Film Review: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

America in the 1970s was a harsh contrast to the decade prior. The culture of peace and love quickly shifted to a darker, grittier world. Tobe Hooper’s 1976 classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre exemplifies this generational development through its jarring visuals, shocking violence, and an overall story that arguably plays out like a cautionary tale. This movie serves as a snapshot of history, depicting the cultural and political transition of the sixties into the seventies. 

The movie tells the story of siblings Sally (Marilyn Burns) and Franklin (Paul Partain) as they drive to Texas with their friends to visit the grave and old farmhouse of their grandfather. During their trip, Sally, Franklin, Kirk (William Vail), Pam (Teri McMinn), and Jerry (Allen Danziger) pick up a strange hitchhiker (Edwin Neal) who frightens them to the point of having to kick him out of the van. After they get to the house, they are drawn to a nearby farmhouse one by one. Kirk enters the stranger’s house first, getting hit in the head with a hammer and taken captive by a large man in a mask made of human skin. This is Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen), one of the most notorious masked horror antagonists of all time. Pam goes into the house looking for Kirk, only to be taken and placed on a meathook by Leatherface. Jerry eventually shows up to investigate, only to get killed by Leatherface as well. Sally and Franklin begin to wander towards the house when suddenly the biggest jumpscare of the movie occurs and Leatherface kills Franklin with his chainsaw. Sally and Leatherface then fall into their first of two long chase sequences. Sally runs to a gas station, only to discover Leatherface, the gas station worker (Jim Siedow), and the hitchhiker are all related. They take her back to the house for a disturbing dinner sequence, but Sally eventually escapes and falls into a final chase scene. She ends up getting away on the back of a passing pickup truck, as the final shot shows Leatherface angrily swinging his chainsaw in defeat with the sunrise in the background. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is considered one of the first slasher films and was even banned in certain countries and theaters for its violence and brutality. However, upon reassessment, there is a strong lack of scenes depicting explicit imagery. It manages to trick audiences into believing the movie they have experienced is far more brutal than it really is. 

Despite being called The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a chainsaw is only used on two characters and during two chase scenes, and this is only just the tip of the iceberg of misconceptions about the movie. This film is often thought to be the spark that ignited the eventual popularity of slasher films, with Black Christmas coming out later that year, Halloween coming out later that decade, and the eighties basically being defined by their large variety of them. The slasher is a horror subgenre usually defined by excessive violence with creative weapons wielded by a killer targeting a group of people. The way this movie was able to obtain the title of slasher without showing too much violence is through its use of atmosphere. The score of the film is an example of this, as Tobe Hooper and William Bell used the sounds of tools mixed with instruments to create a really interesting, unique sound that created a tense environment for every scene. This unsettling score helps subliminally make audiences feel uncomfortable, leading them to believe what they are seeing on screen is scarier than what is actually shown. The film also starts off with a narrator talking about the events that are about to play out as if they are based on a true story. This creates an underlying message of uncertainty for the audience as they watch the movie, forcing them to think about whether or not the events depicted are actually based on real events. Although the story is completely fiction, Leatherface is loosely based on serial killer Ed Gein. The fact that the story’s main antagonist is based on a real-life person and is not killed off in the end also adds a layer of fear to the character and the movie as a whole. Many of the deaths take place off-screen, which was something done by Hooper in hopes of receiving a PG rating by the MPAA. However, the lack of visible gore ended up adding to the horror of the film, as audiences were left to imagine the brutality of the implied deaths of the characters on their own. The film ended up initially receiving an X rating, which was lowered to an R rating upon Hooper cutting out some scenes. 

