while skeletons sat next to them as if this was normal, and the ever intense last act where Sally is brought into a literal living hell as they play a "family game" of letting their elder brain her with a hammer.
And then, of course, there is Leatherface; no self-respecting fan will not recognize Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) as the very movie that brought us one of slasherdom's well known icons, Leatherface. His exploits with the clan would later continue in the following sequels, but none of them were as terrifying and as macabre as his depiction in this film. His family is deranged and they all act like children despite their appearance. They're impatient, violent, and careless, all the worse if they're pissed off. To make a point, Leatherface is a name any horror fan gets to acknowledge, and understand, with a mask made up of sewn human faces, his chainsaw buzzing to cuts deep into the bone, his wails and grunts showing pure brutish madness, he's a friggin juggernaut of pure untamed animal violence and a celebrity among horror fans.
While it may not sound much by today's standards, for its time, this movie is really gritty as a lot of blood and sweat went on to make this film happen, and the blood part is literal as many of the bruises, wounds and beatings you see in this film were real. Marilyn Burns, who played Sally, really got beaten with the foam mallet, cuts herself numerous times in the chase scene while running through thorns, sprained an ankle on the stunts, had dye dried onto her skin, you got to give a hand to the dedication she put to this film. (Plus she really got cut by Gunnar Hansen on one scene. Now that's scary)
The film's Texan vibe is ever present, like the blue-collared personalities, the blazing desert-like scenario and the barbecue. But it's the isolated open fields that became one of the film's key figures as it made a lot of the harrowing imagery infamous and pure cinematic genius. Same, too, can be said to the Sawyer's little hideout; a messy pile of rotting carcasses and decorative bones mixed with litter, showing both the madness of the family that occupies it and their attempts to live a normal life.
It's a horror masterpiece, that's all I'm going to say. If you don't see it that way, then let's agree to disagree...
Bodycount:
1 male brained with sledgehammer, sliced to bits with chainsaw
1 female impaled on a hook and left for dead
1 male brained with sledgehammer
1 wheelchair bound male gets a chainsaw buried into his gut
1 male ran over by a truck
Total: 5
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