The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Director: Tobe Hooper

Starring: Marilyn Burns, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain, William Vail, Gunnar Hansen

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Who will survive and what will be left of them?

Plot: Five friends visiting their grandpa's old house are hunted down and terrorized by a chainsaw wielding killer and his family of grave-robbing cannibals.

My rating: 9/10

Will I watch it again? Absofuckinglutely!

#43 on 42nd Street Forever Vol. 2: The Deuce (part of the TRAILER TRASH PROJECT)

It was probably around 2004 that I saw this for the very first time...and in a theater! I was fucking blown away. TCM instantly catapulted into my all-time top ten horror flicks. WOW! I was beside myself. It came close to creeping me out more than any other movie since I was a child and that's no small feat.


So what did it? A combination of things. The look of the film is raw, home movie-ish. That adds to the realism. The gore is gruesome. It's well paced. The music and sounds are truly frightening and it's one of the finest examples of sound in a horror film to this day. It's remarkable.


The characters are fun and Franklin has got to be the most enjoyable annoying character that needs to die in film history. Sure, you want him dead and fast but he's likable in that 'slash his throat so we can't hear him anymore' kind of way.


Naturally, the 2003 remake pales in comparison. They gave it a good go but there's no escaping the brutality and realism of this film, especially when you consider it was made more than 35 years ago.