Director: Tobe Hooper
Writers: Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel
Starring: Marilyn Burns and Gunner Hansen
Body Count: 4
Review: Lots of people talk about Chainsaw, but I don't really think that many of those people have ever actually seen the film. When people need a scapegoat for violence in films, one that is often brought up is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But ironically, there's almost no blood in this film. It is graphic, but not in terms of gore. It's graphic in terms of implications.
The scariest things about Chainsaw are not what you see, but what you don't see--and more appropriately, what you don't understand. This film never gives answers. It never tells you why Leatherface likes to cut people up. It never tells you why the Family likes to eat people. You're just forced to experience it, and that is where the film takes its power from. I don't consider it a great slasher film--but it is a pretty good film. Period.
Five teenagers take an afternoon drive to visit a cemetery that's been besieged by grave robbers, in order to verify that none of their family's remains have been disturbed. On the way back, they run out of gas at an abandoned farm house.
Two of the kids go in search of gas--and discover something quite different. They come face-to-face with Leatherface, a huge, hulking, insane man with a chainsaw.
The simple fact is, like it or not, respect it or not, Chainsaw gets under your skin. It's that notion that has made the film such a landmark in American cinema, and that keeps the film from losing its punch as the years go by.
Trivia: The original titles for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre were Headheese (!?!) and Leatherface.
Actress Marilyn Burns, who plays Sally, runs through a thick forest of thorny bushes in the film. The thorns actually cut her up quite badly, so much of the blood she is seen wearing is actually her blood.
The narration voice at the beginning of the film belongs to John Larroquette, who played Dan Fielding on the TV series Night Court.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was reference heavily and hilariously in the 80s movie Summer School.
