IMDb > The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
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The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) More at IMDbPro »

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The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) -- 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.

IMDb Holiday Movie Guide

Overview

User Rating:
7.5/10   30,332 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?

Down 52% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.

Director:

Tobe Hooper

Writers:

Kim Henkel (story) and
Tobe Hooper (story)

Contact:

View company contact information for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre on IMDbPro.

Release Date:

1 October 1974 (USA) more

Genre:

Horror | Thriller more

Tagline:

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

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. full summary | full synopsis

Awards:

1 win more

User Comments:

Indisbutably a classic of cinema, and not just horror cinema more (706 total)


Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
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Additional Details

Also Known As:

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

Runtime:

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

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1 more

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 more

Company:

Vortex more


Fun Stuff

Trivia:

When it was first released, the film was so horrifying that people actually walked out on sneak previews for it. more

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: After the crazy man cuts his own hand, he laughs and waves the knife. Watch carefully and you can see the hose behind the blade the blood came through. more

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...
more

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Everyone's Hero (2006) more

Soundtrack:

MISTY HOURS OF DAYLIGHT more


FAQ

How much money did the cast get?
Wasn't the movie based on a true story?
What other movies are the cast in?
more
80 out of 93 people found the following comment useful.
Indisbutably a classic of cinema, and not just horror cinema, 16 January 2006
10/10
Author: tatra-man from London, England

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.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Reboot/Sequel ideas? AnthonyObrn
I don't get Leatherface's mask towards the end. Hoffman390
I don't understand it... piper3893
Appropriate for 15-year-old? elibev
Just saw it for the first time.... Predator-Lover
How scary is it ?(I've never seen it) gigantorison
more

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