The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Rating:
Summary: LEATHERFACE!
Review: When a film reaches cult status, or at least has been out for around thirty years, fans sometimes get attached to a certain character within the film. In the case of Tobe Hooper's "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," that character is Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen). When you first see him, he bursts out of a hallway wearing an apron, a dead skin mask he pieced together, and is wielding a hammer that he uses to kill his first victim. Maybe it's the sound of Hansen's grunting. Maybe it's because it looks like Hansen actually misses hitting the victim with the hammer even though there's an accompanying thud. Whatever it is, the scene is bad...in a good way. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
"Massacre" is about the story of five teenagers going to live in one of the group's father's abandoned house for the summer. Along the way they meet a sadistic hitchhiker (Edwin Neal) and a creepy gas station attendant (Jim Siedow) that everyone knows are going to show up later.
When the kids finally arrive at the house, they straggle off a few at a time to find a water hole, but in turn end up at the home/slaughter house of Leatherface...and his family (it's so nice to see those two guys again). This is where the killing, and incidentally, the fun, begins.
Gunnar Hansen is great as Leatherface. He is humongous and the only lines he has in the movie are grunts. He has a chainsaw and a hammer. The combination of all of these is what makes me laugh and enjoy the character. Unlike the unstoppable Jason character of the "Friday the 13th" franchise, that always found cool ways to kill co-eds, Leatherface will often swing at his victims, usually miss, and then finally hit a kill shot after some time. Leatherface screws up, yeah. But after he's given a couple of chances, he gets the job done. Leatherface is the everyman of horror cinema.
The lighting and sound are horrible, but in the end the visual effect is great. By no means is it scary by today's standards, but it's great to be able to laugh at a bunch of horny guys being slaughtered and their tight-clothes-wearing girlfriends running around. So if you are the type who expects to laugh at old horror movies rather than be scared, by all means go out and rent "Leatherface." Er, I man "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre."

Rating:
Summary: IZO- TCM BBBBBBUUUUUUUUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!
Review: If you want to see a film that can scare you wihtout using gore this is the one.Tobe Hooper's low-budget horror is brill at the art of suprise with the weird but wonderful music with shocking close ups which believe me make you cringe in disgust."Leatherface played by Gunner Hanson shows the darkness of the character showing that he is simple minded, almost a child trapped in a mans body.Which makes him an even bigger threat! The strong and realistic story is what really makes this movie a classic.The simple techniques of scare and lack of gore en-force this fact of a "classic".The showdown is eye-popping and keeps you glued the screen with in the final moments.(The 4 star is just simply for lack of blood.)

P.S. Read my review for TCM 2.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Read This! Buy the damn movie!
Review: If you are reading this for a synopsis of the plot from this 70's classic, do yourself a favour and buy it. If you like horror movies that make you squirm uncomfortably in your seat, this one is for you. The Dvd is fantastic, making this movie look better than it has in years. Great menus and extras add a lot of fun to the experience. Hard to believe that a movie this old can still be disturbing. It would never be made in these politically correct times.

Rating:
Summary: Terror in the heart of Texas
Review: This is a true American classic - one of the most underrated and misunderstood films in modern history.A film so intense and unrelenting that few if any can hope to match its fury.Disturbing and frightning it is the best horror film of all times....the saw is family!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Come on, people....
Review: Okay...honestly, the only reason I'm writing this review is that I have a bone to pick. Now, I won't hail TCM as a great piece of cinematic genius...because it's not, and we all KNOW that it's not. But it's a HORROR MOVIE...how much can you really expect? Especially from a low-budget horror movie like this one? I think that people who watch low-budget horror movies (like myself) do it mainly because it's fun...silly, cheesy, tacky fun.

Now, this film isn't fun in the "Evil Dead" series sense of the word...it's fun in the "Hellraiser" sense of the word. In other words, it's fun because it's nail-bitingly tense and claustrophobic (and God...that music). It's what a low-budget horror film should be. It gets under your skin and messes with your brainwaves.

And the brilliant thing is that all of the gore in this film is in the mind of the viewer. There is very little actual on-screen violence in this film. But Tobe Hooper manages to create such a violent aura and set such a violent mood that he doesn't HAVE to show us people getting hacked apart with chainsaws...he just gives the viewer cues and lets their imaginations run wild. It's a good way to handle the material, I think, and it keeps the suspense level high.

This isn't "Friday the 13th"...or even "Halloween"...this is the original. It's the film that set the standard which "Halloween" would follow (which would then be followed by every slasher film since). It's a classic. Yes, the acting is poor (the kids, anyway...Leatherface and his family are convincing). No, the sound and picture quality aren't top-notch. Who CARES? It's a ... horror movie!!!!!!

And I can't understand ANYONE saying that you should watch some new so-called "horror film" instead of TCM. If you think that "13 Ghosts" is a better piece of horror cinema than TCM, then you are NOT a horror fan...just another victim of the MTV generation and its pitiful attempt to make movies.

Rating:
Summary: WHO SAYS EATING HUMAN FLESH ISN'T COOL?
Review: An extraordinarily dark and realistic horror film. It takes some of our most cherished concepts (family--home) and turns them upside down. And who amongst us can honestly say they have never considered giving canibalism a try? You must purchase this DVD and cherish it.

Rating:
Summary: Classic? Maybe. Scary? I think not.
Review: Now I consider myself a huge horror fan and I appreciate the genre more than most. I did not understand all the hype on this one. I expected bigger chase scenes and heavier gore. The gore in this movie doesn't exist, it's left to your imagination. That would be fine, but there are times the camera quality is so bad I can't even see what's happening to the girl. On the other hand the bad quality of the camera is one of it's strongest points. You feel like someone's making a homevideo and the killer family in this one feels a little too real. They just look like crazies that we've all probably passed on the streets before. As for the chase scences they were perfect. I tensed up through it all and could almost feel how the girl would. Overall this movie is worth a watch and if you're a fan of the genre you'll enjoy this one. Just don't expect anything like today's horror. Maybe that's a good thing...........

Rating:
Summary: Waaay over-hyped
Review: I rented this movie hoping to be scared. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. It didn't scare me at all.
I don't know how to describe it, but the actors just didn't seem to make the movie scary. It was hard to follow; I wasn't sure if the corpse at the dinner table was the body of the screaming girl's grandpa or if it was just a random body the cannibals dug up.
This movie didn't live up to all the hype; I strongly suggest you look for a truly scary movie. (i.e., 13 Ghosts, House on Haunted Hill, The 6th Sense, etc.)

Rating:
Summary: HORROR!!!
Review: I have to completely agree with Erick North on this film...yeah, it wasn't the best film made but it does make you use your imagination. And this my friends is the problem with film making today...and this is why no one has imagination...because movies today show it all! Classic films are like reading a book...they keep your interest alive and you don't know what's going to happen and that's where the imagination comes into play. Horror flicks today are just too predictable and the stupid phrases of humor don't cut it anymore either. Just wanted to share that! Thanks!

Rating:
Summary: The slasher-film that started it all !
Review: Before any other hits such as: "Friday the 13th", "Halloween", "Nightmare on Elm St.", and "I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER", there was "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" !

Its the terrifying, horrifying story about 5-teens going on an afternoon drive in the summer . But soon, they become stalked by the bloody Leatherface and his cannibalistic-like family . Wielding a chainsaw, the skin-masked killer hunts them all down one-by-one !!

Who will survive and what will be left of them ?
FIND OUT !