Lisnara77 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. One of the most iconic titles to a film, in any genre nevermind Horror.The films false documentary introduction is brilliant and has long fueled the urban myth that this all actually happened. As a child I remember thinking it really happened, before I'd ever seen the film I knew the title, I knew the 'real events' mystique surrounding it. Such a simple thing has lead to so much heresay. Firstly I have to say this film has some of the most amazing cinematography I've seen. It's a cheaply made Horror film from the early 1970s. It had no real right to be so well shot, but here we are. Some of the shots are just amazing. Tobe Hooper and cinematographer Daniel Pearl did one hell of a job with this film. The camerawork is unbelievable. The visuals are brilliant from the use of color, to the bright sunlight. Yes a Horror film which makes use of the summer sun, a sight to behold. The 16mm film stock captures a cheap and very real feeling film. This is no glamorous Hollywood production. You can feel the sweaty, humid heat through the screen. You can practically smell the stench. This really adds to the gruesome events taking place.The soundtrack was improvised. It's no piece of classical music. It's just pure harrowing sounds and it works oh so well. These sounds are now iconic. I can't imagine this film without them. The use of sound in this film outside of the soundtrack is brilliant, the sound of the chainsaw being one such example. The film is a real tour-de-force in both visual and audio horror.The acting performances are all too real. Sally, her brother Franklin and their friends all feel like a real group of individuals. Not actors portraying people, but just every day people. This works to the films strength. Combined with the visuals you get such a grounded true to life experience. More on Sally, whom was portrayed by Marilyn Burns. Marilyn gives one of the best acting performances in a Horror film I've seen. She portrays the ordeal that Sally goes through impeccably. Horror films often feature Women screaming, you're unlikely to encounter a better screamer in all of Horror than Marilyn Burns and for that I have to say she truly is the 'Scream Queen' (a title bestowed upon leading Horror actresses). Never has a title been more fitting.The villains in this piece are some of the most whacky and insane you'll ever encounter, the performances from the actors are brilliant. The film also contains undertones and messages about the horrors of the meat industry and slaughterhouses. Quite simply a must watch for every Horror fan. For me personally, it's a perfect Horror film and I'd go as far to say that this is the best Horror film I've seen.

Jared_Andrews 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' is one of the most famous and influential horror films of all time. Its minimal budget and direction can be seen in some way in nearly all horror movies that followed it for decades. The plot is exceptionally simple, a smart choice and another influential one. Five young adults take a trip to a desolate Texas town to honor the death of a friend's grandfather. On what should have been a wonderful, cathartic adventure, they encounter a family of cannibals who slaughter humans with hammers, and yes, chainsaws. All the actors were unknowns at the time, and they worked little in movies afterwards. I must admit I didn't notice that these were amateurs. After all, they really only needed to scream and run, so hiring no-name actors was a smart cost-saving decision.My initial reaction is that the film is not nearly as gory as people think it is-virtually all the blood and violence is shown off screen or is blocked by some clever camera work. If you dare to keep your eyes fixed to the screen during the killing scenes, you'll be surprised to find how little you actually see.The camera work used throughout the film is inspired and clearly inspiring. Countless horror movies that have come after have copied techniques seen here, not only to save money on necessary prosthetics and makeup, but also to let viewers visualize the gore for themselves. In most cases, what we imagine is far worse than anything a movie could actually show us.For the most part, the movie contains very little score. Sound effects and occasional dialogue make up virtually all the sound we here. During the scariest moments, screams replace the music. Another replacement for the creepy music we would normally hear is the sound of maniacal laughter. The cannibal family's incessant laughter is creepy as hell. 'Halloween' has the famous piano music, and 'Texas Chainsaw' has creepy laughter. The chase scene at the end is incredibly terrifying and brilliantly filmed. Making use of wide shots, we see the girl and the cannibals sprinting towards the camera, as carefully selected angles manipulate the viewers' depth perception, causing the chasing cannibals to appear closer than they really are. Also, there's a giant psychopath wielding a roaring chainsaw as he chases a helpless, shrieking girl. Fancy camerawork isn't exactly required to make this scene terrifying. Nevertheless, the chase sequences in this film are some the best and most inventive ever in horror cinema.When all hope seems lost, the girl with the iron will survives, the only one of her group to do so. This popularized the trope of the lone surviving girl. Watch any horror film-there's almost always at least one girl who fights and survives. That's just one more example of this film's influence.

