The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Tobe Hooper

Writers:

Kim Henkel (story) and
Tobe Hooper (story)

Release Date:

1 October 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

The idyllic summer's day that became a nightmare of fear and blood... [UK Video]

Plot:

Five friends visiting their grandpa's old house are hunted down and terrorized by a chainsaw wielding killer and his family of grave-robbing cannibals.

Plot Keywords:

Grandfather | Cannibal | Chainsaw | Leatherface | Hitchhiker

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Marilyn Burns	...	Sally Hardesty
Allen Danziger	...	Jerry
Paul A. Partain	...	Franklin Hardesty
William Vail	...	Kirk
Teri McMinn	...	Pam (as Teri Mcminn)
Edwin Neal	...	Hitchhiker
Jim Siedow	...	Old Man
Gunnar Hansen	...	Leatherface
John Dugan	...	Grandfather
Robert Courtin	...	Window Washer
William Creamer	...	Bearded Man
John Henry Faulk	...	Storyteller
Jerry Green	...	Cowboy
Ed Guinn	...	Cattle Truck Driver
Joe Bill Hogan	...	Drunk
Perry Lorenz	...	Pick Up Driver
John Larroquette	...	Narrator (voice)

Directed by
Tobe Hooper

Writing credits
Kim Henkel		(story and screenplay) and
Tobe Hooper		(story and screenplay)

Produced by
Kim Henkel	....	associate producer
Tobe Hooper	....	producer
Jay Parsley	....	executive producer
Richard Saenz	....	associate producer
Louis Peraino	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Wayne Bell		(music score)
Tobe Hooper		(music score)

Cinematography by
Daniel Pearl

Film Editing by
J. Larry Carroll		(as Larry Carroll)
Sallye Richardson

Production Design by
Robert A. Burns		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Robert A. Burns

Makeup Department
W.E. Barnes	....	makeup artist: grandfather
Dorothy J. Pearl	....	makeup artist (as Dorothy Pearl)

Production Management
Ronald M. Bozman	....	production manager (as Ronald Bozman)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Sallye Richardson	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Wayne Bell	....	boom operator
Wayne Bell	....	post-production sound
Jay M. Harding	....	dubbing mixer (as Jay Harding)
Paul Harrison	....	sound re-recordist
Robert Knudson	....	dubbing mixer (as Buzz Knudson)
Ted Nicolaou	....	location sound recordist
Patrick Yacono	....	sound re-recording mixer (restorated version) (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Dean W. Miller	....	special effects

Stunts
Mary Church	....	stunts
Perry Lorenz	....	stunt driver

Camera and Electrical Department
Tobe Hooper	....	additional photographer
Lynn Lockwood	....	lighting (as Lynn Lochwood)
J. Michael McClary	....	camera assistant (as J. Michael Mcclary)
Lou Perryman	....	assistant camera
Rod Ponton	....	grip
Lynn Scherwitz	....	key grip (as Linn Scherwitz)

Other crew
George Baetz	....	production assistant
Jerry Bellnoski	....	production assistant
Mary Church	....	script girl
Jim Crow	....	production assistant
Paula Eaton	....	production assistant
Tom Foote	....	production assistant
Paulette Gochnour	....	production assistant
Charlie Loving	....	production assistant
Sally Nicolau	....	production assistant
N.C. Parsley	....	production assistant
Robert Pustejowski	....	production assistant (as Robert Pustejovski)
David Spaw	....	production assistant
Ray Spaw	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• Vortex

Distributors

• Bryanston Distributing (1974) (USA) (theatrical)
• New Line Cinema (1980) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Astral Films (1980) (Canada) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Astral Films (????) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Astral Video (????) (Canada) (VHS)
• Bac Films (France) (re-release)
• Blue Dolphin Film Distribution (1999) (UK) (VHS)
• CMV Laservision (1999) (Germany) (video) (laserdisc)
• Cinema Mondo (1996) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Converse Video (1985) (Belgium) (VHS)
• Dark Sky Films (2006) (USA) (DVD) (widescreen)
• Dark Sky Films (2008) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Dex Entertainment (2007) (Japan) (DVD)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2000) (Netherlands) (DVD) (VHS)
• Elite Entertainment (1996) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Flashstar Home Vídeo (2002) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Future Film (2001) (2004) (Finland) (DVD)
• Future Film (2001) (Finland) (VHS)
• Jugendfilm-Verleih (1978) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Media Home Entertainment (1984) (USA) (VHS)
• New Line Home Video (????) (USA) (DVD)
• Oy Europa Vision AB (1990) (Finland) (VHS)
• Pioneer Entertainment (1998) (USA) (DVD) (widescreen)
• Pioneer Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Raven Pictures International
• René Chateau Productions (1982) (France) (theatrical)
• Reserva Especial (????) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Rosebud Communications Releasing
• Stormovie (2006) (Italy) (DVD)
• Succéfilm AB (????) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Universal Home Entertainment (????) (UK) (VHS)
• Video Treasures (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Wizard Video (1982) (USA) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Consolidated Film Industries (CFI)  titles: opticals & prints (as CFI)
• Screen Time Images  film restoration
• Todd-AO Studios  sound mix (as Todd/AO)

