Here's a selection of words and reviews about The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. If you have a own review, please send it to me.
The film is above all and else, extremely well made, and it is this that gives it’s story (…)it’s undoubted visceral power and lifts it above the level of so many of it’s rivals in the low-budget schlock-horror stakes (…) In fact Hooper, like Fritz Lang knows exactly what not to show, and realize that much of power of horror lies in suggestion rather than overt gore.
Phil Hardy, "The Aurum Film Encyclopedia-Horror", 1985
Chanisaw has been subjected to criticism over the years that it is little more than "a repulsive gore film", a criticism not the justified by the film itself, wich, unlike many films of this type, is remarkably free of bloody effects.
John McCarty, "Psychos", 1986
MPAA: R
Theatre Branch, Ontario: R ****½
Dismissed by many as a gory exploitation picture at the time of its 1974 release, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE is an over-looked horror classic which is at once disturbing, sickening and effective.
As we learn in the opening narrative (by an unbilled John Larroquette), the events depicted in the film are true, and occured in 1973. While any actual event I am unaware of, it is well known that the story is loosely based on mass murderer Ed Gein (as was Hitchcock's PSYCHO).
An uncomfortable film to watch from the beginning, we learn that in a small, isolated part of Texas graves are being dug up and rotting corpses placed in elaborate positions.
A van of five teenagers arrives at the cemetary, to visit the resting place of the grandfather of two of them. (The grave has, no doubt, been desecrated.) The rest of their day-trip involves visiting old Grandfather's abandoned house. But on the way they pick up a scarred creepy hitchiker (Neal), who cackles as he slices up his own hand. They drop him off quickly and are on their way again, but what lies ahead for them is truly terrifying.
The first forty-five minutes of this film is uneasy, eerie set-up, and the final half is a shocking assault of ear-piercing screams and body-chewing chainsaws. This is a very difficult movie to like, but like John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN it must be experienced.
The low-budget look (which adds to the terror) and surprisingly un-graphic violence (unlike the film's unfathomably bad sequels) may not affect you immediately, but it is something you will not soon forget. Brutal violence, horror, frightening scenes.
***
The most graphic film of its time period, Chainsaw is considered by some the best granddaddy of modern horror. I will agree, but not to the fact that its high quality. Yes the film is gorey and has some very real elements, but other than the direction, the film is worth very little more than the film it's printed on.
The picture is extremely well acted and crafted for a low-budget.
Danny Peary, "Cult Movies", 1982
Strictly an exercise in exploitation but done with such a sence of grotesque style that it has become a cult classic in American Grand Guignol.
John Stanley, "Revenge Of The Creature Features Movie Guide", 1988
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the ultimate funhouse picture. It worms it’s way underneath almost every defense and rattles the viewer. One is left in much the same state caused by a ride on a magnificent rollercoaster. One can admire it for it’s construction, respect it for it’s abillity to thrill, and just be glad it’s over.
Richard Myers, "For One Week Only", 1983
Eric Way*
* * ½
Rated-R: Graphic violence and torture.
Have you ever met a family of cannibalistic killers who dwell on innocent people who stumble upon their property? Well, in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, you meet a family of four men and the corpse of their grandmother who prey upon five young adults taking a leisurely summer drive and discover a grizzly house of bones and flesh.
After hearing of a grave robbing in a neighboring Texas town, Sally Hardesty, her paraplegic brother Franklin, her boyfriend Jerry, and friends Pam and Kirk, head to the cemetery in which her grandfather is buried, fearing that his grave was robbed. After seeing that all is well with her grandfather’s grave, Sally and her friends journey on, hoping to stop and see their grandparent's old home, which she and Franklin remember from their childhood. After they get there, they tour the old, rotted, run down house. One by one, each of the young adults slowly disappears into the light of day and soon into the dark of night. Before you know what is going to happen next, the only thing left is the buzz of a chainsaw.
In 1974, Tobe Hooper created this chilling tell that broke all the rules of the time and instantly created a cult classic to be viewed by millions upon millions, sparking 3 sequels.
One of the things that made this film so frightening was the way in which the family lived. Instead of waking up on Sunday mornings and eating a breakfast of eggs and bacon, they fry up a bowl of kidney and heart. The originality of the family and their horrific lifestyle obviously stems back from the demented existence of previous generations of a cannibalistic man who is at fault for creating the present family.
Another of the most entertaining ingredients in the movie are the original and dark camera shots used by the movie’s creators. In one seen, a young woman walks to the house in which the killers live. The camera follows from below and behind her. As she walks towards the house, its almost as if the house itself grows.
The remote location used for the movie is eerie itself. The remoteness alone is enough to frighten anyone, let alone the actual inside of the house. The inside is perhaps the closest thing any character could imagine as being close to hell. Instead of a bouquet of flowers as the dining room table’s center piece, the limp body of a dead armadillo lays. Although the characters aren’t justified as much as they could have or possibly should have been, the plot alone is enough to propel the movie into complete horror, deserving to be a one of a kind, classic horror flick.
The sheer fright of the main antagonist, Leatherface is horrifying. The character of Leatherface, and those of his family, are all loosely based on the true to life accomplishments of serial killer Ed Gein. Many of the film’s elements are based on Ed Gein’s actions. However, the movie and plot itself are NOT true as the prologue states. That was more or less a tactic to get more viewers to think about the terror that the young adults went through and the demented minds of the family that put them through it.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is none other than one of the all time greatest flicks to get scared by. Who will survive... and what will be left of them?
Probably the most nightmarish, achingly surreal terror film ever made, Cainsaw asscre set standards for contemporary screen horror that have only rarely been matched.
Chas. Balun, "The Connoisseur's Guide to the Contemporary Horror Films", 1992
This is NOT a bloody movie but it’s still one of the most violent movies in film history. Tobe Hoopers great directing makes this movie to a full rated classic masterpiece. A mile stone in horror history.
T.B Jones, "Horror Madness" 1992
(In swedish)
Överdriven hets i TV prgrammet "Studio S" gjorde att denna film blev totalförbjuden i Sverige trots att många som skrek ut sin avsky för den här filmen i TV inte ens hade sett den. Trots att den inte innehåller något blod att tala om så skrek folk om att den var så blodig, dessutom så hade den ju en våldsam titel!
Ok, titeln är våldsam men blodig är definitivt inte Motorsågsmassakern. Däremot så är den fruktansvärt bra. Tobe Hoopers lyckade regi gör den här filmen till ett mästerverk. Det är inte det fysiska våldet som gör den här filmen, utan den psykiska stämningen som byggs upp under hela filmen väl regisserad av Tobe Hooper.
Flera uppgrävda gravar har hittats i en liten håla i Texas. Det börjar med att ett gäng ungdomar, varav en sitter i rullstol, ska åka och besöka en släktings gamla hus. På vägen stannar dem och tar upp en skum liftare (Ed Neal) som börjar bete sig underligt och därför slänger de av honom. När dem sedan kommer fram så ska några av dem titta lite på omgivningen och kommer fram till ett hus. Inne i huset hittar de en massa olika möbler gjorda av benknotor och ben hängandes över allt (Inspirerat av den gamle massmördaren Ed Gein) och blir dem överfallna av en man i en mask av människohud kallad Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen). Leatherface går lös och mördar dem en efter en. Till slut blir det bara en kvar, Sally (Marilyn Burns).
Filmen är en klassiker och ingen annan film har någonsin kommit i närheten av den fantastika stämning som råder i hela filmen. Soundtracket består endas av konstiga ljud.
This review was made myself and is published at "Celluloid Frency". It's not translated.
"... it did for meat-eating what Hichcock did for showertaking."