camzmetz First off.. I purposefully created an account for imdb JUST so I can write this review.. NO JOKE.. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre directed by Tobe Hooper is the scariest horror film I have ever seen in my lifetime. I first saw this recorded on a VHS tape back in 1998 when I was twelve years old from one of my older brothers who was a big film buff. I watched it alone and I heard and saw clips of it growing up earlier but I had not sat down and experienced it from start to finish. After watching it, the film would be forever ingrained in my subconscious going forward and only reinforced my love for filmmaking.In short, five young adults(or teens maybe) go out on an ideal summer day to visit an old family house, only to then find themselves being butchered and tortured to death by a chainsaw wielding, dead skin mask wearing cannibal. Thats it.. Literally.. There is no need to further explain any other details to this horror monolith. But here is why I want to explain to you why I think it's the scariest to me.1. ACTING: It is masterfully acted, the actors are not well knowns. LeatherFace, played by the late Gunnar Hansen, studied at a youths' handicap school(to my limited knowledge) to understand movements and noises by the mentally challenged. He produced an iconic performance that is at the level of movie monsters such as Dracula(1931) and Frankenstein(1932) of their time.2. MUSIC: The scariest if not one of the scariest set of tracks I have heard in other films. 3. UNKNOWN: There is not a reason to why these events transpired and happened to these youths, nor is there a reason to understand the point to it. But that leads us to understand that terrifying and horrifying things can and do happen to us people everyday without explanation. The UNKNOWN.4. MOTIVES: There are none.. There are no motives to what transpires in the film. The youths are not hunted or lured nor trapped and LeatherFace is not actively seeking out to murder and kill. Both parties just stumble upon each-other. THIS IS NOT, NOR EVER WILL BE AN ORDINARY SLASHER FILM.5. CAN'T REPLICATE: This film cannot be replicated, period. There will be sequels, remakes and other similar formulated horror films created in the same realm of it but it will never be nor have the effect of this visual viewing. It is a SUPERNOVA OF THE VISUAL MACABRE.6. SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF: From the first time to repeated viewings of this, it has felt like the actors were ACTUALLY MURDERED on set. It feels and sounds and looks like this horror is real life and we are witnessing an act of cannibalistic mayhem before our eyes. IS THIS REAL?IN CONCLUSION: As this film ages and future generations of people view this experience, I sincerely hope they experience the same that I did. Granted there have been scarier, more disturbing and jump out terror moments in other movies before and there will be in the future. What separates this film from the others is that it never happened.. But events that inspired the birth of this film was true and DID HAPPEN.. Thus taking us at the thin line to the edge of lunacy and terror of unimaginable proportions.

Uwontlikemyopinion At six-years-old, I watched "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and I'm still allured back into watching this film every once in a while.Sally with three of her friends, and her wheelchair bound brother Franklin, travel to her grandfather's grave, but along the way they meet an insane hitchhiker. Problems continue to surmount.This influential film takes no prisoners; it's a sweat-inducing, relentless scream fest that leaves the gruesomeness up to the viewer. It's influences are unmistakeable. The concept (five or more regular individuals get mass murdered by a lethal killer) continues to inspire the horror genre especially slasher movies. "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" introduces the audience to the first unstoppable masked killer Leatherface. The opening sound effect is truly spine-tingling (I believe it's the sound of a flash bulb from a camera). Additionally, the scenes inside the farmhouse, where Leatherface and his family lives, are masterpieces of terror and dread. Even though this film is effectively made for a movie in the 1970s, it's still an extreme oddity.An oddity because it's a low quality cult movie that resembles a snuff film. By snuff film, the movie requires a woman to run around screaming her head off for the final third act of the movie. There's minimal characterization, plot and no context. Although "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" suffers by focusing on grisly violence (mostly left up to the viewer's imagination), the film manages to convey palpable terror.