Also Known As:

Headcheese (USA) (working title)
Leatherface (USA) (working title)
Stalking Leatherface (USA) (alternative title)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (USA) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

83 min | Germany:75 min (new longer Version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:(Banned) | New Zealand:R18 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) (re-rating: 2004) | Sweden:15 (re-rating: 1994) (cut) (re-rating: 2001) (uncut) | Sweden:15 (re-rating) (2001) (uncut) | UK:18 (re-rating: 1999) | Canada:18+ (Quebec) (original rating: 1974) | UK:R (original rating: 1975) | Finland:(Banned) (1984) | Finland:K-18 (1996) | UK:(Banned) (original rating) | Italy:VM14 (re-rating) (2003) | Italy:VM18 (original rating) | Brazil:18 (1998) | Brazil:(Banned) | Australia:(Banned) (original rating) | Belgium:16 (video rating) | West Germany:18 (cut) | New Zealand:R16 (re-rating) (2007) (uncut) | Singapore:M18 (re-rating) | Italy:VM18 (DVD rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:R | Canada:R | Chile:(Banned) (re-rating) (1978) | Chile:18 (original rating) | Denmark:15 (video rating) | France:-16 (re-rating) | France:X (original rating) | Hong Kong:III | Iceland:(Banned) (original rating) | Iceland:16 (re-rating) | Ireland:(Banned) (original rating) | Ireland:18 | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:(Banned) (video rating) | Norway:18 (re-rating) (1997) (uncut) | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:(Banned) (1984) | USA:R | Singapore:(Banned) | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Company:

Vortex

Trivia:

Some urban legends say that the the "real" Texas Chainsaw Massacre took place near Poth, (a small town about 50 miles south of San Antonio. This is false. The film is fictional and based loosely on the life of Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein (as is the classic Psycho (1960)).

Goofs:

Continuity: When the van pulls up to the service station and the cook comes out there is a red open sign on the door. Later it is gone.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: The film which you are about to see is an account of the tragedy which befell a group of five youths, in particular Sally Hardesty and her invalid brother, Franklin. It is all the more tragic in that they were young. But, had they lived very, very long lives...

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers (1988)

Soundtrack:

GLAD HAND

Indisbutably a classic of cinema, and not just horror cinema

Those who have posted here comparing Tobe Hooper's (one and only) masterpiece with the dreadful remake are presumably young children with no real understanding of cinema. The 1974 film is the antithesis of the slick, MTV-influenced, cynical cash-in mentality that informed the later remake. The fact that the remake's target teen audience (well, at least some of them) appeared to lap it up is just a sad reflection of how far standards have fallen since the heyday of the horror film in the 70's.

But Hooper's CHAINSAW is more than just a classic horror film. With its print in the permanent collection at the NY Museum of Modern Art, it truly is a classic of cinema. I've shown this to Bergman fans, Tarkovsky fans and, yes, horror fans too - none of them have been prepared for its power, its inventiveness, its willingness to push the envelope of what cinema can do. And, with its simple story and powerhouse, unstoppable delivery, it is as open to interpretation as any piece of "modern art" - whether it be from the "vegetarian treatise" angle, or the post-Vietnam traumatised America school of thought. But, as I was on my first (of several) viewings, those I have introduced to this movie have been bowled over by the quality of the film-making, and the filmic techniques (soundtrack, editing, startling images) used by Hooper to capture his "waking nightmare" on screen. It is something I really don't think any other film has quite achieved, though many have tried.

Now, of course, there is a fluke element at work here. Hooper never came close to achieving anything like this again, and many, though not all, of the film's fascinating resonances are a product of the era and the filmmaker's unconscious sensibilities. What he obviously had as a director was the kind of daring to take the visceral power that cinema can deliver so well to the limit, to the the edge of acceptability, skirting on exploitation. That the film is so unrelentingly dark and so unbelievably sadistic in its second half, and yet fascinates even as it traumatises, is a definite testimony to the skill of its director. What could have been sleaze is instead a horrible nightmare experience, sure enough, but one that borders on the transcendental. Should be seen by ALL students of cinema at least once in their lifetime.