On October 1st, 1974, a horror movie that would be one of the most influential movies in horror history was released. This film would significantly impact many filmmakers and horror fans and birth one of the icons of the horror genre. This movie...is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and today I'm going to tell you why I believe it stands the test of time and deserves ALL of the crazy praise it still gets today.
Debuting With A Bang
When The Texas Chainsaw Massacre first hit theaters on October 1st, 1974, the world was a completely different place than it is today. In the 70s, America was nearing the end of the Vietnam War, and tensions were high across the country. The marketing campaign for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre consisted of the studio selling the film as a true story, which worked in the film's favor as it attracted a broader audience. The film went on to make 30 million dollars at the box office during its theatrical run and had a budget of anywhere from around 80,000 to 140,000 dollars, making it the 12th highest grossing film released in 1974 despite having such a small budget.
Tobe Hooper, the film's director, hoped initially that the film would get a PG rating due to the minimal amount of gore in the movie. But Mr. Hooper would have those hopes crushed as the film would go on to receive an X rating initially. Then after some cuts, Tobe got the Motion Picture Association of America to give the movie an R rating, which is what helped the film gain the audience that it did because if your movie gets anything above an R rating, it's dead on arrival.
A distributor restored all of the offensive material, though, and at least one theater at the time released the full version under the R rating. In San Francisco, movie-goers walked out of the theater in disgust. In Canada in 1976, the local police advised two theaters in Ottawa to withdraw the film, or they would face morality charges...yeah, that happened. When the film initially tried to get released in Britain, the British Board of Film Censors banned it because two secretaries advised the board to do so. This ban would continue to stay in effect until 1999, when the ban was finally lifted, and the BBFC granted it a release with an 18 rating.
In Australia, the film was refused a classification by the Australian Classification Board both for its original 83-minute version and its 77-minute version. Greater Union Film Distributors submitted the 83-minute cut to the board in 1981. The Australian Classification Board again denied its classification, but it was finally released in Australia in 1984 under an R rating. It was banned for significant periods in multiple countries, including but not limited to Brazil, Chile, Finland, Ireland, France, Norway, Sweden, and West Germany.
Reception
The film was released to a mixed reception from fans and critics. For example, Linda Gross of the Los Angeles Times called it despicable and described Hooper as being too concerned with creating a realistic atmosphere than working on its "plastic script." While Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said, it was "as violent and gruesome and blood-soaked as the title promises" while praising the film for its acting and technical execution.
Donald B. Berrigan of The Cincinnatti Inquirer even said that Marilyn Burns's performance as Sally Hardesty deserved an Academy Award at the time for how real her performance felt in the movie. I agree with that statement; she should've gotten at least one award for that performance. Critics eventually came to appreciate the film for managing to be terrifying without being a bloodbath, unlike some movies at the time that seemed like they depended on having a lot of blood and gore to get the creep factor.
Leaving An Impact
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a movie that is one of the most significant and controversial horror movies of all time and a major influence on the genre. I believe this movie played a fundamental role in creating the slasher genre as we see it today. You can see its impact on films like The Hills Have Eyes, Halloween, and Friday The 13th. Two of those films have spawned franchises that are the most popular slasher series in horror right now.
The film is a movie that paved the way for horror to be a vehicle for social commentary, alongside movies like Night of the Living Dead by George A. Romero, for example. The theme that this movie conveys is us maybe being too trusting of our neighbors at the time, as well as the Sawyer Family being a symbol for victims of industrial capitalism.
The film also does a stellar job of forcing its viewers to use their imaginations to determine what's happening to its victims. This use of invention is due to well-timed camera cuts and bursts of light in darker scenes.
This movie has stayed in our collective consciousness for over 40 years. The film's villain, Leatherface, is as synonymous with the genre as Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, and Jason Vorhees. In 1990, the film was inducted into the Horror Hall of fame, with director Tobe Hooper receiving the award. It's also preserved in the New York Museum of Modern Art as a part of the permanent collection.
Wrapping it up
That's all that I have for you on this film. I first saw this movie when I was seven years old and just starting to get into horror (thank you, grandma), which significantly impacted me. It taught me that not every movie needs to look like a Nightmare on Elm Street or Scream or even Friday The 13th to be scary. It needs a good sense of atmosphere, a compelling villain, good characters to root for, and a good story that ties everything together like a bow on top of a Christmas present.
What are your thoughts on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre?? Be sure to let me know in the comments below!
Thank you so much for reading, and I'll catch you in the next one.
0 comments:
Post a Comment