How would you describe the type of "horror" represented in and evoked by The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? How does the film's low-budget style/aesthetic play into (or potentially detract from) this representation?After watching the above clip from Night of the Living Dead (Romero, 1968) discuss the use of the recurring trope of the family in horror films from the late 1960s/1970s. After what you have learned about American culture and politics during this period, why do you think the family is foregrounded as the site of horror? (Feel free to incorporate a discussion of NOTLD's low-budget aesthetics and/or your pre-existing knowledge of other horror films from this period into your response.)
53 comments:
Nicholas Naber
10.18.07
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a somewhat suspenseful, and gory horror film. The suspense starts when the kids pick up the hitchhiker, he makes the kids uneasy and then he cuts himself with franklins knife, which was really bizarre. The hitchhiker is almost a foreteller of what’s to happen to theses kids. When they get to the gas station they are told not to go bothering around an old abandoned house but they go anyways, and the attendants both seem oddly strange. The movie progresses and the first two characters are killed the girl on the meat hook and the man bludgeoned to death like cattle are in the meat processing plant that they passed while driving. As the film progresses more of the kids go looking for them and end up being chain sawed to death, those murders are quite gruesome. Pam is the only one who escapes with her life. Obviously she will never be the same again after running from the killer and his crazy family. We never really understand why they are killing people and what the deal was with the grandfather, was he a corpse or just really gross looking? The low budget style of the filming adds to the suspense and confusion in the film. The somewhat grainy and dark quality of the film gives the viewer a really eerie foreboding feeling towards the middle and end of the film where most of the action happens.
The use of family as the site for horror in the films of the nineteen sixties and seventies might have to deal with the radical people of the time. The message of the films may be commenting on the radical lifestyles of people who are different than the norm. The family might also be shown to tell kids they don’t have to conform to the identities of their family. They should get out especially if they are like the family in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Individuals have the power to change and make a difference may very well be one of the ideas of the horror films of this time.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the classic slasher films. It relies on violence and gore to scare people, (mixed of course with the frightening idea of a family of sub-human but resourceful madmen, deformity, loud noises, etc.) One nice thing about making these films is that with just a few dollars, a thrown together costume, a location, a few actors, and lots of cheap fake blood, you can make your own slasher film. This is not to say anything bad about these films- they’ve got a strong legacy that stretches into this day and age.
As for NotLD and the role of family in horror films, the relationship is pretty clear- Sure, some horror out there may exist in contradiction of society’s norms, God’s law, or physics, but the idea of a thing that would attack the people we hold dear, that has no regard for love or spiritual connection, is terrifying at a base level. Films from as far back as Nosferatu and Wolf Man, to NotLD and The Omen, all the way to Saw and Stephen King, all exploit this idea.
And just on a side note, Marilyn Burns could give Fay Wray a run for her money in the screaming department. What was that, 30 straight minutes?
Sebastian Juarez
My memory of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of blood and gore but in actuality the film contains few scenes of blood or gore. The movie is effective because of the suspense. The moment in the film that made me jump in my seat was the scene were Franklin and Sally are going to look for their friends in the woods. Sally pushing Franklin in his wheelchair down the path with only the light of a flashlight and suddenly Leatherface comes out of the shadows with his chainsaw. The filmmaker does not signal the viewer of the horror coming by announcing it with music as so many horror films do. I don’t know if this was done by the design of the filmmaker or because of the low- budget. The effective of not signaling the horror makes it even more intense to the viewer. Toby Hooper uses a style similar to the style Alfred Hitchcock used in Psycho. What I mean by this is that both directors did not show the blood and gore but let the viewer imagine the blood and gore. The viewer thinks they saw the blood and gore but the director only suggests it. In actuality, this makes the horror even scarier than what the director could have shown, especially on a low budget. The viewer’s imagination will most often make the horror worst than a director can show with special effects.
Many of the horror films of the late 1960’s and 1970’s dealt with the horror of the family. Texas Chainsaw Massacre it is a family of Ed Gein’s (a grave-robbing cannibal from Wisconsin).
Rosemary’s Baby it is a husband who is part of a satanic group.
The Omen it is the adopted child who happens to be the anti-Christ.
Halloween it is the psychotic brother.
The reason that the films of this era show the family as a thing of horror could be because of the breakdown of the nuclear family. The family changed after World War II. People began to move away from the community they grew up in to find work. Families began to be broken up by divorce. The generation gap between the parents and children of the “Baby Boom” generation was wider than had been in the past. Parents could not understand their children protesting the war, the sexual revolution, the feminist movement, the gay rights movement, and the other movements of this period. In the late 1960’s, a “family” did one of the most horrific murders. Charles Manson’s followers called his “Family” committed a horrendous murder that affected many people in Hollywood. Sharon Tate, the wife of Roman Polanski (director of Rosemary’s Baby), was one of the victims of the Manson Family. The violence that had affected the nation with the assignations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King had now personally touched the Hollywood community.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a great example of a slasher film that has become a cult classic. This film makes use of brutal violence and gore, without actually showing contact between the weapons and the victims. This film is built up with suspense and dramatic tension. It is also further enhanced by the opening sequence that states that the events that are to occur are factual. Similar to all slasher films, this film relies on pacing and a disguised psychopathic killer who chooses his victims as random. I think the loosely based comparison between Leatherface and Ed Gein is quite interesting in this film as well. This encourages the cult following.
