The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Overview

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.

Product Details

Release Date:	04/15/2014
UPC:	0030306809090
Original Release:	1974
Rating:	R
Source:	MALJACK PRODUCTIONS INC
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:23:00
Sales rank:	3,061

Special Features

4 Feature Commentaries: ; Writer-producer-director Tobe Hooper, actor Gunnar Hansen, cinematographer Daniel Pearl; Actors Marilyn Burns, Allen Danziger, and Paul A. Partain, and production designer Robert Burns; NEW commentary with writer-producer-director Tobe Hooper; NEW commentary with cinematographer Daniel Pearl, editor J. Larry Carroll and sound recordist Ted Nicolaou

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Gunnar Hansen	Leatherface
Marilyn Burns	Sally
Allen Danziger	Jerry
Teri McMinn	Pam
William Vail	Kirk
Paul A. Partain	Franklin
Edwin Neal	Hitchhiker
Jim Siedow	Old Man
John Dugan	Grandfather
Jerry Lorenz	Pickup Driver
William Creamer	Bearded Man
John Henry Faulk	Storyteller
John Larroquette	Narrator/Narration,Narrator
Wayne Bell	Composer
Tobe Hooper	Composer

Technical Credits

Tobe Hooper

Kim Henkel

Tobe Hooper	Director,Producer,Screenwriter
Jay Parsley	Executive Producer,Producer
Kim Henkel	Screenwriter,Producer
Wayne Bell	Sound Effects
Jay M. Harding	Sound Effects
Robert Knudson	Sound Effects,Sound/Sound Designer
Ted Nicolaou	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

Fans of today's gore-and-guts shockers may be surprised to learn that this notorious shocker is among the least bloody of modern horror films. But looks can be deceiving. It still packs quite a punch, and may well be the scariest film ever made. Director Tobe Hooper adopts a documentary-like style using static set-pieces, grainy film and a no-nonsense technique. This method was necessitated by budget, of course -- the film was made for next-to-nothing, using drama students from the University of Texas -- but for some odd reason, it works. It's not really a movie. As it unfolds, it comes across as a filmed nightmare, and it gets under the viewer's skin like no horror movie before or since. The scene in which Marilyn Burns is held captive at the cannibal family's dinner-table is almost surrealistic in its relentless depiction of insanity and horror. By the time they wheel down Grandpa (John Dugan), it's nearly unbearable. Suffice it to say that fans of relentless horror should make this film their first priority.