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The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
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Rating:
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Director:
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Tobe Hooper
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Release Date:
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1 October 1974 (United States) more
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Language:
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English |
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Genre:
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Horror | Thriller
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Tagline:
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The idyllic summer's day that became a nightmare of fear and blood... [UK Video]
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Storyline
En route to visit their grandfather's grave (which has apparently been ritualistically desecrated), five teenagers drive past a slaughterhouse, pick up (and quickly drop) a sinister hitch-hiker, eat some delicious home-cured meat at a roadside gas station, before ending up at the old family home... where they're plunged into a never-ending nightmare as they meet a family of cannibals who more than make up in power tools what they lack in social skills... |
Backdrops
User Reviews
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Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
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Plot - A group of young American Teens consisting of a sister and her disabled brother and 3 other Hippies in the 60's go to visit the grave of one of the groups grandfather to investigate reports of vandalism and grave robbing when they pick up a hitch-hiker. A really deranged one who they throw out after a particular disturbing knife incident. They stop to refuel at a gas station that has of course run out of fuel for the day so they're given the choice of staying there (in the van) or to spend the night at an old vacated property in the middle of nowhere......they of course chose the abandoned property with predictable results..................
Thoughts - I was really impressed with the film tbh. It had the feel of an art-house film at times; soft focus shots beautifully done at times help to build up an atmosphere of unsettling creeping hostility. The city kids are very much out-of-place, from their revulsion to the initial description of the cow slaughtering practice to the brutality eventually dished out. The shots of decomposition from the bodies just brought home the message of decay and stagnancy that was the environment then and still has resonance today as well as being creepy as f**k.
A word on Leatherhead, obviously an iconic character as is our final image of him but I was slightly surprised that he's less a creature of remorseless death/fear here than a slightly buffoonish and the while monsterish he's outdone by the more 'human' element. Possibly been demystified somewhat by the modern trend of 'show-and-then-show-some-more' horrors that leave little to the imagination so it was quite nice to see the 'lack' of obvious bloodshed; he have quick shots ...
View full review
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reviewed by Queequeg (Filmaster.com) on the 20th of January 2012
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The violence is implied rather than shown, to its credit, but for such a legendary film this is surprisingly dull