The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Director:

Tobe Hooper

Writers:

Kim Henkel (story) and
Tobe Hooper (story)

Release Date:

1 October 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | 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 | Leatherface | Chainsaw | 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

Original Music by
Wayne Bell
Tobe Hooper

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)
• Jugendfilm-Verleih (1978) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Astral Films (1980) (Canada) (theatrical) (re-release)
• New Line Cinema (1980) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• René Chateau Productions (1982) (France) (theatrical)
• Wizard Video (1982) (USA) (VHS)
• Media Home Entertainment (1984) (USA) (VHS)
• Converse Video (1985) (Belgium) (VHS)
• Oy Europa Vision AB (1990) (Finland) (VHS)
• Cinema Mondo (1996) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Elite Entertainment (1996) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Dex Entertainment (2007) (Japan) (DVD)
• Dark Sky Films (2008) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Pioneer Entertainment (1998) (USA) (DVD) (widescreen)
• Blue Dolphin Film Distribution (1999) (UK) (VHS)
• CMV Laservision (1999) (Germany) (video) (laserdisc)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2000) (Netherlands) (DVD) (VHS)
• Future Film (2001) (Finland) (DVD) (2004)
• Future Film (2001) (Finland) (VHS)
• Flashstar Home Vídeo (2002) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Pioneer Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Dark Sky Films (2006) (USA) (DVD) (widescreen)
• Stormovie (2006) (Italy) (DVD)
• Astral Films (????) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Succéfilm AB (????) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Astral Video (????) (Canada) (VHS)
• Bac Films (France) (re-release)
• Cine Art Filmes (2008) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Converge Video (19??) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Force Video (2000) (Australia) (DVD)
• New Line Home Video (????) (USA) (DVD)
• Raven Pictures International
• Reserva Especial (????) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Rosebud Communications Releasing
• Triangle Video (1985) (Canada) (video)
• Turbine Medien GmbH (2012) (Germany) (DVD)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2007) (Australia) (DVD)
• Universal Home Entertainment (????) (UK) (VHS)
• Video Movies Leerdam (VML) (19??) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Video Treasures (????) (USA) (VHS)

Other Companies

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

Also Known As:

"Stalking Leatherface" - USA (alternative title)
"The Devil of Punishment" - Japan (English title)

Runtime:

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

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:(Banned) (1985-2011) | 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-release) (uncut) | Italy:VM18 (original rating) | Brazil:18 (1998) | Brazil:(Banned) (original rating) | 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 (cut DVD version) | Malaysia:(Banned) | Germany:18 (re-rating) (2011) | 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 (re-rating) | 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 (Approved No. 24009) | Singapore:(Banned)

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Company:

Vortex

Trivia:

The film's original distributor was Bryanston Distribution Company, in fact a Mafia front operated by Louis "Butchie" Peraino, who used the movie to launder profits he made from Deep Throat (1972). In return, the production received only enough money to reimburse the investors and pay the cast and crew $405 a piece. The producers eventually discovered that Peraino had lied to them about the film's profits; after Peraino was arrested on obscenity charges when his role in Deep Throat was revealed, the cast and crew filed a suit against him and were awarded $25,000 each. New Line Cinema, which obtained the rights to "Chain Saw" from the bankrupt Bryanston, paid the cast and crew as part of the purchase agreement.

Goofs:

Continuity: The blood the hitchhiker smears on the van is gone in the long shot a few seconds later.

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:

Referenced in Wrong Turn 2: Dead End (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

POCO A POCO NO

THE masterclass in low-budget horror

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre can, and will, be reinterpreted by critics and theorists for decades to come. It was shot in the summer of 1973, during the aftermath of the Vietnam War and the Munich Olympics massacre, at the height of the Watergate scandal and the legal investigation into the shootings at Kent State. It was an era of plane hijackings, government oppression and dishonesty, racial conflict, terrorism and revolution. As a mirror of a dark period in American history, Chain Saw remains one of the best evocations yet of the era, as a group of young individuals, returning to the nostalgic home of their childhood, stumble into the raw and irrational cruelty of the modern world.

The movie has a weak, though functional storyline, one that has since became the staple for slasher movies; a group of teenagers get lost, stumble across evil and get stalked and killed. But Chain Saw isn't about storyline and plot; it's about creating an experience, a sensory overload. The cast and crew work tirelessly to create scenes and images that are raw and powerful and ultimately, against all expectations, beautiful. Leatherface's travesty of motherly domesticity as he prepares dinner, his child-like dance in the dawn light, the open door at the gas station, the van making it's slow turn off the road towards the derelict and ivy clad Hardesty residence are all images that burn themselves into your consciousness after just a single viewing.

The cinematography is exceptional. Watching the Special Edition, you'd never know that this was shot on 16mm in poor light. The picture quality is outstanding, the colors rich and vibrant, the blacks inky and menacing. The brilliant azure skies, the jade green of the grass, the bright red generator, the searing sunlight and stifling shadows. Every frame seems saturated in nicotine gold. Beautiful.

Though not always likable, the actors are always believable. Performances are universally startling, but special mention has to go to Marilyn Burns. Though she has little more to work with than the clichéd screaming heroine, she works it with remarkable conviction. It was a traumatic shoot, and it shows. Few actresses have so effectively conveyed mind-numbing terror.

The soundtrack is exceptional and deserves more recognition. It is a great testimony to the experimentation and risk taking attitude of the era that all melody is destroyed under an industrial ambient soundscape of metallic clangs, scrapes and screams, evoking the atmosphere of the local slaughterhouse and the Family's state of mind. Terrifying.

Despite the complete lack of gore or extreme physical violence, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre continues to horrify and holds up the countless, shot-on-video, slasher clones of subsequent years for the puerile crap that they truly are. Whether by accident or design, this one is a classic.

9 out of 10