The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

The concept for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre arose in the early 1970s while Tobe Hooper was working as an assistant film director at the University of Texas at Austin and as a documentary cameraman.[6] He had already developed a story involving the elements of isolation, the woods, and darkness.[7] He credited the graphic coverage of violence by San Antonio news outlets as one inspiration for the film[8] and based elements of the plot on murderer Ed Gein, who committed his crimes in 1950s Wisconsin;[9] Gein inspired other horror films such as Psycho (1960) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991).[10][11][12][13] During development, Hooper used the working titles of Headcheese and Leatherface.[14][15]

Hooper has cited changes in the cultural and political landscape as central influences on the film. His intentional misinformation, that the "film you are about to see is true", was a response to being "lied to by the government about things that were going on all over the world", including Watergate, the 1973 oil crisis, and "the massacres and atrocities in the Vietnam War".[8] The "lack of sentimentality and the brutality of things" that Hooper noticed while watching the local news, whose graphic coverage was epitomized by "showing brains spilled all over the road", led to his belief that "man was the real monster here, just wearing a different face, so I put a literal mask on the monster in my film".[11] The idea of using a chainsaw as the murder weapon came to Hooper while he was in the hardware section of a busy store, contemplating how to speed his way through the crowd.[12]

Hooper and Kim Henkel cowrote the screenplay and formed Vortex, Inc.[18] with Henkel as president and Hooper as vice president.[19] They asked Bill Parsley, a friend of Hooper, to provide funding. Parsley formed a company named MAB, Inc. through which he invested $60,000 in the production. In return, MAB owned 50% of the film and its profits.[20] Production manager Ron Bozman told most of the cast and crew that he would have to defer part of their salaries until after it was sold to a distributor. Vortex made the idea more attractive by awarding them a share of its potential profits, ranging from 0.25 to 6%, similar to mortgage points. The cast and crew were not informed that Vortex owned only 50%, which meant their points were worth half of the assumed value.[19][21]

Many of the cast members at the time were relatively unknown actors—Texans who had played roles in commercials, television, and stage shows, as well as performers whom Hooper knew personally, such as Allen Danziger and Jim Siedow.[22][23][24] Involvement in the film propelled some of them into the motion picture industry. The lead role of Sally was given to Marilyn Burns, who had appeared previously on stage and served on the film commission board at UT Austin while studying there.[23] Teri McMinn was a student who worked with local theater companies, including the Dallas Theater Center.[23] Henkel called McMinn to come in for a reading after he spotted her picture in the Austin American-Statesman.[25] For her last call-back he requested that she wear short shorts, which proved to be the most comfortable of all the cast members' costumes.[23]

Icelandic-American actor Gunnar Hansen was selected for the role of Leatherface.[26] He regarded Leatherface as having an intellectual disability and having never learned to speak properly. To research his character in preparation for his role, Hansen visited a special needs school and watched how the students moved and spoke.[12][27] John Larroquette performed the narration in the opening credits.[28]

The farmhouse used for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was moved from La Frontera to Kingsland, Texas, and restored as a restaurant.[29]

The primary filming location was an early 1900s farmhouse located on Quick Hill Road near Round Rock, Texas, where the La Frontera development is now located.[29] The small budget and concerns over high-cost equipment rentals meant the crew filmed seven days a week, up to 16 hours a day. The environment was humid[21][30] and the cast and crew found conditions tough; temperatures peaked at 110°F (43 °C) on July 26.[31] Hansen later recalled, "It was 95, 100 degrees every day during filming. They wouldn't wash my costume because they were worried that the laundry might lose it, or that it would change color. They didn't have enough money for a second costume. So I wore that [mask] 12 to 16 hours a day, seven days a week, for a month."[32]

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was mainly shot using an Eclair NPR 16mm camera[14][33] with fine-grain, low-speed film that required four times more light than modern digital cameras.[34] Most of the filming took place in the farmhouse, which was filled with furniture constructed from animal bones and a latex material used as upholstery to give the appearance of human skin.[35] The house was not cooled, and there was little ventilation. The crew covered its walls with drops of animal blood obtained from a local slaughterhouse.[8] Art director Robert A. Burns drove around the countryside and collected the remains of cattle and other animals in various stages of decomposition, with which he littered the floors of the house.[35]

