The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)    Bryanston Pictures/Horror   RT: 84 minutes    Rated R (some language, strong violence, very disturbing content)    Director: Tobe Hooper    Screenplay: Kim Henkel and Tobe Hooper    Music: Wayne Bell and Tobe Hooper    Cinematography: Daniel Pearl    Release date: October 1, 1974 (US)    Cast: Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Allen Danziger, Teri McMinn, William Vail, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, Gunnar Hansen, John Dugan, Ed Guinn, John Larroquette (narrator).    Box Office: $30.8M (US)

Rating: *** ½

 When you think about it, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the first slasher movies. Coming out four years before John Carpenter’s Halloween, it established certain rules of the genre, ones that the characters in these movies always seem to violate. Okay, let’s go over them.

• Under no circumstances should you pick up weird looking hitchhikers. That’s just plain common sense.
• The proprietor of the rundown gas station in the middle of nowhere will not only be out of gas, he will also be of no help whatsoever. If anything, he will urge you to go back the way you came and keep going. In kind, the travelers in question will disregard this advice.
• If you come across a house that appears to be empty, IT ISN’T! Stay the hell out of there! Especially if the interior décor includes human and animal skeletal remains.
• Whoever goes to look for the missing members of their party will inevitably take the keys to the vehicle with them.
• DON’T GO WANDERING AROUND THE WOODS ALONE AT NIGHT! Again, plain common sense.
• If you’re in a remote place in the middle of nowhere, everybody is related. Don’t trust anybody. Don’t ask anybody for help. You’ll be sorry (and screwed!) if you do.

These rules might not apply to every situation in a horror movie, but you get the idea.

 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre opened to much controversy in October 1974. It was banned outright in some countries and several theaters stopped showing it in response to numerous complaints about its violence. Now here’s the funny thing. This movie is NOT as gory as its reputation suggests. Yes, it’s most definitely violent and disturbing, but you hardly see any blood and gore. In fact, director Tobe Hooper (Poltergeist) hoped to secure a PG rating when he originally submitted it to the MPAA. Instead they slapped it with an X due to its intense and disturbing tone. Eventually, Hooper trimmed several minutes and it got an R rating. For my money, it’s one of the most effectively disturbing horror flicks I’ve ever seen.

 The movie opens with Sally Hardesty (Burns) and her wheelchair-bound brother Franklin (Partain) on a road trip through the back roads of Texas. They’re joined by three friends- Kirk (Vail), his girlfriend Pam (McMinn) and Jerry (Danziger) – as they head to the cemetery where the Hardestys’ grandfather is buried. There’s been a rash of grave robberies recently and they want to make sure their grandfather’s grave is undisturbed. They decide to visit the old family home which is when things start going wrong.  They pick up a long-haired, grungy-looking hitchhiker (Neal) who tells them stories about working in the nearby slaughterhouse (see Rule #1). His behavior is odd, to say the least. He ends up attacking Franklin with a straight razor before they throw out of their VW van.

 After stopping at a gas station (see Rule #2), they arrive at the family homestead and find it in really poor condition. Kirk and Pam decide to look for a nearby swimming hole (it’s dried up). They happen across a farmhouse with a running generator. They knock at the door to see if they can buy some gas from the homeowner, but nobody answers (see Rule #3). Kirk decides to enter the house and is promptly met by a hulking man wearing an apron and mask made from human skin. Everybody, meet Leatherface (Hansen). Leatherface, EAT everybody.

 Leatherface bashes Kirk’s skull in with a small hammer and slams the kitchen door shut. Pam goes inside looking for him and discovers that the furniture is made of human bones. She tries to run but Leatherface grabs her, pulls her back inside the house and hangs her from a large stainless steel meathook. He then goes to work on Kirk with his trusty chainsaw.

 When it starts to get dark, Jerry goes looking for the couple and ends up another victim of Leatherface, but not before discovering a half-alive Pam inside a freezer. Sally and Franklin go looking for their friends (see Rule #5). They can’t just leave because Jerry has the keys to the van (see Rule #4). Leatherface surprises them in the woods and kills Franklin with his chainsaw. The rest of the night is a complete nightmare for Sally as she tries to avoid becoming Leatherface’s next victim.

 Sally ends up back at the gas station where she pleads with the middle-aged proprietor (Siedow) for help (see Rule #6). It goes without saying Sally ends up back at the house as the guest of honor at the family dinner. Given they’re cannibals, it also goes without saying she might end up as the main dish as well. Yeah, they’re a pretty creepy bunch, especially Grandpa (Dugan) who looks as though he’s been dead for several years. I won’t go into everything that happens to the girl, but it’s the very thing from which nightmares are made.

 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre might not be the easiest horror flick to watch, but that’s precisely why it’s so effective. It’s an extremely visceral experience in sheer terror. The audience can feel the stifling August heat inside the cramped van. They can smell the slaughterhouse as its odor permeates the air around the characters. They feel absolutely uncomfortable in the presence of the creepy hitchhiker.

 Hooper also employs sound as a way of making the audience feel uneasy. Of course, there’s the buzzing of the chainsaw, that’s a given. In the movie’s opening shots, we see glimpses of a rotting corpse as a camera flash bulb goes off. It’s accompanied by a very disturbing sound. There’s also the sound of bluegrass music playing on static-filled radio stations. The auditory pandemonium in this picture is enough to disturb even the most jaded horror fan.

 The cinematography is a stroke of brilliance; even the very look of the movie makes the viewer feel uneasy. Several scenes are played in near total darkness which works in the movie’s favor. Then there’s the interior of Leatherface’s house. WOW! Sally is tied to an arm chair that’s literally an ARM chair (the arms are human arms!). This movie is all full of nasty stuff!

 The opening narration (by John Larroquette of Night Court) asserts that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a true story, but that’s not exactly true. This particular incident did not happen, but Leatherface is based on real-life serial killer Ed Gein who also had furniture made from human remains and a mask made of human skin. Gein’s exploits inspired two other prominent horror films- Psycho (1960) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991).

 As for the movie itself, it’s simply a minor horror masterpiece. The acting is naturalistic and believable. Burns does an especially good job as the last woman standing. Hansen is the quintessential Leatherface. He’s obviously mentally retarded, but he’s also completely and utterly loony tunes. The way he waves around his chainsaw over his head in frustration at the end of the movie as the heroine gets away is classic. The whole family (Sawyer is their name) gives inbred redneck cannibals an even worse name.

 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the second movie that I rented upon receiving my first VCR (another rental that nearly gave the parentals a stroke). I was surprised to discover it wasn’t a total bloodbath and didn’t quite know how to react to it at the time. I realize now it’s a different kind of slasher flick; it leaves a lot to the imagination. That can be the scariest place in the world. Just ask Stephen King or Alfred Hitchcock. It’s like an 84-minute trip to an insane asylum. All I can say is wow. Simply WOW!