Harry72’s review published on Letterboxd:
Don't think I'll even get the chance to watch a film on Halloween (clubs are calling) so here's my Halloween film- "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre". It's a bit strange to say that considering how this is a slasher film based off a true story.
The story of that being five teenage friends being hunted down by the cannibalistic killer Leatherface and his very normal family when going on to a trip to one of theirs grandfather's house. Famously, director Tobe Hooper cut this film down in order to get a PG rating. He didn't succeed and I'm not surprised. Despite there being not that much gore in it, this is still so disturbing and its that subject matter which got an R rating after all. The way Leatherface harvests these teens like cows is and the macabre nature to him and his family is horrific and works so well in what it implies rather than what it explicitly shows.
Being made back in 1974, there's a roughness to this not seen in modern horror movies which adds to the shocking realism of what you see. Clearly low budget and low effects but far grittier as a result.
The surrealism of what happens, particularly during the latter half of the film, makes for a lot of dark humour to go along with the bleakness. It's still got power now but in hindsight of the many, many other horror films we see today it's not quite as shocking as it was back then. For instance, the final shot is reminiscent of the dancing in
"Joker" which is as we all know it a huge influence for Scorsese.
The plot is fairly generic with the 5 victims not being much more than that lacking any real substance. It's approach of history is great in how it becomes revisionist allowing for a final girl when in reality that neither the zombies were the case.
It's a highly influential film in the horror genre and certainly one worth seeing for the first time for Halloween and even while it can seem generic in some aspects with its barebones narrative and lack of character arcs, in the horror itself it still holds up very well and is leagues, leagues better than the recent legacy sequel which lacks the "The" as well as any quality ideas.
Harry72 liked this review
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