The special effects were simple and limited by the budget.[36] The on-screen blood was real in some cases,[37] such as the scene in which Leatherface feeds "Grandpa". The crew had difficulty getting the stage blood to come out of its tube, so instead Burns's index finger was cut with a razor.[38] Burns's costume was so drenched with stage blood that it was "virtually solid" by the last day of shooting.[23] The scene in which Leatherface kills Kirk with a chainsaw worried actor William Vail (Kirk). After telling Vail to stay still lest he really be killed, Hansen brought the running chainsaw to within 3 inches (8 cm) of Vail's face.[33] A real hammer was used for the climactic scene at the end, with some takes also featuring a mock-up. However, the actor playing Grandpa was aiming for the floor rather than his victim's head.[39] Still, the shoot was somewhat dangerous, with Hooper noting at the wrap party that all cast members had obtained some level of injury. He stated that "everyone hated me by the end of the production" and that "it just took years for them to kind of cool off."[39][40]

The production exceeded its original $60,000 (about $330,000 adjusted for inflation) budget during editing.[41] Sources differ on the film's final cost, offering figures between $93,000 (about $511,000 inflation-adjusted) and $300,000 (about $1,600,000 inflation-adjusted).[26][42][43][44] A film production group, Pie in the Sky, partially led by future President of the Texas State Bar Joe K. Longley[45] provided $23,532 (about $129,000 inflation-adjusted) in exchange for 19% of Vortex.[46] This left Henkel, Hooper and the rest of the cast and crew with a 40.5% stake.[19] Warren Skaaren, then head of the Texas Film Commission, helped secure the distribution deal with Bryanston Distributing Company.[20] David Foster, who would later produce the 1982 horror film The Thing, arranged for a private screening for some of Bryanston's West Coast executives, and received 1.5% of Vortex's profits and a deferred fee of $500 (about $2,700 inflation-adjusted).[19]

On August 28, 1974, Louis Peraino of Bryanston agreed to distribute the film worldwide, from which Bozman and Skaaren would receive $225,000 (about $1,200,000 inflation-adjusted) and 35% of the profits. Years later Bozman stated, "We made a deal with the devil, [sigh], and I guess that, in a way, we got what we deserved."[19] They signed the contract with Bryanston and, after the investors recouped their money (with interest),—and after Skaaren, the lawyers, and the accountants were paid—only $8,100 (about $44,500 inflation-adjusted) was left to be divided among the 20 cast and crew members.[19] Eventually the producers sued Bryanston for failing to pay them their full percentage of the box office profits. A court judgment instructed Bryanston to pay the filmmakers $500,000 (about $2,700,000 inflation-adjusted), but by then the company had declared bankruptcy. In 1983 New Line Cinema acquired the distribution rights from Bryanston and gave the producers a larger share of the profits.[47]

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre received a mixed reaction upon its initial release. Linda Gross of the Los Angeles Times called it "despicable" and described Henkel and Hooper as more concerned with creating a realistic atmosphere than with its "plastic script".[78] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said it was "as violent and gruesome and blood-soaked as the title promises", yet praised its acting and technical execution.[79][80] Donald B. Berrigan of The Cincinnati Enquirer praised the lead performance of Burns: "Marilyn Burns, as Sally, deserves a special Academy Award for one of the most sustained and believable acting achievements in movie history."[81] Patrick Taggart of the Austin American-Statesman hailed it as the most important horror film since George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968).[82] Variety found the picture to be well-made, despite what it called the "heavy doses of gore".[83] John McCarty of Cinefantastique stated that the house featured in the film made the Bates motel "look positively pleasant by comparison".[84] Revisiting the film in his 1976 article "Fashions in Pornography" for Harper's Magazine, Stephen Koch found its sadistic violence to be extreme and unimaginative.[85]

Critics later frequently praised both the film's aesthetic quality and its power. Observing that it managed to be "horrifying without being a bloodbath (you'll see more gore in a Steven Seagal film)", Bruce Westbrook of the Houston Chronicle called it "a backwoods masterpiece of fear and loathing".[86] TV Guide thought it was "intelligent" in its "bloodless depiction of violence",[87] while Anton Bitel felt the fact that it was banned in the United Kingdom was a tribute to its artistry. He pointed out how the quiet sense of foreboding at the beginning of the film grows, until the viewer experiences "a punishing assault on the senses".[88] In Hick Flicks: The Rise and Fall of Redneck Cinema, Scott Von Doviak commended its effective use of daylight shots, unusual among horror films, such as the sight of a corpse draped over a tombstone in the opening sequence.[89] Mike Emery of The Austin Chronicle praised the film's "subtle touches"—such as radio broadcasts heard in the background describing grisly murders around Texas—and said that what made it so dreadful was that it never strayed too far from potential reality.[90]

