The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. One of the most iconic titles to a film, in any genre nevermind Horror.The films false documentary introduction is brilliant and has long fueled the urban myth that this all actually happened. As a child I remember thinking it really happened, before I'd ever seen the film I knew the title, I knew the 'real events' mystique surrounding it. Such a simple thing has lead to so much heresay. Firstly I have to say this film has some of the most amazing cinematography I've seen. It's a cheaply made Horror film from the early 1970s. It had no real right to be so well shot, but here we are. Some of the shots are just amazing. Tobe Hooper and cinematographer Daniel Pearl did one hell of a job with this film. The camerawork is unbelievable. The visuals are brilliant from the use of color, to the bright sunlight. Yes a Horror film which makes use of the summer sun, a sight to behold. The 16mm film stock captures a cheap and very real feeling film. This is no glamorous Hollywood production. You can feel the sweaty, humid heat through the screen. You can practically smell the stench. This really adds to the gruesome events taking place.The soundtrack was improvised. It's no piece of classical music. It's just pure harrowing sounds and it works oh so well. These sounds are now iconic. I can't imagine this film without them. The use of sound in this film outside of the soundtrack is brilliant, the sound of the chainsaw being one such example. The film is a real tour-de-force in both visual and audio horror.The acting performances are all too real. Sally, her brother Franklin and their friends all feel like a real group of individuals. Not actors portraying people, but just every day people. This works to the films strength. Combined with the visuals you get such a grounded true to life experience. More on Sally, whom was portrayed by Marilyn Burns. Marilyn gives one of the best acting performances in a Horror film I've seen. She portrays the ordeal that Sally goes through impeccably. Horror films often feature Women screaming, you're unlikely to encounter a better screamer in all of Horror than Marilyn Burns and for that I have to say she truly is the 'Scream Queen' (a title bestowed upon leading Horror actresses). Never has a title been more fitting.The villains in this piece are some of the most whacky and insane you'll ever encounter, the performances from the actors are brilliant. The film also contains undertones and messages about the horrors of the meat industry and slaughterhouses. Quite simply a must watch for every Horror fan. For me personally, it's a perfect Horror film and I'd go as far to say that this is the best Horror film I've seen.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)Details:Genre: Horror. Run time: 83 mins. BBFC certificates: 1974 classification: N/A (film was banned from general public exhibition); 1999 re-rating for video release: 18.Synopsis: A group of teenagers take a day trip, and when their minivan runs out of juice, they trespass on the wrong property.Intro:Hailed by many as one of the most disturbing horror films of all time, this movie was banned from general cinemas in the '74 when it was completed and remained similarly screened from the main public eye (on my side of the pond, at least) for the next twenty-five years. A film was banned for twenty-five years; just take a moment to consider what that really means. That means it was banned for almost five years longer than this reviewer has currently been alive for. Was this down to negligence on the part of the BBFC or was it because the film genuinely is as ultimately frightening as people hype it up to be? I'll be answering that question momentarily.The experience:The film opens with a pre-opening sequence which (curiously enough) half-reassures you. It consists of a monologue by a guy who's the epitome of horror film introduction narrators in terms of his tone of voice (or the inspiration behind the epitomes of horror film narration in terms of tones of voice?), which explains what the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is. Or does it in fact explain that seriously? Too simple? Yes, even I - a true horror fan - missed that this opening is there to lull viewers into a false sense of security by playing with their expectations. Honestly, in terms of plot cohesion, the intro isn't even needed. But equally, to question its ultimate effectiveness, is it needed to make the later scares scarier for the suspense it momentarily diffuses? Well...it's probably too early in the review to answer that question... So, immediately after our intro, we get our first horror sequence... Okay, it's one thing starting the horror early, but it's quite another starting it so early that your audience isn't even left chance to register, and this film has the latter down to a fine art.So, we're now moved to our main characters, who are driving through the farmlands of Texas for their day out. Along the way, they have an explicit chat about the brutal ways in which some farmers used to slaughter their animals, and coincidentally enough, right as this