In a time of CGI, hyper-realistic special effects and other modern technologies, it can be easy to rewatch old classic horrors and dismiss them as cheesy, unrealistic and downright laughable. Yes, they might not have intense gore and makeup effects that twist your stomach and make you scream (shoutout to The Substance and its obsession with body horror), but they don’t need to rely on excessive gore to give you the creeps. One of my absolute favourite horror classics is Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which was released in 1974.
Set in rural Texas, a group of teens road trip cross the State. After picking up a psychotic hitchhiker, they come across a house with something sinister lurking inside. One by one, the group disperse and get killed by chainsaw-welding maniac Leatherface. Sally is the last left, tormented by Leatherface and his cannibalistic family.
In an unforgettable final sequence, we watch Sally, covered in blood, escape Leatherface on the back of a pick-up truck. She is the ultimate final girl. In a frenzy of fear and mania, Sally cannot help but laugh as she gets away, in utter disbelief that she survived such a traumatic event.
It ends with Leatherface in the blazing Texan sunrise spinning with his chainsaw, furious that she escaped, and then a sudden cut to black. This is an ending that will live in my memory forever.
What makes this film so iconic is the sheer eeriness of it. Set in the 70s, this film has an atmosphere that’s since failed to be matched. The vastness of the Texan countryside makes for an unsettling landscape, as we realise, along with the characters, that there truly is no place to run to; no one can hear you scream.
As an independent film, Hooper didn’t rely on money and excessive special effects to make his film horrific, but, instead, utilised the environment and sound. The design of Leatherface’s family home is beyond creepy, with a room made out entirely of human bones, and a sliding metal door that leads to his murderous dungeon. The sound of that slamming shut as he carries in his victims is something that will leave you with goosebumps. Of course, that buzz of the chainsaw will become all too familiar by the end of the film and will instigate your flight or fight response.
For most of the film, everything takes place under the boiling Texan sun. It is only the last act that takes place at night, as Sally and her brother, Franklin are attempting to run away from Leatherface in the dark, guided only by torch light. With limited visibility, we can hear the grunts and breathing of Sally and Franklin, and then that dreaded whirl of the chainsaw.
The fact that we cannot see everything on screen clearly, makes our other senses more susceptible, and we are put in the shoes of the characters. Hooper’s use of prolonged shots throughout the film are particularly unsettling.
For example, when Sally is tied to a chair of bones before Leatherface and his cannibalistic family, she screams for what seems like minutes, as the family laugh at her suffering. This is one of the most disturbing scenes of the film, as Sally realises she truly is surrounded by psychopaths.
What makes this film so iconic is the sheer eeriness of it. Set in the 70s, this film has an atmosphere that’s since failed to be matched.
In the final act, Sally runs away from Leatherface for about ten minutes. She gets away, gets captured and then gets away again. This continuous shot plays with your nerves and has you screaming at the screen.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre continues to scare audiences today because it is a timeless classic. It doesn’t rely on anything over-the-top to frighten you. Leatherface is such a terrifying figure that he alone has sparked a number of sequels. However, those never really pack the same punch, partially because they do what nearly all modern horrors do: they overuse gore.
Hooper’s independent horror has that found footage quality and intimacy that modern horrors lack. With a cast of unknown actors, his film seems more real. It has made immense waves in the horror genre and doesn’t overly rely on jump scares.
When we first see Leatherface, his arrival into the scene isn’t accompanied by dramatic swelling music, he just appears, suddenly, with a hammer in hand and kills his first victim. It is only after the slamming of the steel door, that the music begins to swell and the horror of what just happened dawns on the audience. It truly is a one-of-a-kind classic horror that was ahead of its time.
