August 18, 1973. An idyllic Saturday afternoon drive through the Texas hill country becomes a nightmare for five teenagers when they fall prey to a bizarre, cannibalistic family, and the masked, chainsaw-wielding monster, Leatherface (Hansen).
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Now celebrating its 50th anniversary, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is one of those films that horror fans will point to as a shining example of the slasher flick in its infancy. But, after being inundated for years with the likes of Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween, can this classic still match up?
The cast is surprisingly decent. While none of them will win awards for their performances in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, they tend to not showcase as many of the dumb teen tropes viewers now associate with slasher flicks. No gratuitous sex, no nudity, and while they still make idiotic choices, they aren’t always the game-enders they usually are (going upstairs is still dumb, but jumping through a window to escape brings a realism that doesn’t happen in other slasher flicks). And the villains showcase a gleeful madness with an almost frightening ease.
The plot is pretty simplistic, and not really the reason for viewers to watch The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Still, its premise of a crazy family is enough to get the ball rolling, and the filmmakers run with it. While lots of filmmakers since (looking at you, Eli Roth and your Hostel) have tried to capture the creep factor, most can’t hold a candle to the visceral terror viewers will get from watching this low-budget classic. Right from the opening, where only vicious-sounding noises are heard while the screen stays black, then lights up to reveal a corpse in a graveyard, the film sets a disquieting tone that only increases as it continues.
That’s not to say The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is perfect. It isn’t. The inside of the house is so overdone with bones it is downright goofy. The grandpa (who most will think was a corpse), suddenly animates when presented with blood like some sort of parched vampire. And the extreme eye close-ups at one point in the film are so abundant they start getting annoying.
Maybe the film works better because of its flaws. After all, if it was too perfect, it probably wouldn’t be as scary. Life isn’t perfect, and this film is imbued with a gritty realism that presents the terror of the events in a way that feels raw and exposed. When the dawn finally breaks and the long night is over, the viewer will rejoice in the relief – and yet will probably venture forth to relive the experience all over again.