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was released in 1974, encapsulating the transitional period between the culture of the sixties and seventies. One way it does this is through the way the beautiful cinematography contrasts with the overall unpolished feel of the film. Some events that occurred during this transition period include the Charles Manson family murders, Watergate and the deterioration of Richard Nixon, the seemingly never-ending Vietnam War, and the increased amount of crime in big cities like New York. This harsh shift is what led to an increased amount of realism in the films and other media of the seventies. Charles Manson was convicted in 1971 of first-degree murder for directing the 1969 killing of Sharon Tate and five others. The case of the Manson family murders was an extremely influential historical moment not only because of its brutality but also because of how the Manson family had a hippie persona that did not match their violent actions and citing the work of The Beatles, a band whose whole brand is peace and love, as their reason for it. This changed the way America looked at the hippie movement as a whole and started off the seventies with a new outlook on life. This cultural shift is represented in the film, with the young main characters depicted as having hippie ideologies. The whole film serves as almost a way to caution viewers about the love generation lifestyle by depicting the source of conflict brought upon by things such as traveling in a van with a limited plan, hitchhiking, astrology, the wardrobe, and general naivety. It is as if the characters are punished for their free-spirited mindset, almost like a reality check. The sense of community associated with the sixties was over, as the increase of untrustworthy figures was making headlines and forcing people to think twice about hopping into the van of someone you just met.

Although Halloween is said to have officially started off the final girl trope in 1978, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is an early example of having a woman as the sole survivor of a horror movie. The final girl trope, coined by Carol J Clover, is used to describe a female protagonist, usually with an androgynous name, who survives the movie for abstaining from sex, drugs, and alcohol and for being resourceful and intelligent. Sally does not really fit into these categories, but the way she not only survives her movie and earns her survival through her perseverance often lands her the title of the final girl. This trope is interesting in the way it flirts with the line between misogyny and female empowerment. Although it appears as a feminist achievement to see so many women making it to the end of their respective movies, it can also be argued that it is damaging to promote the message that women have to act a particular way in order to not get killed. The women with the final girl label are also often shown being brutally tortured and put through the wringer before achieving survival. This focus on women suffering raises the question of whether it was put there to show the woman’s perseverance or instead to appeal to men in a disturbed, sexual way. In “Mind and Body: The ‘Why’ of Horror”, Murray Leeder raises the question,  “...why the slasher film, the prime market of which is putatively teenage boys, stars equivalent girls, and apparently sexless ones at that (often the only young female not to be seen naked)” (Leeder, 127). He goes on to theorize the damsel in distress trope plays a part in this. Due to Sally’s ultimate survival at the end of the film, it could be argued that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a movie with feminist values. She puts up a great fight against Leatherface and never gives up on her goal of survival, despite many close encounters and the disturbing events she witnesses. However, in the film’s finale, Sally’s way of escaping is by jumping on the back of a pickup truck as Leatherface is gaining on her. So even though she spends almost the entire second act of the film fighting for her life, she only manages to survive because of chance. So is her final escape accredited to her own actions, or was it an example of coincidence? An argument could be made for either, which is why whether or not the film’s ending exemplifies feminist values will always be a heavily debated topic. Though coincidental, that pickup truck almost serves as Sally’s reward for the amount of determination and endurance she showcased throughout her time in the film. 

The movie has two depictions of people with disabilities, one being Franklin and the other being Leatherface. Franklin is paraplegic and in a wheelchair. Though it is not a plot point, Leatherface is portrayed as having some sort of mental disability. Neither of these characters is portrayed in a positive light, which goes without saying for the film’s protagonist Leatherface. Although Franklin is set up to be one of the film’s protagonists, he is depicted as very whiny, needy, and constantly irritating the others. He also spends a lot of time fumbling around in his chair, completely co-dependent on others to get by and with no redemption arc. Leatherface is masked the whole time, but he is shown wearing three different human skin masks during his screen time. The masks serve as his way of emoting or expressing himself since he does not speak and his face cannot be seen. Hansen plays Leatherface with a level of innocence that almost makes him seem sympathetic. In fact, watching the movie with Leatherface’s point of view in mind would change the subgenre of the movie from slasher to home invasion. Though these characters are entertaining and endearing, they do not necessarily paint people with disabilities in the best light. This is, of course, due to what was considered morally acceptable at the time of its release and it would be unfair to harshly judge the entire film for this ever-changing standard. However, it is also important to point out these depictions to ensure societal and educational growth. 

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre has been disturbing audiences for about 47 years and will continue to do so in years to come. Although the things American society is afraid of are constantly evolving, this movie’s unique atmosphere, iconic masked antagonist, and unapologetic grittiness are what solidifies it as one of the best in the genre. Whether or not the parallels between the movie and the time of its release were intentional, Tobe Hooper created a cultural artifact that perfectly sums up this time in American history.