Written by Kim Henkel And Tobe Hooper
Directed by Tobe Hooper
Hitchhiker: "My family's always been in meat."
For the month of Halloween, I knew I was going to get around to this one. Yeah, it's not a Halloween movie but it's an iconic horror movie (with a lot of mediocre to bad sequels) that I haven't covered on this blog until now.
There's five teenagers - Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns), Jerry (Allen Danziger), Pam (Teri McMinn), Kirk (William Vail), and Sally's brother Franklin (Paul A. Partain), who was a paraplegic. These characters were our protagonists but most were also fodder when they made the mistake of picking up a hitchhiker (Edwin Neal).
As the film would reveal, this wasn't an ordinary hitchhiker. He was Nubbins Sawyer and he was unstable and a cannibal to boot. The rest of the Sawyer family weren't exactly model citizens either. Drayton (Jim Siedow), Grandpa (John Dugan) and of course, there's Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen) himself.
Leatherface undoubtedly became the most memorable member of the Sawyer clan. He was handy with a chainsaw, physically intimidating and rather slow witted. He made for a truly terrifying presence but also was the most tragic member of that family.
As the movie went along, all of the teenagers suffered at the hands of the Sawyer clan and they suffered brutally. Sally of course was shaped as the Final Girl but she's not the type that most expect these days.
Sally barely survived this movie as she went through absolute hell seeing her friends and brother die, losing a finger and being tortured by the Sawyers. I can't say she's one of my favourite Final Girls but it's hard not to feel for her throughout this film.
- Parts of this movie were influenced by the real life crimes of Ed Gein and Elmer Wayne Henley.
- John Larroquette did the narration for this film.
- Standout music: Roger Bartlett and Friends Fool For A Blonde.
- Chronology: Set in 1973 in the fictional town of Newt, Muerto County, Texas.
I'll admit that I'm not as enamored with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre as many horror fans but I do like this first movie and Leatherface made for a terrifying presence with the screen time he's had.
Rating: 7 out of 10
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