is being discussed, they pass a cattle farm. Really, this is probably the only film ever which makes the sight of cows looking over a fence at you with their cute faces seem scary (was Hooper a veggie, I wonder?)Soon, the kids pick up a seriously wacky-looking hitchhiker, and what follows is a majorly potent sequence of psychological unease and ultimately horror. This scene is so ramped up with utterly visceral mental intensity that non-horror-fans will probably turn the movie off right in the middle of it. So, is that the worst of it over then? No. And to answer more explicitly, if the main scary body of this movie is the football game, said scene hasn't even seen the film start to get its kit on. On top of said scare, the kids' transport breaks down and they're forced to search for a fuel source. When no luck strikes, the kids explore the countryside for a local who might be able to help them with their predicament. Eventually, they find a very weird-looking farmhouse. Strange artefacts surround it, with skewered pocket-watches being just one example. Upon knocking on the front door, a pulled tooth is forcefully thrown through the letterbox onto the front porch. Really, at this stage, you're thinking that anyone with any sense whatsoever would now ask for help elsewhere, but of course, if that had been the case, we wouldn't have a film here. So, this is where the persistent horror starts. The scares at this stage in the film are utterly intense and brutal, and what really makes them pack a punch is how they play expertly with your anticipation. The unknown is scarier than anything else in the world, and this film plays that fact like a piano. The terror now just goes on and on and on, until finally, we arrive at period of calm......Except I'm not here talking about the sort of calm that gets you to sleep at night. I'm talking about the calm that comes before a storm. And this storm is the most ferocious in all the history of horror. Contrary to what you may have been thinking so far, the guy with the chainsaw isn't in fact the biggest maniac of this movie. That title goes to the guy who turns up now, and he makes Hannibal Lecter look like a comic relief character. Cue the final act, which is the real main body of the movie. Yes, the film has taken a whole fifty minutes to finally get its football kit on, and now comes the game. Sure, said game is only half an hour long - only one third the length of an actual football game - but it feels far longer (than an actual football game).The intensity here reaches an apogee. Literally, all of your horror film senses are played with: your fear, your anticipation, your empathy, your pride, your self-awareness - the whole lot are shredded to ribbons of feeble confetti. This is partly down to the terrific acting, but a mention of the set used here is also worth a note. It's surely as good a representation of the fires of Hell itself as any movie has ever given us. When the end of the film finally arrives, you won't be able to get outside into the fresh air quick enough.Post-viewing analysis:Wow... Just...wow... This critic isn't normally rendered speechless, but he has been today. What a relentless ride of terror this is. Honestly, horror is my favourite genre, and I can handle my scares, but even I left this experience feeling physically ill. And yes, that's me saying that I totally agree with the BBFC's decision to refuse the film a rating for a quarter of a century. If the intention of horror films is to scare people, this film succeeds too well...and that's brilliant. The first fifty-or-so minutes feel like the first fifty-or-so minutes, but the final half an hour is so mentally exhausting that it feels like over two-and-a-half hours. I swear I'm not exaggerating. I'll put it another way too: before I saw Texas Chainsaw, I thought that the subheading for Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead, which reads: "The ultimate experience in gruelling horror" was fitting. I now find it to be completely redundant. Some critics say that this film is without an ultimate message, but I've spotted one. The message is, "do not trespass". And boy, is that message drilled in well here. Admittedly though, Texas Chainsaw isn't quite legendary, as some of the character behaviour that ultimately leads to the horror does push the boundaries of credibility, but with such ludicrous thrills as these, who cares?Verdict: 5/5All the disturbingly well-done psychological ploys add up to make this more than just scary. This is a movie which only true horror fans will be able to sit through, and then with difficulty. Basically: good luck, ye who enter here. I mean that very sincerely.

Love this movie. I got to work with the original hitchhiker Edwin Neal. I'm a horror movie fan. Most of the movies I own are horror.

When I was young, I thought this was a good, scary movie. Now, I see it as campy and poorly directed/acted/produced/edited. No visual, sound, or special effects. Not creative, just mean. I watched it twice, because my own reaction surprised me. It's bad. Other horror films are incomparably superior. Even bad horror films are better than this.