It has often been described as one of the scariest films of all time.[91] Rex Reed called it the most terrifying film he had ever seen.[92] Empire described it as "the most purely horrifying horror movie ever made" and called it "never less than totally committed to scaring you witless".[93] Reminiscing about his first viewing of the film, horror director Wes Craven recalled wondering "what kind of Mansonite crazoid" could have created such a thing.[94] It is a work of "cataclysmic terror", in the words of horror novelist Stephen King, who declared, "I would happily testify to its redeeming social merit in any court in the country."[95] Critic Robin Wood found it one of the few horror films to possess "the authentic quality of nightmare".[96]

Based on 63 reviews published since 2000, the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 89% of critics gave it a positive review, with an average score of 8.10/10. The site's critical consensus states, "Thanks to a smart script and documentary-style camerawork, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre achieves start-to-finish suspense, making it a classic in low-budget exploitation cinema."[97]

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is considered one of the greatest—and most controversial—horror films of all time[98][99] and a major influence on the genre.[44][100] In 1999, Richard Zoglin of Time commented that it had "set a new standard for slasher films".[101] The Times listed it as one of the 50 most controversial films of all time.[102] Tony Magistrale believes the film paved the way for horror to be used as a vehicle for social commentary.[103] Describing it as "cheap, grubby and out of control", Mark Olsen of the Los Angeles Times declared that it "both defines and entirely supersedes the very notion of the exploitation picture".[104] In his book Dark Romance: Sexuality in the Horror Film, David Hogan called it "the most affecting gore thriller of all and, in a broader view, among the most effective horror films ever made ... the driving force of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is something far more horrible than aberrant sexuality: total insanity."[105][106] According to Bill Nichols, it "achieves the force of authentic art, profoundly disturbing, intensely personal, yet at the same time far more than personal".[107] Leonard Wolf praised the film as "an exquisite work of art" and compared it to a Greek tragedy, noting the lack of onscreen violence.[108]

Leatherface has gained a reputation as a significant character in the horror genre,[109][110] responsible for establishing the use of conventional tools as murder weapons and the image of a large, silent killer devoid of personality.[111][112] Christopher Null of Filmcritic.com said, "In our collective consciousness, Leatherface and his chainsaw have become as iconic as Freddy and his razors or Jason and his hockey mask."[113] Don Sumner called The Texas Chain Saw Massacre a classic that not only introduced a new villain to the horror pantheon but also influenced an entire generation of filmmakers.[114] According to Rebecca Ascher-Walsh of Entertainment Weekly, it laid the foundations for the Halloween, Evil Dead, and Blair Witch horror franchises.[115] Wes Craven crafted his 1977 film The Hills Have Eyes as an homage to Massacre,[116] while Ridley Scott cited Hooper's film as an inspiration for his 1979 film Alien.[117][118] French director Alexandre Aja credited it as an early influence on his career.[119] Horror filmmaker and heavy metal musician Rob Zombie sees it as a major influence on his work, including his films House of 1000 Corpses (2003) and The Devil's Rejects (2005).[120][121]

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was selected for the 1975 Cannes Film Festival Directors' Fortnight[60] and London Film Festival.[52] In 1976, it won the Special Jury Prize at the Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival in France.[122] Entertainment Weekly ranked the film sixth on its 2003 list of "The Top 50 Cult Films".[123] In a 2005 Total Film poll, it was selected as the greatest horror film of all time.[98][124] It was named among Time's top 25 horror films in 2007.[125] In 2008 the film ranked number 199 on Empire magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time".[126] Empire also ranked it 46th in its list of the 50 greatest independent films.[127] In a 2010 Total Film poll, it was again selected as the greatest horror film; the judging panel included veteran horror directors such as John Carpenter, Wes Craven, and George A. Romero.[128] In 2010, as well, The Guardian ranked it number 14 on its list of the top 25 horror films.[129] It was also voted the greatest horror film of all time in Slant Magazine's 2013 list of the greatest horror films of all time.[130] It was also voted the scariest movie of all time in a 2017 list by Complex[131] and voted the best horror movie of all time in a 2017 list by Thrillist.[132] It was also voted the scariest movie of all time in a 2018 list by Consequence of Sound[133] and voted the best horror movie of all time in a 2018 list by Esquire.[134]

