Starring: Marilyn Burns, Edwin Neal, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain, William Vail Directed By: Tobe Hooper Average Rating: Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: DVD Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Geneon [Pioneer] Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: October 14, 2003 Running Time: 83 minutes Theatrical Release Date: October 01, 1974
Product Description: Studio: Ingram Entertainment Release Date: 10/14/2003
Amazon.com essential video: This sensational, extremely influential, 1974 low-budget horror movie directed by Tobe Hooper (Poltergeist, Lifeforce, Salem's Lot), may be notorious for its title, but it's also a damn fine piece of moviemaking. And it's blood-curdling scary, too. Loosely based on the true crimes of Ed Gein (also a partial inspiration for Psycho), the original Jeffrey Dahmer, Texas Chainsaw Massacre follows a group of teenagers who pick up a hitchhiker and wind up in a backwoods horror chamber where they're held captive, tortured, chopped up, and impaled on meat hooks by a demented cannibalistic family, including a character known as Leatherface who maniacally wields one helluva chainsaw. The movie's powerful sense of dread is heightened by its grainy, semi-documentary style--but it also has a wicked sense of humor (and not that camp, self-referential variety that became so tiresome in subsequent horror films of the '70s, '80s, and '90s). OK, in case you couldn't tell, it's "not for everyone." But as a landmark in the development of the horror/slasher genre, it ranks with Psycho, Halloween, and A Nightmare on Elm Street. --Jim Emerson
Guess who's coming to dinner! Oh, uh, I mean, guess who's going to be dinner!? Hippies.... Semi-mentally-challenged guy in wheelchair with a real attitude Hitchhiker that likes to cut himself like an emo Bizarre rural family that likes to hit girls with hammers over buckets to provide entertainment for grampa (who incidentally, is one heck of a rough stretch of highway!) Hanging people on a hook (literally-speaking!) That says it all!
I mean, what's up with Texas and cults, man!? It always seems like movies with crazy Satanists or cult freaks or cannibals are always in rural Texas? Did the movie industry in the 70's have a hate-affair with Texas? LOL
I met Gunner Hanson, the guy playing Leatherface, at a horror movie convention, autograph and all! Woo-hoo! LOL...He said that the worst part of making this movie was that he was so short. They had to put him on stilts to make him look taller. He said the chase seen where he's running after the girl toward the end of the movie was torture. She was running so slow that he had to puposely run at a ridiculously slow pace with these awkward stilts on. I thought it was funny the way he described it. It was something like, "will you hurry up lady, you're running to slow, I can catch you! Speed it up already!" [paraphrasing what he said he was thinking....lol]
This movie is pretty bizarre. Not for the kiddies for sure. I saw it when I was 12 and it scared the poopola out of me!
One of the big selling points for this movie was Dan Fielding's, uh I mean, John Larroquette's opening narration that claimed the movie was a TRUE STORY. Years later, when we all found out that that was total bull, we all didn't want to watch it anymore (my friends and I). Heck, that was half the spookiness about it! It turned out to be fake! bahhh...lol
The rest of the movies were lame as heck. I agree with another poster that this movie is probably good for just one time. I wouldn't buy it on DVD.
Worth watching Only Once Really The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is argubably the first slasher film, and it's not the movie's fault so many slashers copied it's oft-ripped elements. This movie may seem tame to some people, and it is indeed slow at the beginning, but thanks to it's cool low budget feel, cool villian, crazy family, great sets, etc, this movie makes up for that. Plus, it does kind of have a wicked sense of humor, though it's dark and very black, and mostly just subtle, I guess. The aforementioned low budget feel also makes it seem a bit more real looking, and a lot more homely. Because of it, they nail the backwoods feel, not something most high budget films can do. You could almost smell the atmosphere in the backwoods of Texas, and that's what it should have done.
There are two parts of the movie that are subpar. The beginning is kind of slow (though the gruesome show at the beginning is kind of cool), and that's one of the my biggest quirks, the characters are boring people (Frank is annoying and I was pining for his death from the very beginning he starts arguing with his sister about the flashlight) and typical teenagers. Personally, because they are typical teenagers, I find their characters very likeable targets to die, as I felt no sympathy for the mental midgets (probably jerk bags to a lot of the kids wherever they go). So the characters aren't that bad because of that, you get to seem them die. And the chase scene was kind of long, and definitely not really scary. I also wasn't a big fan of the ending either, though it was justifiable, if unspectacular in the get away department. But it's still fun to watch him run rampant with a chainsaw. Love to imitate it and freak out a lot of people.
