8. Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Directed by Tobe Hooper
Starring Marilyn Burns, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain, William Vail, Teri McMinn, Edwin Neal, Gunnar Hansen
Five friends visiting their grandfather’s house in the country are hunted and terrorized by a chain-saw wielding killer and his family of grave-robbing cannibals.
Fun Fact: Tobe Hooper didn’t know that “chainsaw” was one word, hence why the film is called Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
Gritty, grimy and terrifyingly uncomfortable, Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a movie that is as effective now as it was back in 1974. Shot on a super low budget, Texas Chain Saw Massacre looks and feels dirty, showing the distinct clear divide of the free-thinking hippy America to its inbred counterpart. Perhaps the goriest movie to never show any gore on-screen, the genius of Hooper’s original Texas Chain Saw Massacre is in the atmosphere and sense of unease it creates. You only have to watch the scene round the dinner table to see that.
The series would go on a bizarre detour for its second outing, made at the now infamous Cannon Films. Hooper felt that the intended humour of the original movie wasn’t present enough, so made the wacky comedy outing Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, a movie whose poster parodied The Breakfast Club. But even with all of its sequels, prequels and remakes (with another prequel in the works), none have ever managed to reach the lofty levels of the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
Originally published October 31, 2014. Updated October 24, 2022.
