The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The article is about the 1974 film. For the other movies named Texas Chainsaw Massacre, see The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (film series).

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
The original movie poster
Directed by	Tobe Hooper
Produced by	Tobe Hooper Lou Peraino
Written by	Kim Henkel Tobe Hooper
Starring	Marilyn Burns Gunnar Hansen Edwin Neal Allen Danzinger Paul A. Partain Jim Siedow
Music by	Wayne Bell Tobe Hooper
Distributed by	Bryanston Distributing Company Blue Dolphin
Release date(s)	October 1, 1974
Running time	83 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$83,532 (estimated)
Followed by	The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (sometimes written as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) is an independent low-budget influential horror film made in 1973 (released in 1974) by director Tobe Hooper. It concerns a family in rural Texas, who abduct customers from their gas station and those unlucky enough to stumble upon their house. Produced on a budget of just over $83,000, the film grossed $30,859,000 at the U.S. box office, making it one of the most successful independent films in cinema history.^[1] The financing for this film came from the profits of Deep Throat, a previous adult film the production company had financed.^[2]

An "ultimate edition" DVD for the film was released by Dark Sky Films on September 26, 2006.^[3]

Contents 1 Overview 2 Plot 3 Cast 4 Connection to actual events 5 Release 6 Response 7 DVD Release 7.1 Region confusion 8 Alternate versions 9 Trivia 9.1 Leatherface 10 Additional films 11 References 12 External links

[edit] Overview

It is often considered a prototype of the slasher film sub-genre. Despite its grisly and unsettling subject matter, the film—like John Carpenter's Halloween (1978)—does not rely so much on explicit gore to generate terror in the audience as it does on pacing, suspense, the deserted location and dramatic tension. Its sequels and the imitations it has spawned have been much bloodier and more graphic. The movie is also known for experimenting with scenes shot in daylight, something that was rarely done before in horror movies. Tobe Hooper originally wanted an MPAA "PG" rating for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (there was no "PG-13" at the time). The MPAA Ratings board insisted on the "R" rating due to what was implied both on and offscreen. Problems with the rating also arose in the sequel.

The film was banned in the United Kingdom (1974-1999), but was subsequently issued on video. It has also been banned in France (1974-1984), Germany and India. It also wasn't released in Australia until the early 1980s, due to distributing delays.

The film was originally entitled "Headcheese", but was changed at the last minute. Alternate titles included "Leatherface" and "Stalking Leatherface". The official title of the original film writes 'Chain Saw' as two words (contrary to some posters and DVD covers), while the sequels and the remake use the compound 'Chainsaw'.^[4]

While the film was financially a great success, the production team that made the film saw only a very small fraction of the profits. This was a result of the film's ownership residing with the film's financial backers who managed to hide a significant percent of profits from the production company^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Plot

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre tells the story of a group of young people who fall foul of a family of killers while driving through Texas.

The film opens in a cemetery where several corpses have been exhumed and constructed into sculptures. The Hardesty siblings, Sally (Marilyn Burns) and wheelchair-bound Franklin (Paul A. Partain) visit the graveyard with their companions Jerry (Allen Danziger), Kirk (William Vail) and Pam (Terri McMinn) to check on the grave of their grandfather. The group then head off on a trip to the late Hardesty's former house. Shortly after passing a slaughterhouse, they stop to pick up a hitch-hiker (Edwin Neal) who disgusts them with tales of his past working in an abattoir. He takes Franklin's pocket-knife and cuts open his own hand before taking a photograph of them with an instant camera. He tries to sell it to them, but they refuse and he sets it on fire. He also slashes the disabled man's arm deeply before the group throw him from the van. As they drive away, he smears his bloody hand on the vehicle.

Sometime later, the group stop at a gas station, only to be told by the owner (Jim Siedow) that the tanks are empty. A request for directions to the old Hardesty property is met with a warning that the locals don't like strangers but the group continue to the house anyway.

