Amazon.co.uk Review
This sensational, extremely influential, 1974 low-budget horror movie directed by Tobe Hooper (
Poltergeist,
Lifeforce,
Salem's Lot), may be notorious for its title, but it's also a damn fine piece of moviemaking. And it's blood-curdling scary, too. Loosely based on the true crimes of Ed Gein (also a partial inspiration for
Psycho), the original Jeffrey Dahmer,
Texas Chainsaw Massacre follows a group of teenagers who pick up a hitchhiker and wind up in a backwoods horror chamber where they're held captive, tortured, chopped up, and impaled on meat hooks by a demented cannibalistic family, including a character known as Leatherface who maniacally wields one helluva chainsaw. The movie's powerful sense of dread is heightened by its grainy, semi-documentary style--but it also has a wicked sense of humour (and not that camp, self-referential variety that became so tiresome in subsequent horror films of the 70s, 80s and 90s). OK, in case you couldn't tell, it's "not for everyone", but as a landmark in the development of the horror/slasher genre, it ranks with
Psycho,
Halloween, and
A Nightmare on Elm Street. --
Jim Emerson
Special Features
1.85 Anamorphic Wide Screen
English
Region 0
Dolby Digital Mono English
Dolby Digital Mono
Blooper Reel
Deleted Scenes And Alternate Footage
Full Length Commentary Featuring Director Tobe Hooper Director Of Photography Daniel Pearl And Gunnar Hansen
Original TV Ads
Original Theatrical Trailers
Posters And Lobby Cards
Re mastered Digital Superscan Transfer
Sequel Trailers
Stills
See all Reviews