The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

[SRP76]

Original one, 1974.

For years and years, I pretty much "ducked" this movie; I started watching it once when I as younger, but fell asleep about 20 minutes in, and missed it. And I never got around to securing a copy and watching it.

Well, it came on IFC the other night, and I sat through the entire thing.

After watching it completely, I have one question:

Where's the "great"?

For years and years, I've heard all kinds of hype about how this movie is so awesome. When the credits started rolling (out of nowhere, I might add), I was still waiting for the "awesome" part.

Just why is this thing so popular?

[Danny]

i think there is some nostalgia to it, combined with the whole "true story bit" and the video nasty deal it gained a great deal of notoriety, but just like firday the 13th and a nightmare on elm street i myself dont see the big deal.

Though to be honest slashers aint my thing in the long run, maybe thts because i grew up in the post scream generation when it was a spoof genre by then but the only decent slasher from back then that still holds up is halloween by john carpenter, and thats really just because its probably the finest example of the genre, memorable theme, pretty much defined the final girl in horror movies, the antagonist was horrifying yet lacked any supernatural aspects at the time and it all came together into a memorable whole.

its a classic but is texas chainsaw, yeah it is, but is it good?, eh, its not bad.

[EvilNed]

Pretty much a "had to be there"-thing, I guess. I imagine alot of people would get the very same reaction if they saw NOTLD 68 today.

[Danny]

Pretty much a "had to be there"-thing, I guess. I imagine alot of people would get the very same reaction if they saw NOTLD 68 today.

really?, i dunno, night is the one in the series that i think wouldnt fall prey to that, things like the ending would nowadays be considered a twist and not just a mindfuck, i think night has enough going for it to keep people watching regardless of its age.

[clanglee]

Pretty much a "had to be there"-thing, I guess. I imagine alot of people would get the very same reaction if they saw NOTLD 68 today.

I agree completely with you about TCM being a "had to be there" movie. It is a product of it's times. . and was very very innovative and new when it came out. Scary as shit too, before it was immitated a billion times.

As far as Night however, I would have agreed with you until recently. I saw Nigth at the GAR film fest in Charlotte back in Feb. At the end, there were a lot of sharp intakes of breath and stunned surprise at Ben's death. The rest of the movie was met with some laughter in odd places, but altogether it was well received by even the most jaded of the youths in the audience.

[kortick]

it was just so extreme back in 1974

the hitch hiker cutting himself and his overall
performance was like watching a real psycho.

everyone the kids met was a nut even the
kind old man.

there was cannabalism.
a kid in a wheelchair is cut up with a chainsaw.
and Leatherface was wearing human skin long
before Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs.
a girl is hung on a meat hook alive and watches
as her boyfriend is chain sawed for chili meat.

then grandpa was like wtf...

by todays standards it doesnt have the same effect
but watching it in the 70s to early 80s it was a
movie that was totally off the wall.

[EvilNed]

While I think the twist itself in NOTLD is good enough, that would be the only thing that would impress modern audiences. Sadly, but hey. Things evolve. Also, most people I've seen it with can see the twist going. It was definetly a stronger ending in 1968 than it is in 2009, that's for sure.

[krakenslayer]

TCM is not so much about the events that occur in the film, so much as it is about the feel - the fever-dream nightmare atmosphere. It's not an entertaining film that I'd watch again and again, but it really evokes the feeling of disgust and horror of some really crazy shit that goes down over two hot summer days in the Texan badlands. In that sense, I think it's well done.

[wayzim]

While I think the twist itself in NOTLD is good enough, that would be the only thing that would impress modern audiences. Sadly, but hey. Things evolve. Also, most people I've seen it with can see the twist going. It was definetly a stronger ending in 1968 than it is in 2009, that's for sure.

Dad was one of those guys that never really enjoyed Horror films like his kid did ( in a Famous Monsters of Filmland sorta devotion. ) but after watching NOTLD one Halloween, many years after it was made, he turned to me and said "That was a pretty good movie. "
As for TCM, it was pretty freaky for it's time. That extreme close up of Marilyn Burns eyeball, during the Family dinner scene, did it for me.

Wayne Z
"Ninety years ago, I was a freak. Now I'm an amateur. "
David Warner's Ripper in 'Time After Time.'

[EvilNed]

Dad was one of those guys that never really enjoyed Horror films like his kid did ( in a Famous Monsters of Filmland sorta devotion. ) but after watching NOTLD one Halloween, many years after it was made, he turned to me and said "That was a pretty good movie. "


Right, and I'm sure my father would say the same thing. But I know most of my friends, who have little interest in horror movies, would. Infact, even some of my horror movie fans are little impressed by the original. They respect it and acknowledge it's importance, but they're not impressed by it's quality. Infact, one friend of mine thinks it's mediocre at best. And not because it's aged, rather because it's quite amateurish. The editing is his main gripe.

[bassman]

I think most of the appeal is the gritty style in which it was made. It's got almost a documentary style to it. It feels raw. Although the remake was okay....it failed to have that "real" factor.

