The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Directed by Tobe Hooper
Starring Marilyn Burns & Gunnar Hansen
83 mins; R18+; DVD/VHS
When a film gets released armed with a title like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, you know it’s going to sell, and sell very
well indeed. Tobe Hooper’s no-budget documentary style horror debut did just that, and its legacy lives on, having spawned three sequels, a remake and a prequel.
A group of young hippies travelling through the back roads of Texas stumble upon (or should it be the other way around?) a hitchhiker wandering seemingly aimlessly. He is offered a lift in the quintet’s van, upon which he shows them pictures of beasts he slaughtered as an abattoir worker (his whole family worked there, he proudly states) before self-mutilating and threatening the group with a knife. He is promptly thrown out and, as the van pulls away from the desolate strip of road, the hitchhiker smears the side of the van with blood. The group think nothing of it until they have an unfortunate run-in with the hitchhiker’s family, the most memorable member being Leatherface (Hansen) who has gone down in pop culture as being the wackiest on-screen nemesis in existence – a cannibal with a human-skin mask and wielding a chainsaw that never runs out of petrol.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre defined the horror genre and changed the way people viewed horror films. This was one of the first successful US films to employ an all-to-real nemesis, albeit with the fantastical chainsaw wielding element. The acting is pretty dismal, but this is to be expected for a seventies horror film; it did, however, make a one-hit-wonder out of Gunnar Hansen, who has never been able to find a role even half as good since. The film uses documentary aesthetics to get its point across and, had it been a slicker piece of work like its sequels, its impact would have never been the same. It was also one of the first films which used the theme of cannibalism quite heavily and it was this factor, among others, that led it to be banned in the UK until 2004. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre also isn’t as violent as people would have you think – Hooper claims that one pint of blood was used for this film because he was aiming for a PG rating. And, considering Saw and the other glut of M and MA15+ rated horrors, this is comparatively mild in content. It was banned in Australia until 1985, and there are now at least two bells-and-whistles Region 4 DVD releases. This is horror as it should be – dark, claustrophobic and with no easy way out. 10/10
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
Directed by Tobe Hooper
Starring Dennis Hopper & Caroline Williams
100 mins; R18+; DVD
This belated sequel is not in the same class as the original but, with Hooper directing, there is some fun to be had. Dennis Hopper stars in this slick, blackly-comedic and very violent film as
Texas Ranger Lefty Enright, hell bent on finding Leatherface’s clan of misfits. And, when a radio DJ records him up to his usual tricks, it looks like Enright has been served his first big break. He persuades the DJ to play the tape on-air in order to lure the family out of hiding but the plan goes horribly wrong when she is kidnapped and taken to their lair.
A solid horror film and fairly underrated, this was banned on initial release in Australia and was only released with an R18+ rating in 2007, making it legal for the first time to own. The violence is pretty prevalent and it is one of the grisliest of the series however Leatherface and his clan add some comic relief to the proceedings, albeit very morbidly. Leatherface’s sexuality is hilariously explored and the chainsaw begins to take representation as a phallic symbol rather than one of death. The direction is tight, but it seems Hooper has misjudged his audience - the original was a horror classic because of its terrifyingly dark and documentary style aesthetics; the stylishness of this film diminishes its impact and makes it inferior. Decent, but don’t go expecting the greatness of the original. 7/10
Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)
Directed by Jeff Burr
Starring Jennifer Banco & Viggo Mortensen
80 mins; R18+; VHS
It’s a good thing when sequels don’t come out too quickly after each other – the Friday the 13th franchise had eight films between 1980 and 1989, and most of them w
ere pretty crappy. Four years after the second and sixteen after the original, Jeff Burr (From A Whisper To A Scream) take the reins, and he does the best job since Hooper did in 1974. Star-spotters would also be keen to know Viggo Mortensen of Lord of the Rings fame plays a part. The plot is pretty repetitive – a couple travelling through the back roads of Texas a confronted by one of Leatherface’s deranged disciples. Their only hope of living through the night is a survivalist with a car-full of firepower.
