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The granddaddy of "splatter" movies, this 1974 shocker transcended its low-budget, drive-in origins to become a milestone in horror-movie history. Even today, 30 years later, Texas Chainsaw Massacre retains the visceral force that gripped Watergate-era moviegoers and left them quaking in their seats. While not the first film directed by Tobe Hooper, it was far and away his best up to that time; he followed it with such worthwhile genre entries as Eaten Alive, The Funhouse, and Poltergeist (that last with assistance from Steven Spielberg), but even the director's most fervent acolytes agree that Massacre remains his magnum opus. Based loosely on the case of real-life serial killer Ed Gein (which also inspired Psycho and, for that matter, Ed Gein), this gritty chiller pits a group of young revelers against a deranged, rural Texas family practicing cannibalism in their remote, ramshackle home. Hooper's perverse vision suffuses every frame, and his "Leatherface," played by Gunnar Hansen, is the epitome of the American hunter gone insane. Of the other cast members -- all unknowns -- only leading lady Marilyn Burns stands out, but she is unforgettable as the lone survivor of this bloody rampage, brutalized almost beyond belief and propelled only by her will to live. Although Massacre isn't nearly as gory as many of the subsequent films it helped spawn, it has a surfeit of graphic, disturbing images that remain indelibly etched on the American pop-culture psyche: who can forget the suit-and-tie-clad "Leatherface," wearing a mask stitched quilt-like from the skinned flesh of his victims, racing through the house and yard with chainsaw in hand? Macabre and unrelenting, but not without memorable moments of black humor, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre habitually places high on lists of the Top Ten Horror Movies, and once you've seen it you'll know why! Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Tobe Hooper's influential cult classic continues the subgenre of horror films based on the life and "career" of Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein, which began with Alfred Hitchcock's own influential cult classic Psycho. When Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns) hears that the Texas cemetery where her grandfather is buried has been vandalized, she gathers her wheelchair-bound brother Franklin (Paul A. Partain) and several other friends together to see if grandpa's remains are still in one piece. While in the area, Sally and her friends decide to visit grandfather's old farmhouse. Unfortunately, a family of homicidal slaughterhouse workers who take their job home with them have taken over the house next door. Included amongst the brood is Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen), a chainsaw-wielding human horror show who wears a face mask made out of human skin. Sally's friends are rapidly exterminated one-by-one by the next-door neighbors, leaving only Sally left to fight off Leatherface and his clan. Paul Brenner

Product Details

• UPC: 030306629292
• Source: DARK SKY FILMS
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Editions: Remastered
• Time: 1:24:00
• Sales Rank: 9,981

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