Following Franklin's directions to a childhood swimming hole, Kirk and Pam set off to find it while the others stay at the old house. The sound of a generator attracts them to a farmhouse nearby. Kirk suggests he may be able to barter with the owners for some gas for their van. As they cross the field, the couple find a junkyard of vehicles, many seemingly perfectly intact, hidden under canvases. After disgusting Pam with a human tooth he finds on the front porch, Kirk knocks at the farmhouse door while Pam drifts away to wait on a nearby swing-seat. While the knock is unanswered, the door opens and he heads inside, presumably to investigate a sound. As he reaches a doorway directly ahead, leading to a hall lined with horns and antlers, he slips. The film's totemic killer Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen) suddenly appears in the doorway. Wearing a butcher's apron and a mask made from a human face, the killer immediately murders Kirk with a sledgehammer. Hansen was meticulous in his attempts at making Leatherface as horrifying as possible, and Tobe Hooper gave him considerable latitude to do this. Standing 6'4" (193cm) tall, he wore three inch (7 cm) heels to appear even taller, causing him to hit his head on doorways and other objects several times during the shoot. The mask also severely limited his peripheral vision. The character's teeth were prostheses made especially for Hansen by his dentist. While Leatherface was originally meant to have dialogue, Hansen decided he would be more effective as a severly mentally-retarded person who had never learned to talk properly, going so far as to visiting a school for the mentally handicapped to learn how they moved and talked. ^[5]

Pam soon enters the house looking for Kirk. Inside she discovers a room full of furniture made from bones and human limbs. A live chicken hangs from the ceiling in a small cage and the floor is strewn with feathers and bone fragments. Throwing up in her mouth a little, she becomes hysterical and lurches into the hall. Leatherface appears and gives chase, catching her as she reaches the porch and dragging her back into the house. He carries her into the kitchen and impales her on a meathook before calmly returning to his task of dismembering Kirk's body with a chainsaw.

When Kirk and Pam don't return, Jerry goes looking for them and finds the same house. Finding the blanket left behind by Pam and Kirk, he goes inside to investigate. In the kitchen there is a large chest freezer, rattling convulsively. He opens it and finds Pam inside, turning blue. She suddenly sits upright in an attempt to escape, but Leatherface jumps out and kills Jerry with the sledgehammer. Jerry collapses on the kitchen floor, and Leatherface hurls Pam back into the freezer, locking her inside.

When Jerry hasn't returned by nightfall, Sally and Franklin argue about going to find him. Sally wants to go alone because she can't manage the wheelchair through the brush, but her brother insists he take him with him. Their cries attract Leatherface, who bursts upon them and instantly attacks Franklin with a chainsaw, repeatedly driving it through his body. Sally flees, with the killer close behind, and manages to reach the farmhouse and lock the door. In shooting the chase scene, Hansen had to adlib being impeded by the brush, as he was still able to catch up to Burns quite easily even in his 3-inch platform boots. While Leatherface cuts his way into the house with the saw, Sally climbs the stairs and finds her way into a filthy bedroom, apparently occupied by two mummified corpses. One of them is actually still alive, although this is not revealed until later in the film. When Leatherface gets inside the house, Sally jumps through a window to the ground. Hooper used a stunt double for Sally's leap through the window; all the same, Marilyn Burns actually hurt herself shooting the insert of her falling to the ground. She also received several small injuries from the scene where she pushes through the scrub to the house. Later, in the dining room scene, her finger was deliberately cut with a real knife by Hansen when the prop designed to create the effect malfunctioned. Burns didn't become aware that he had cut her on purpose until a year after filming.

With the maniac relentlessly pursuing her, Sally runs all the way back to the gas station. On arrival, Leatherface apparently disappears while she appeals to the gas station owner for help. Instead, he attacks her with a broom, throws a burlap sack over her and bundles her into his truck. This character, known only as the Old Man, is now revealed as Leatherface's older brother. He takes her straight back to the farmhouse, reaching the driveway at the same time as Neal's hitchhiker character, who is also apparently part of the family.

Sally is taken inside and tied to a chair. When they remove the sack she and the hitchiker recognise each other, and he immediately taunts her. He and Leatherface then bring down the withered figure of "Grandpa" (John Dugan) from the upstairs bedroom, slicing open Sally's finger so he can suck the blood from it. The woman passes out. When she awakens some time later, the family has gathered for dinner. The food is apparently made from their human victims. In one of the film's most intensely terrifying scenes, Sally undergoes psychological torture as the killers taunt her. Hooper intercuts close-ups of Sally's tear-stained, horrified face with those of the other characters laughing and mocking her. In the end, the hitchhiker suggests that Grandpa, as the "best killer who ever was" at the local slaughterhouse, be the one to kill the captive. However, the old man is far too frail and after several attempts, the hitchhiker lunges for the hammer, allowing Sally to escape through the dining room window.

