DVD Review: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Sub-Genre- Slasher/Survival
In Attendance- Me, Machine, Chris, Geo, Amanda and Teryn.
Cast Members of Note- The legendary Marilyn Burns and Gunnar Hansen, and the smooth narration talents of John Laroquette.

The guy from Night Court pretty much spells it out for us at the beginning via narration; some dumb kids go poking around on an isolated Texas farmhouse one day, and they piss off the bumpkin cannibals living there, thus sealing their fate. He goes on to say that it's mostly the crippled guy in the wheelchair's fault, since him being so slow and cumbersome basically turned this into a massacre. Good job, Franklin.

The Neighbor.

Warned by the locals, out of gas, and stupid, a van full of kids trek their hippie asses 5,000 miles deep into the Texas badlands to visit a crappy old farmhouse that looks like it could have spawned its own massacre at some point. Good times! Along the way, they pick up a hitchhiker who looks like a dirty, creepy, Serial Killer version of Jesus, and despite him acting odd, it takes them forever to throw him out of the van.

Did you have fun snooping around, dummy?

The real fun begins once they get to "Creepyland" though; why not go exploring, poking around other people's land, and just let yourself into their house? Because you will die, that's why! Country folk ain't like it much when city slickers go snoopin' around, you hear!?! Violence and creepy dinner scenes ensue.
I won't spoil the ending for you here, but suffice it to say that we get one of the best angry chainsaw-swinging scenes in movie history. *And in all fainess, maybe the only one.

Dance, Leatherface, dance!

I can only imagine how profoundly disturbing this movie must have been to audiences back in 1974; Horror fans were generally less jaded back then, and moviegoers in general were not used to seeing anything quite like this. This movie helped to redefine Horror, breaking the "safe" mold it was in during the 60's, and ushering in a new, bold age of raw terror that would be copied many times over, for the rest of eternity.

I could talk for hours about the things that make this movie classic, but I have to assume that most people already know all about those things. Leatherface is one of the biggest genre icons of all time, sharing the throne with Jason, Freddy and Michael. He doesn't speak, but his dead skin mask really says all that needs to be said.

It was banned all over the world, condemned by the church, and shook audiences to the core... what more can you really ask for in a Horror Classic?

"Oh hell no, bitch, you on your own!"

What in the hell was that meat on that plate? I swear that I can't eat sausage or ham for days every time I watch this movie. Bologna too. And for some reasons, yams also, but that's another story altogether.

Would you really go in a deserted, old, creepy farmhouse when you heard those pig noises? Me neither. "Hello, you in here? No? Ok then, buh-bye." Then I'd run like a half-witted moron away from the creepy pig noises like a coward. I'd live though. I'd live.

Nope.

For being one of the best and most disturbingly violent Horror films of all time, TCM actually had very little visible bloodshed. Still, we get a multiple hammer blows to the head, a hook impaling, and plenty of chainsaw fun.

That poor girl...

Nope. We do get to see some 70's style pokies though.

"Shut up, you bitch hog!" or Larroquette's famous voice-over "The events of that day were to lead to the discovery of one of the most bizarre crimes in the annals of American history, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre."

You don't go poking around on people's land. Ever. Also, picking up hitchhikers seldom works out for the best. Especially in Texas.

TCM is without a doubt one of the best Horror films of all time, if not the best. It's sparse, gritty, shocking, nasty, disturbing and dreadful... and as a Horror fan, if you don't own this, you're crazy. If you haven't at least seen this, you're worse than crazy, and need to go and check it out asap.

A+

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is svailablenow on Blu-ray and DVD.

This movie had its fair share of 70's hotness going for it -in the form of Marilyn Burns and Terry McMinn- even if things got way too disturbing to enjoy it in a fun way.