[capncnut]

it was just so extreme back in 1974

the hitch hiker cutting himself and his overall
performance was like watching a real psycho.

everyone the kids met was a nut even the
kind old man.

there was cannabalism.
a kid in a wheelchair is cut up with a chainsaw.
and Leatherface was wearing human skin long
before Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs.
a girl is hung on a meat hook alive and watches
as her boyfriend is chain sawed for chili meat.

then grandpa was like wtf...

by todays standards it doesnt have the same effect
but watching it in the 70s to early 80s it was a
movie that was totally off the wall.
Yup, well said Paul. Just reading the list of death scenes there would be enough to make anyone speed off to the nearest cinema. And that's the thing which pretty much cemented it in the hall of fame.

True, when you watch TCM now, it just doesn't have that flavour anymore. For years I was telling my younger cousin about The Evil Dead and how it blew audiences away and when he saw it a few years ago he was like, "wtf, that was garbage!?!?"

You had to be there really.

[SRP76]

I just don't see it, "gritty" or not.

It was plagued by the one intolerable thing that all bad horror movies have: retards as protagonists.

Which happens to be the one thing Night of the Living Dead did not have. Sure, you had a Cooper, but you also had a Ben. In Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it was like 5 Stephens out there.

Hitch-hiker flips out and tries to kill us. Alright, let's NOT go try to find some authorites and report it.

Beat on a door for 10 minutes, and nobody answers. Let's NOT just go back where we came - let's open the door to someone's house and walk right the fuck in! Gee, nothing bad can come from that...

Another attempt at door-beating, only this time we find our missing friends' blanket on the porch. Gee, nothing could possibly be wrong here, so let's barge on into the house alone. Can't see what's going to happen there...

After 2 different shifts of "friends vanish", let's not go try to find some help from the authorities - let's instead wait until the midle of the fucking night, then strike out through the woods, which is really fun when one of us is in a damn wheelchair.

...sorry, but I just couldn't work up any sympathy for these people. I mean, there was pretty much a huge billboard that reads "DANGER! YOU ARE ABOUT TO DIE!" hanging in front of Sally and Franklin by the time they strike out through the woods. Yet, nobody ever sees it.

[EvilNed]

Right, but if I'm not mistaken, TCM was the first time you actually had those retards as protagonists. They were more cemented in reality than what it used to be. I mean, before NOTLD and TCM and all those films, you had government soldiers, or scientists in the leading roles. You know, the kind of people who really only exist in film.

[krakenslayer]

I just don't see it, "gritty" or not.

It was plagued by the one intolerable thing that all bad horror movies have: retards as protagonists.

Which happens to be the one thing Night of the Living Dead did not have. Sure, you had a Cooper, but you also had a Ben. In Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it was like 5 Stephens out there.

Hitch-hiker flips out and tries to kill us. Alright, let's NOT go try to find some authorites and report it.

Beat on a door for 10 minutes, and nobody answers. Let's NOT just go back where we came - let's open the door to someone's house and walk right the fuck in! Gee, nothing bad can come from that...

Another attempt at door-beating, only this time we find our missing friends' blanket on the porch. Gee, nothing could possibly be wrong here, so let's barge on into the house alone. Can't see what's going to happen there...

After 2 different shifts of "friends vanish", let's not go try to find some help from the authorities - let's instead wait until the midle of the fucking night, then strike out through the woods, which is really fun when one of us is in a damn wheelchair.

...sorry, but I just couldn't work up any sympathy for these people. I mean, there was pretty much a huge billboard that reads "DANGER! YOU ARE ABOUT TO DIE!" hanging in front of Sally and Franklin by the time they strike out through the woods. Yet, nobody ever sees it.

Yeah, most of the characters were naive idiots - but so were Hansel and Gretel, Goldilocks, Little Red Riding Hood, etc. Part of the reason kids enjoy those stories, for the same reason they like slasher movies when they get to being teenagers, is that they KNOW the characters are going to fuck up, and the fun lies in seeing what happens to them when they do. On some level they're morality tales that teach kids not to trespass, steal, talk to strangers, while slasher movies do the same for sex in the woods, trespassing (again), smoking dope and idiotic arrogance. And on another level they also make the viewer (or reader, listener) feel superior because THEY can spot the mistakes and would never do the same.

[MikePizzoff]

I think most of the appeal is the gritty style in which it was made. It's got almost a documentary style to it.

I agree.

I'm only 24 years old and I was heavily into this movie at the age of 12, so for me it's definitely not the "you had to be there" factor. I can easily see how people could think it of being over-rated, however.

[Skippy911sc]

Original one, 1974.

For years and years, I pretty much "ducked" this movie; I started watching it once when I as younger, but fell asleep about 20 minutes in, and missed it. And I never got around to securing a copy and watching it.

Well, it came on IFC the other night, and I sat through the entire thing.

After watching it completely, I have one question:

Where's the "great"?

For years and years, I've heard all kinds of hype about how this movie is so awesome. When the credits started rolling (out of nowhere, I might add), I was still waiting for the "awesome" part.

Just why is this thing so popular?

I thought that same thing...in fact I remember when I first saw it and it ended I said...That's it! Just Leatherface dancing around with the chainsaw???? I was always curious why others felt this was so great and amazing...I can now be conforted in knowing I am not the only one. BTW I saw it in the late eighties.

[axlish]

I just picked up the Blu-ray. I'm not a big fan of the film, but the low price and the inclusion of some cool documentaries (I am a sucker for extras) instigated the purchase. I'll chime in with harsh opinions after viewing :)