It is now dawn; Sally flees the house and escapes onto the highway. Just as the hitchhiker reaches her, an eighteen wheeler runs him down. The truck driver stops and gets out, only to be confronted by Sally being chased at close quarters by the chainsaw-wielding Leatherface. As the woman and the driver climb into the truck, the killer attacks the vehicle with the saw. Escaping through the other side of the cab, the driver throws a large wrench at Leatherface which catches him in the head, knocking him down and causing him to cut his leg. As Leatherface rises to his feet despite his injury, a pickup truck arrives on the scene. Stopping long enough for Sally to scramble into its tray, it then races off again, leaving the film to finish with a shot of Leatherface in the middle of the road, wielding the saw above his head in frustration.

[edit] Cast

Actor	Role
Marilyn Burns	Sally Hardesty
Allen Danziger	Jerry
Paul A. Partain	Franklin Hardesty
William Vail	Kirk
Teri McMinn	Pam
Edwin Neal	The Hitchhiker
Jim Siedow	Old Man
Gunnar Hansen	Leatherface
John Dugan	Grandpa

[edit] Connection to actual events

This film, like the films Psycho, Deranged, and The Silence of the Lambs, was loosely inspired by Ed Gein. Gein did wear human skin, but he acted alone and did not use a chainsaw. The interior of the house, particularly the macabre living room filled with bones, was also based on the crime scene notes describing the inside of Gein's home. Although the film's opening claimed that the events depicted in it are factual, it is merely a scare tactic, called the false document technique, to frighten the audience. The movie was filmed from 15 July 1973 - 14 August 1973, while the opening narrative claims that the events took place on 18 August 1973, so it would be impossible for the film to be based on actual events which had not happened at the time of filming. Libraries in Burkburnett, Texas and nearby Wichita Falls regularly receive requests for copies of newspaper articles related to the false actual events.[6]

[edit] Release

The film was so effective, and people allegedly found the movie so horrifying that they walked out of sneak previews. The movie was also banned or delayed in many countries (due to the effectiveness), and where it was released, it was frequently edited. It was not released in Australia until the early 1980s, but it was never banned there. However, it was banned in the United Kingdom largely on the authority of then-BBFC secretary James Ferman, but saw a limited cinema release thanks to various city councils. Censors attempted to cut it for the purposes of a wider release in 1977 but were unsuccessful. It was released on videotape and CED disc in the 1980s by Wizard Video and Vestron Video, but banned in 1984 during the moral panic surrounding video nasties. In 1999, after the retirement of Ferman, the BBFC passed the movie uncut on cinema and video, with the 18 certificate, almost 25 years after its original release.^[6]

[edit] Response

The documentary feel has helped with the film’s success. The film opened to large amount of controversy, but despite this, it became a smash hit in the United States. The film is also considered an innovator of the genre, predating Halloween, Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street. It has received much praise from critics, mainly because its gritty and unsettling background that made it seem real. The Museum of Modern Art was sent a print of the film for their collection. Because the print was never returned to the sender, people claim that the museum cites the work as worthy enough to be among its collection. Critics have called it one of the scariest movies ever made.^[7]

The film is also given a place at #2 as the second scariest film ever made by Entertainment Weekly, making it a runner-up to The Exorcist (1973). It is also ranked at #1 on Premiere Magazine's Top 10 Horror Films of All Time and #5 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.

In 1983 Wizard Video Games released Texas Chainsaw Massacre as a video game for the Atari 2600.

The film became infamous in Sweden after scenes from the movie had been shown in the debate-show Studio S, causing a very big moral panic. People wanted it banned and censored. This came with the same time as more people got the VHS-player in their homes. People said that with the VHS-player you couldn't control what movies children could see and not see, which resulted in people wanted TCM to be banned. But actually, the Studio S-show only caused more people to go out and see the movie instead of the reaction they had wanted.

