Oct 07 2009
31 Days - 31 Films of the Macabre - Day 7
Day 7 of 31. The movie that made people scared to go on road trips or pick up hitch hikers.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - 1974
Oh man. When I first watched this I was on the edge of my seat in horrific delight. When this movie was first shown in theaters people were throwing up in the isles and demanding their money back and they ran from the theaters crying. The movie is visceral and unrelenting. One that will stay with you for a long time.
By today’s standards, it’s not that harsh. But I was say this, while tons of people swear up and down the movie is littered with gallons of blood, I can only name 2 scenes where just a little bit of blood was used. And another cool memory that people have is that they swear they saw the hook bursting out from the girl’s chest when Bubba impales her on it, but it just isn’t there. Good film making can do this.
Fun Trivia:
During the dinner scene towards the end of the film, when Leatherface cuts the girl’s finger, he actually does cut her finger because they couldn’t get the fake blood to come out of the tube behind the blade.
Director Tobe Hooper claims to have got the idea for the film while standing in the hardware section of a crowded store. While thinking of a way to get out through the crowd, he spotted the chainsaws.
The human skeleton in the house at the end of the movie was a real human skeleton. They used a real one because a human skeleton from India is far cheaper then a fake plastic skeleton.
