The Vietnam war left a scar on the American culture. From that scar grew a wave of horror filmmakers that helped define the genre in a new, bloody way. Gore had been broadcast from the war nightly and these filmmakers understood that audiences were ready for something else. Tobe Hooper may have understood this more than anyone. In 1874 he created a horror film that could only exist in a post-Vietnam America, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
Legend says Hooper was in a hardware store when he got the idea for the film. He wanted away from the crowds of people and saw a chainsaw. I don't buy it. The film is laced with far too much social commentary about the all American family to have been born in such a simple manner. Hooper later revisits these themes in Poltergeist. He also seems to be commenting on the rise of the vegetarian movement here.
The film opens with an ominous voice-over by John Larroquette informing the audience that the film is based on true events, adding a sense of realism to the film immediately. From there we meet a group of teens in a van driving to a family farmhouse. Franklin (Paul A. Partain), who is wheelchair bound, and his sister Sally (Marilyn Burns) are the main focus of the group. We all know they are headed for trouble once they get to the farm but Hooper anticipates that and gives us an excellent, freaky scene before.
The group stop and pick up a hitchhiker. The guy is a little bit weird to say the least. He takes a photo of Franklin and then later burns it after cutting himself and Franklin. The whole scene plays out in a very off-kilter fashion. You know the hitchhiker isn't right in the head but you aren't totally sure how dangerous he is.
From there we go to the farmhouse and the film turns into one long nightmare that you can't wake up from. The introduction of Leatherface, the family butcher, is so quick and disturbing that it has become legendary. The sound of the mallet hitting one of the teens head and then Leahterface slamming shut a metal door is one of the most simple and scary scenes in any horror film. The sound design in the film is as important as anything else.
The film becomes Sally's attempts to escape from the family. The dinner table scenes are horrific and they go on forever, adding to the nightmarish quality the film has. In the end we aren't given any kind of satisfaction. The evil doers are still out there and Sally looks as though she will never again be sane. Tobe Hooper crafts one of the hardest, most insane films on this list. If The Texas Chainsaw Massacre doesn't get under your skin or scare you a bit, you better seek therapy.
written by Matthew Robinson
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