[edit] DVD Release

The film has been released various times on DVD, the first (in 1998) by MPI Home Video under license from Pioneer Entertainment, with the same Digital Video Noise Reduction transfer and special features as the 1996 Elite Entertainment letterboxed laserdisc (The commentary by director Tobe Hooper, director of photography Daniel Pearl, and actor Gunnar Hansen is introduced by Hooper for Elite Entertainment). The DVD was released several times by different companies in Region 1, Region 2 (Europe), Region 3 (Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea and Taiwan) and Region 4 (Australia, (South America, Central America, Mexico and New Zealand) in a Widescreen format. On September 26, 2006, more than thirty years after its release, a two-disc "Ultimate Edition" was released, featuring the following features:

• New high definition picture transferred from the original 16mm negative.
• Digitally remastered Mono and Stereo soundtracks and newly produced 5.1 Dolby Digital
• Feature-length Commentary by Tobe Hooper, Daniel Pearl and Gunnar Hansen
• Feature-length Commentary by Marilyn Burns, Paul A Partain, Allen Danziger and Robert A. Burns.
• 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Shocking Truth' Documentary
• 'Flesh Wounds' Documentary
• 'Dr W.E Barnes Presents Making Grandpa' Featurette
• 'The Shocking Truth' outtakes
• A Tour of the TCSM house with Gunnar Hansen
• Deleted Scenes and outtakes
• Still gallery
• Original theatrical trailers, TV spots and radio spots
• Limited edition steelbook packaging

[edit] Region confusion

There was some confusion surrounding the region of the Ultimate Edition DVD. Although many sites listed it as Region 1, as does the back cover art, the official Dark Sky Films site lists the DVD as Region 0. The website listing must be an error, because it has been confirmed on dvdcompare.net that it is Region 1.

[edit] Alternate versions

• Restored version released in 1998 on DVD includes outtake and alternate footage.

• The Swedish version removed the scene where Leatherface hangs the woman on a meathook. It has since been released fully uncensored on DVD.

• A scene was filmed but cut in which Pam and Kirk come across a campground outside the slaughterhouse where people were murdered, and Kirk finds a pocket-watch nailed to a tree. A scene was cut that explained one of the film's continuity errors: During the dinner scene, Leatherface gets up, goes into his bedroom, and fixes up his mask with makeup. In the original cut of the film, there was a closeup shot of Hitchhiker after he's hit by the truck.

[edit] Trivia

• The Kingsland, Texas, house used in the movie is now (as of 2006) a gourmet restaurant called the Chariot Grill and sits across from The Antler Inn.

• Director Tobe Hooper claims to have got the idea for the film while standing in the hardware section of a crowded store. While thinking of a way to get out through the crowd, he spotted the chainsaws.

• The narrator at the beginning of the film is John Larroquette, famous for playing the Night Court character Dan Fielding.

• The nest of daddy longlegs in the abandoned house were found by chance when location-scouting. The dead armadillo at the beginning of the film was a taxidermy'd armadillo created by Bob Burns, the production artist. Outtake footage shows the former scene would originally have involved a dead dog by the roadside.

• Actress Teri McMinn, whose character was hung up on a meat hook, was actually held up by a nylon cord that went between her legs, causing her a great deal of pain.

• A family was actually living in the house that served as the primary film location for the Leatherface family. They moved into the right side of the home while the production crew spent about 2 weeks filming throughout the rest of the home.

• Marilyn Burns makes a cameo in Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation as the woman wheeled on the gurney through the ending scene as Renee Zellweger sits in the hallway at the hospital.

[edit] Leatherface

• The chainsaw used in this film was a Poulan 306A, with a piece of black tape covering the Poulan logo in order to avoid a possible lawsuit.

• Due to the low budget, Gunnar Hansen had only one shirt to wear as Leatherface. The shirt had been dyed, so it could not be washed; Hansen had to wear it for four straight weeks of filming in the Texas summer. By the end of the shoot no one wanted to eat lunch with Hansen because his clothing smelled so bad.

• The close-up of Leatherface cutting his leg on the chainsaw was the last shot to be filmed; the actor was wearing a metal plate over his leg, which was then covered with a piece of meat and a blood bag.

[edit] Additional films

Sequels:

• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 (1986)
• Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)
• Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994)

Remake Continuity:

• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) at the Internet Movie Database
• Detailed film review with screencaps
• Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Visit to the Film Locations

Texas Chainsaw Massacre film series
Original series
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre • The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 • Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III • Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation
Remake series
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) • The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
Characters
Leatherface • Sally Hardesty • Drayton Sawyer • Edward Sawyer • Chop Top • Grandpa • Sheriff Hoyt • Luda May Hewitt • Old Monty
Other
The Comics • All American Massacre