Leatherface is perhaps the best of the Chainsaw sequels although Burr did have a hard time releasing it – the film was banned in the UK (although was the first to be released uncut in Australia), slapped with an X rating in the US and utterly slaughtered by the critics. This is fascinating, because the film was indeed better (and far less gory) than Hooper’s better received second effort. It’s a shame that it is only available in Australia on VHS and, with the relative extinction of the medium; importation or cheap bootleg is the only way to go. Pity, seeing as the film is so good. 8/10
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994)
Directed by Kim Henkel
Starring Renee Zellweger & Matthew McConaughey
84 mins; R18+; VHS/DVD
Released in the US as The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, this sequel was directed by the writer of the original, a formula which promised to be great. Unfortunately, the film falls flat on its face, a fact that not even a few Hollywood stars can prevent. The film follows a group of teens travelling through the back roads of Texas (ring a bell?) and are stalked Leatherface and a deranged member of his tirbe.
Everything about this film is bad – Leatherface as a pitiful transvestite; McConaughey playing the most unconvincing psycho in history and, shock! horror! not one chainsaw killing. Yes, in a film titled The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the titular power tool does not make contact with a body once. The acting is appalling and there is not an ounce of style or originality in this trite and painful film. This sequel has been, to date, the only real let down of a solid series. 2/10
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
Directed by Marcus Nipsel
Starring Jessica Biel
98 mins; MA15+; DVD
First, let me reiterate this – by no means is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre a film as good as the one it remakes. The original was a horror classic that has been unparalleled in its genre. However, Nipsel’s 2004 effort is a very good movie and twists the original enough in plot, style and aesthetics that it manages to stand on its own feet.
The film begins as the 1974 original does however the hitchhiker they pick up is one of Leatherface’s victims; she begs the group of hippy teens to turn back, they don’t and she shoots herself. They attempt to find help but are instead stalked by Leatherface and his family of misfits. The most memorable these is R Lee Ermey (the screaming drill instructor in Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket) as the perverted Sherrif Hoyt, who manages to provide some gleefully off-colour humour. The acting is generally quite good and the original’s cinematographer Daniel Pearl is on board for a second time. The film is drenched in style and crimson and suffers primarily because fans of the original walk in so prepared to hate it. It’s not as harrowing as the original, but it certainly does the job, and well. 8/10
Watch this space for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, due out on DVD on April 4 2007.
Directed by Tobe Hooper
Starring Marilyn Burns & Gunnar Hansen
83 mins; R18+; DVD/VHS
When a film gets released armed with a title like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, you know it’s going to sell, and sell very
well indeed. Tobe Hooper’s no-budget documentary style horror debut did just that, and its legacy lives on, having spawned three sequels, a remake and a prequel.A group of young hippies travelling through the back roads of Texas stumble upon (or should it be the other way around?) a hitchhiker wandering seemingly aimlessly. He is offered a lift in the quintet’s van, upon which he shows them pictures of beasts he slaughtered as an abattoir worker (his whole family worked there, he proudly states) before self-mutilating and threatening the group with a knife. He is promptly thrown out and, as the van pulls away from the desolate strip of road, the hitchhiker smears the side of the van with blood. The group think nothing of it until they have an unfortunate run-in with the hitchhiker’s family, the most memorable member being Leatherface (Hansen) who has gone down in pop culture as being the wackiest on-screen nemesis in existence – a cannibal with a human-skin mask and wielding a chainsaw that never runs out of petrol.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre defined the horror genre and changed the way people viewed horror films. This was one of the first successful US films to employ an all-to-real nemesis, albeit with the fantastical chainsaw wielding element. The acting is pretty dismal, but this is to be expected for a seventies horror film; it did, however, make a one-hit-wonder out of Gunnar Hansen, who has never been able to find a role even half as good since. The film uses documentary aesthetics to get its point across and, had it been a slicker piece of work like its sequels, its impact would have never been the same. It was also one of the first films which used the theme of cannibalism quite heavily and it was this factor, among others, that led it to be banned in the UK until 2004. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre also isn’t as violent as people would have you think – Hooper claims that one pint of blood was used for this film because he was aiming for a PG rating. And, considering Saw and the other glut of M and MA15+ rated horrors, this is comparatively mild in content. It was banned in Australia until 1985, and there are now at least two bells-and-whistles Region 4 DVD releases. This is horror as it should be – dark, claustrophobic and with no easy way out. 10/10
