The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

  “The film which you are about to see is an account of the tragedy which befell a group of five youths, in particular Sally Hardesty and her invalid brother, Franklin. It is all the more tragic in that they were young. But, had they lived very, very long lives, they could not have expected nor would they have wished to see as much of the mad and macabre as they were to see that day. For them an idyllic summer afternoon drive became a nightmare. 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”.

    The only way to begin this review was to start off with the chilling words of the narrator from the beginning of the movie.  The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the most disturbing and terrifying films ever made.  The film is so realistic you forget your watching a movie, thanks to Tobe Hooper’s brilliant directing of the film.  The cast is also perfect when portraying their characters.  Jim Siedow as Old Man was really creepy.  Edwin Neal was really strange as the hitchhiker, and Gunnar Hansen as leatherface is iconic.  Marilyn Burns does a fantastic job as the young Sally Hardesty who goes through hell and back in this film.

    Their are a lot of classic scenes in this movie.  One part of the film that was really scary is  when Marilyn Burns is sitting with the Sawyer family at the dinner table.  Just the way that Tobe Hooper filmed that scene with the POV (point of view) shots made you feel like you were the one sitting at the table.  The scene where they are trying to get grandfather to hit Sally over the head with the hammer is torture to watch.  And of course the most famous part of the movie is when Leatherface is dancing with the chainsaw (chainsaw waltz is what i like to call it), it just shows how much of a lunatic he really is.    

    There are some interesting facts about filming of this movie.  The fake knife they were using in the scene where the Sawyer family is trying to feed grandfather didn’t work, so someone switched it with a real knife, and Marilyn Burns was cut on her finger for real.  All the scratches and some of the blood were real on Marilyn Burns body, they couldn't afford a stunt man so when she is running from leatherface through the woods the branches she ran into would scratch her and make her bleed.  Another interesting fact is when Marilyn Burns goes upstairs and runs into grandfather, the corpses sitting in the opposite chair was a real corpse, it was cheaper for them to buy a real skeleton then a plastic one.

    So in conclusion I would recommend this film to anybody, its guarantied to scare you to death.  It’s also fun to watch this movie with someone who hasn’t seen it before just to watch their reactions to it.  So when your finish feeding the grandfather, grab some head cheese sit back and get ready for unrelenting terror that is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.