THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 28

"My family's always been in meat."

THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE  (1974)

Directed by Tobe Hooper

At this point, I certainly don't need to defend "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" as a horror film. If you've seen it, you already know the visceral power of Tobe Hooper's nightmarish classic. If you haven't there are a few things that might surprise you.
First of all, although this is certainly a violent and disturbing film, it is not gory in the least. There is not one onscreen gore effects and very little blood. This is probably due to budget restrictions as much as anything else, but it still needs to be pointed out as it flies in the face of the film's reputation. As much as any horror film of the past the primary power of this movie is in atmosphere and the building of tension.  Well, at least until the last act.
This film is gritty. It looks and feels as hot and sticky as a summer's afternoon in southern Texas. The hideous house, where Leatherface and his family carry out their ghastly deeds, is a triumph of low budget horror aesthetics, emphasising filth and rot and further adding to the discomforting physical nature of the movie.
So  Hooper's film looks and feels unpleasant, features unpleasant characters (even the victims are pretty loathsome) and involves even more unpleasant deeds and consequences/ So why watch it at all?
Well no reason at all, except that "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" is as valid a work of art as any film known to me. Very much a product of it's turbulent age, the movie is both a groundbreaking work of realistic violence and an effective allegory for a country in the throes of social unrest and cultural conflict. So there's that.
Getting back to old Leatherface, despite his hideous appearance, he does not fit into the usual category of slasher monsters/villains. It's true he tends to murder easily and without mercy but unlike say Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers, I don't believe he's truly evil. What we have here is, clearly, a mentally challenged adult raised in a violent abusive home filled with degenerates. If you watch closely you'll see that almost everything he does is motivated, not by sadism or cruelty, but fear. Fear of discovery by the outside world and fear of punishment and abuse from his cruel brothers(?).So have a little sympathy for the big guy, he's doing his best in a bad sitruation.

Two more things:
Only one person in the movie is actually killed with a chainsaw.
The film's final shots are suprisingly striking and evocative. See if you don't think so.