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
Directed by Tobe Hooper
Starring Dennis Hopper & Caroline Williams
100 mins; R18+; DVD
This belated sequel is not in the same class as the original but, with Hooper directing, there is some fun to be had. Dennis Hopper stars in this slick, blackly-comedic and very violent film as
Texas Ranger Lefty Enright, hell bent on finding Leatherface’s clan of misfits. And, when a radio DJ records him up to his usual tricks, it looks like Enright has been served his first big break. He persuades the DJ to play the tape on-air in order to lure the family out of hiding but the plan goes horribly wrong when she is kidnapped and taken to their lair.A solid horror film and fairly underrated, this was banned on initial release in Australia and was only released with an R18+ rating in 2007, making it legal for the first time to own. The violence is pretty prevalent and it is one of the grisliest of the series however Leatherface and his clan add some comic relief to the proceedings, albeit very morbidly. Leatherface’s sexuality is hilariously explored and the chainsaw begins to take representation as a phallic symbol rather than one of death. The direction is tight, but it seems Hooper has misjudged his audience - the original was a horror classic because of its terrifyingly dark and documentary style aesthetics; the stylishness of this film diminishes its impact and makes it inferior. Decent, but don’t go expecting the greatness of the original. 7/10
Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)
Directed by Jeff Burr
Starring Jennifer Banco & Viggo Mortensen
80 mins; R18+; VHS
It’s a good thing when sequels don’t come out too quickly after each other – the Friday the 13th franchise had eight films between 1980 and 1989, and most of them w
ere pretty crappy. Four years after the second and sixteen after the original, Jeff Burr (From A Whisper To A Scream) take the reins, and he does the best job since Hooper did in 1974. Star-spotters would also be keen to know Viggo Mortensen of Lord of the Rings fame plays a part. The plot is pretty repetitive – a couple travelling through the back roads of Texas a confronted by one of Leatherface’s deranged disciples. Their only hope of living through the night is a survivalist with a car-full of firepower.Leatherface is perhaps the best of the Chainsaw sequels although Burr did have a hard time releasing it – the film was banned in the UK (although was the first to be released uncut in Australia), slapped with an X rating in the US and utterly slaughtered by the critics. This is fascinating, because the film was indeed better (and far less gory) than Hooper’s better received second effort. It’s a shame that it is only available in Australia on VHS and, with the relative extinction of the medium; importation or cheap bootleg is the only way to go. Pity, seeing as the film is so good. 8/10
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994)
Directed by Kim Henkel
Starring Renee Zellweger & Matthew McConaughey
84 mins; R18+; VHS/DVD
Released in the US as The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, this sequel was directed by the writer of the original, a formula which promised to be great. Unfortunately, the film falls flat on its face, a fact that not even a few Hollywood stars can prevent. The film follows a group of teens travelling through the back roads of Texas (ring a bell?) and are stalked Leatherface and a deranged member of his tirbe.Everything about this film is bad – Leatherface as a pitiful transvestite; McConaughey playing the most unconvincing psycho in history and, shock! horror! not one chainsaw killing. Yes, in a film titled The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the titular power tool does not make contact with a body once. The acting is appalling and there is not an ounce of style or originality in this trite and painful film. This sequel has been, to date, the only real let down of a solid series. 2/10
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
Directed by Marcus Nipsel
Starring Jessica Biel
98 mins; MA15+; DVD
First, let me reiterate this – by no means is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre a film as good as the one it remakes. The original was a horror classic that has been unparalleled in its genre. However, Nipsel’s 2004 effort is a very good movie and twists the original enough in plot, style and aesthetics that it manages to stand on its own feet.
The film begins as the 1974 original does however the hitchhiker they pick up is one of Leatherface’s victims; she begs the group of hippy teens to turn back, they don’t and she shoots herself. They attempt to find help but are instead stalked by Leatherface and his family of misfits. The most memorable these is R Lee Ermey (the screaming drill instructor in Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket) as the perverted Sherrif Hoyt, who manages to provide some gleefully off-colour humour. The acting is generally quite good and the original’s cinematographer Daniel Pearl is on board for a second time. The film is drenched in style and crimson and suffers primarily because fans of the original walk in so prepared to hate it. It’s not as harrowing as the original, but it certainly does the job, and well. 8/10
Watch this space for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, due out on DVD on April 4 2007.
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