But it's when the first time we get a glimsp of the house where the family lives, is when this movie turns interesting. Leatherface is maniac, crazy person, and the scenes that start with him putting the girl on a meathook is where this movie gets interesting. His workshop is cool, and whenever the shots of the house are shown off, totally cool. It's great to see the Ed GEin horror come to life (loosley, and also, where the hell is a film on one of the most gruesome and interesting serial killers ever?). The dinner scene is completely sadistic, and I also like the way she's bound and gagged, simply because the way she is bound and gagged is crude and it makes it more believable (c'mon, do you expect a cannibalistc family to be knot masters?).
But most of all, I think Leatherface is my favorite maniac, classic film slasher character. Watching him run and wield his wicked chainsaw is classic (I remember doing what he did with a fake chainsaw before). His mask also is desgined well. It's crudely made, sure, but do you really think a retarded person would sculpt a perfect mask? Sometimes you feel sorry for the big oaf, considering he's retarded and doesn't know better, he basically attacks because he feels threatned (like an animal), he does it because his family makes him, and his family treat him like ______. But I just think he's cool, and I always thought the chainsaw was the coolest weapon ever.
Overall though, I thought this movie is really worth seeing only once, that's why I gave it three stars. Still though, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a good movie, but that's about it. And it's definitely not the scariest movie of all time. Sorry to rain on your parade, misunderstanding @$$holes.
Also, avoid the remake, which is a horrible butcher of a respectable movie. It's very gory, but that's all it has going for it.
C+
Excellent edition I am honored to be the 666th person to write a review for this horror classic! That is awesome. ANYWAY, on to the product itself. This is a great 2 disc set with fun extras & an excellent transfer. If you love this movie but don't own this edition yet do yourself a favor & get it ASAP! On a final note, SCREW REMAKES! Gunnar Hansen is the only Leatherface.
Creepy and Very Disturbing!!! The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a cult classic horror film. The music and the sounds used in the background at the farmhouse are scary. Sally, her brother, and their friends are driving to see if their grandpa's grave has been robbed, but it hasn't. They stop at a farmhouse and enter Leatherface's domain. When Sally is captured, she is tortured and think she's going to die. When she finally escapes, Leatherface chases after her with his powerful chainsaw! Will Sally survive? You gotta check out THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE!!!
Slightly mis-leadingly titled classic I actually own the 'old' 1998 TCM DVD, and all I can say is that this 2006 version cannot possibly be worse...and that's because the '98 edition was excellent.
Apparently, they went back and remastered it for hi-def this time. The '98 version was 'painstakingly restored', so not sure if they used that version and remastered it for hi-def. But again, it can only look a bit better, though perhaps there's a limit on films of a certain age, particulary something that was always kind of grainy like TCM.
This double-disc version does have some new extras, including another commentary (this time with the actors), and a new documentary, among other bits. Definitely, horror fans should own a proper DVD or Blu Ray or whatever next-gen format version of this now-legendary flick.
The movie is not for everyone, not even today with films that are actually bloodier. No, TCM is downright macabre and twisted, and even with a 1974 date, make no mistake it's an effective horror film. It's quite literally horrifying as it tells the tale of some ill-fated folks who wander into the backwoods of Texas and encounter a demented cannibal family. Seems this clan all got laid off at the local slaughterhouse but have gone into business for themselves making fresh 'barbecue'. Most notable of the Sawyer family is the iconic Leatherface, the hulking man-child who weilds the titular power tool with maniacal fury. (Please note that there's actually less chain-sawing in this movie than you may be led to believe). And don't forget Granpa, who's apparently about 120 years old and may or may not be dead. Perhaps the most demented scene involves a 'dinner' with the family in which the 'final girl' is tormented by insane family rituals. This climaxes with Grandpa trying (and failing, in a truly, truly black-gallow-humor moment) to kill one more time.
This flick was admitted to MoMA's archives, so even serious film critics give it the time of day. Seriously, while one can't be sure this is really the 'ultimate' version of the film (there'll be another anniversary edition with a replica chainsaw or bone necklace in a box), this is another reverant horror release on the format.
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