Texas Chain Saw Massacre Movie Review

Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

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Written by: Kim Henkel (screenplay) and Tobe Hooper (story & screenplay)
Directed by: Tobe Hooper
Starring: Marilyn Burns, Edwin Neal, Allen Danziger 
Rated: R
Watch the trailer

Plot
A man with a chainsaw attacks people. What did you expect?

Verdict
This is a simple low budget concept that goes bonkers towards the end. It's never less than entertaining despite its shortcomings and poorly written story.
It depends.

Review
The acting is rough, very rough. Combined with the strange editing it makes this almost surreal, like some kind of bad dream. Nothing about this movie makes much sense, it's just a nightmare brought to film so that a man with a chainsaw can be on the screen.

It's ominous. We know a chainsaw will appear, but when? We have to wait through a strange hitchhiker encounter and Franklin. Franklin is in a wheelchair, and that's not all. The boy just ain't right. We finally get to the house and have to wonder if you'd really knock on a door that many times. It's like the chainsaw wielding actor missed his mark, so the guy just keeps banging on the door.

Man with chain saw, just like it says.

Looking at this from chainsaw man's perspective, these kids keep breaking into his house and he's forced to defend himself. He's just misunderstood due to his speech impediment.

I don't know if this is the most mindless movie, but it serves it's purpose. The chase scene through the woods is intense, but the guy must have a big fuel tank on that chainsaw. This movie remains unsettling without having to be gory. The fact is, they probably couldn't afford to add much gore. They could afford windows, and the girl can jump through them regardless of height.

It takes a strange twist in the last quarter and really goes bonkers. I wasn't even sure what I was watching. I have to give a shout out to grandpa. "What are you doing grandpa?" We get to meet chainsaw guy's family, and that's a treat of sorts.

This is incredibly low budget, but there's something to it. You could claim it's Franklin's bad dream just to make sense of it, but this is creepy in a way that bigger budget movies often fail to emulate.