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was inducted into the Horror Hall of Fame in 1990, with director Hooper accepting the award,[135] and it is part of the permanent collection of New York City's Museum of Modern Art.[44] In 2012, the film was named by critics in the British Film Institute's Sight & Sound magazine as one of the 250 greatest films.[136] The Academy Film Archive houses the Texas Chain Saw Massacre Collection, which contains over fifty items, including many original elements for the film.[137]

Critic Christopher Sharrett argues that since Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) and The Birds (1963), the American horror film has been defined by the questions it poses "about the fundamental validity of the American civilizing process",[139] concerns amplified during the 1970s by the "delegitimation of authority in the wake of Vietnam and Watergate".[140] "If Psycho began an exploration of a new sense of absurdity in contemporary life, of the collapse of causality and the diseased underbelly of American Gothic", he writes, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre "carries this exploration to a logical conclusion, addressing many of the issues of Hitchcock's film while refusing comforting closure".[141]

Robin Wood characterizes Leatherface and his family as victims of industrial capitalism, their jobs as slaughterhouse workers having been rendered obsolete by technological advances.[142] He states that the picture "brings to focus a spirit of negativity ... that seems to lie not far below the surface of the modern collective consciousness".[143] Naomi Merritt explores the film's representation of "cannibalistic capitalism" in relation to Georges Bataille's theory of taboo and transgression.[144] She elaborates on Wood's analysis, stating that the Sawyer family's values "reflect, or correspond to, established and interdependent American institutions ... but their embodiment of these social units is perverted and transgressive."[145]

In Kim Newman's view, Hooper's presentation of the Sawyer family during the dinner scene parodies a typical American sitcom family: the gas station owner is the bread-winning father figure; the killer Leatherface is depicted as a bourgeois housewife; the hitchhiker acts as the rebellious teenager.[146] Isabel Cristina Pinedo, author of Recreational Terror: Women and the Pleasures of Horror Film Viewing, states, "The horror genre must keep terror and comedy in tension if it is to successfully tread the thin line that separates it from terrorism and parody ... this delicate balance is struck in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in which the decaying corpse of Grandpa not only incorporates horrific and humorous effects, but actually uses one to exacerbate the other."[147]

The underlying themes of the film have been the subject of extensive critical discussion; critics and scholars have interpreted it as a paradigmatic exploitation film in which female protagonists are subjected to brutal, sadistic violence.[148][149] Stephen Prince comments that the horror is "born of the torment of the young woman subjected to imprisonment and abuse amid decaying arms ... and mobiles made of human bones and teeth."[150] As with many slasher films, it incorporates the "final girl" trope—the heroine and inevitable lone survivor who somehow escapes the horror that befalls the other characters:[151][152] Sally Hardesty is wounded and tortured, yet manages to survive with the help of a male truck driver.[153] Critics argue that even in exploitation films in which the ratio of male and female deaths is roughly equal, the images that linger will be of the violence committed against the female characters.[151][154][155] The specific case of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre provides support for this argument: three men are killed in quick fashion, but one woman is brutally slaughtered—hung on a meathook—and the surviving woman endures physical and mental torture.[156] In 1977, critic Mary Mackey described the meathook scene as probably the most brutal onscreen female death in any commercially distributed film.[157] She placed it in a lineage of violent films that depict women as weak and incapable of protecting themselves.[157]

In one study, a group of men were shown five films depicting differing levels of violence against women.[158] On first viewing The Texas Chain Saw Massacre they experienced symptoms of depression and anxiety; however, upon subsequent viewing they found the violence against women less offensive and more enjoyable.[156] Another study, investigating gender-specific perceptions of slasher films, involved 30 male and 30 female university students.[159] One male participant described the screaming, especially Sally's, as the "most freaky thing" in the film.[159]

According to Jesse Stommel of Bright Lights Film Journal, the lack of explicit violence in the film forces viewers to question their own fascination with violence that they play a central role in imagining.[160] Nonetheless—citing its feverish camera moves, repeated bursts of light, and auditory pandemonium—Stommel asserts that it involves the audience primarily on a sensory rather than an intellectual level.[160]

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre has been described as "the ultimate pro-vegetarian film" due to its animal rights themes. In a video essay, film critic Rob Ager describes the irony in humans' being slaughtered for meat, putting humans in the position of being slaughtered like farm animals. Director Tobe Hooper has confirmed that "it's a film about meat"[161] and even gave up meat while making the film, saying, "In a way I thought the heart of the film was about meat; it’s about the chain of life and killing sentient beings."[162][163] Writer-director Guillermo del Toro became a vegetarian for a time after seeing the film.[164]