The low-budget style adds to this film. The characters are no-name actors. I am also a fan of the remake and it tries to mimic some of the same qualities of this film. However, having characters that we know play similar roles ruins the edge and grit of this film. The dark and natural lighting helps add to the horror of the film. The camera movements and shaking at times enhances the qualities of this film. While Sally and Franklin are searching for their friends in the woods, the camera style and lighting plays on this suspense. This film was the most successful indie film of all time when it came out. I believe this is due to the character and style of this film.
The 1970s in American film is surrounded around the family. When films surround the family, the audience can closely relate and this enhances the fear. The fear surrounding the 1970s horror films is enhanced in the minds of the viewers because they realize that they could actually be the person or family in the films. The family is pushed to the front as a way to directly get across the message. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre would not be the same if Leatherface was killing animals or if he was an alien. This film is made stronger by its direct connection with the typical young adults or families. Other horror films during this time made use of the family. The Nightmare on Elm Street focuses on attacking young victims while they sleep (in the safety of their homes). Friday the 13th attacks victims while they are at summer camp. Halloween focuses on the attack of young adults on the way to find his sister. Black Christmas focuses on a stalking killer in a sorority house. These films and many other slasher films of this time period focus on the attack of the family.
Kelly Doucette
10.21.07
When one is asked to list their favorite horror movies of all time, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE will top a lot of perenial favorites lists alongside such fare as HALLOWEEN, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, etc... Many of these films deal with a somewhat un-typical family. Remember that the 1960s was a time of change, liberating the family from having to maintain a "perfect" image. These horror films just escalated this notion. In the case of TCSM, there is no official beginning to the story, nor an ending. What filmmaker Tobe Hooper has created is not necessarily a conventional film as it is an experiment. While there is a brief opening monologue summarizing the horrifying event, Hooper's main emphasis is character, not story. He realizes events like these are infrequent but America has begun to realize events like these to happen. What America has not really begun to understand is who commits these random acts of violence. They have an obscured look at the criminals from the vantage point of various media outlets, but they cannot truly understand these persons without examining them for themselves.
I feel that the reason these films are so frightening is that we are taught that family is all we born with. We are taught that ALL children lead good lives with wonderful families who teach them to be good people. This image is so drilled into our brains that when we see it challenged to such an extreme, we tense up and are frightened. I can only imagine what the audiences at TCSM's first screening must have felt. I felt myself feeling nervous and this is 30 years or so later. This is a testament to Hooper's talent as a auteuristic filmmaker.
**A bit of trivia to note: I googled the cast list and noticed that John Larroquette provided the voice-over of the opening "monologue". It was his first film.
I HATE horror films, most of the time they’re pointless movies with little intellect. “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” is a perfect example of one of those films with little food for thought. What makes it worse is that they tried basing it off a true story (Ed Gein) when it’s hardly a true story at all. I consider it a slasher horror film like so many others. I think “The Exorcist” is the polar opposite. “Exorcist” is smartly written, with a lot to digest psychologically. It doesn’t deserve to be called a “horror” film by any means.
Regardless of how I feel about “Texas”, it is indeed unnerving. The low budget quality adds to the films effectiveness, because everything in the film’s atmosphere feels real. It’s not fancied up by Hollywood.
Even with knowledge of American history around this time period, I don’t know why horror films are centered on the family. I think when one likes to feel comfort in their life, they turn to their family. Your family is what you’re used to. I suppose it would be frightening when you find out your own family isn’t a safe haven. I think it was a time when families lacked in communication. And when they lack in communication the families become dysfunctional. It leaves you with no hope. But then again that was the 1970s, a decade when you felt hopeless with America, when morals and law didn’t exist.
As we had discussed in class, horror films originated in the 1930’s with films such as DRACULA, THE MUMMY, and FRANKENSTEIN. All three of these films were about unreal characters in situations that were almost impossible to happen. But in the 1960’s and 1970’s THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, THE EXORCIST, and THE OMEN hit the movie screens and the unreal ness of horror films suddenly came real. Actual human beings were being possessed by the devil, going on killing sprees, and murdering their own flesh and blood. Michael Myers in HALLOWEEN kills his family and has no remorse or regret in his entire body. In class was the first time that I saw the original movie, but I have seen the remake of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE so I knew the story line and what was going to happen for the most part. But the suspense was definitely up there. There was music, but it seemed not to really kick in until after the killing had started or he was chasing one of the kids. The dark dim lighting led for more of a mood setter and the zooming in and out of the camera just seemed like that was how it was supposed to be.
Like Sebastian said, many of the movies at that time had to deal with killing within or around families. I don’t know it was as more of a symbolic or metaphorical meaning because of the events the were occurring in that time period or if it was just a good movie plot, but many of the horror films that were big sellers then and classics today are based off of the family theme. Nicholas commented on the use of family because there are so many out there that are different from the “normal” family.
I would argue that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is primarily a suspenseful and psychological horror film. The viewers are forced to only imagine the gore in this film. Overall, there is not a whole lot of blood. The film concentrates on portraying the fear that the main characters are experiencing. One good example of this was the dinner scene. Pam is sitting down to "dinner" with three insane, horrifying characters. At one point during this scene she is screaming and screeching. The camera is focused on capturing the intense psychological trip she is undergoing at the time. Some of the camera shots consist of pulsing veins in her eyes and forehead, sweat on her face, and shots of the grinning killers. Aside from this being a horror film, I also think that this film has a underlying message concerning the meat industry. Human beings are being slaughtered just as cattle are in the meat industry. I feel that this film affectively addresses this issue because of how it is merely suggested to the viewers. After the film, I had no intentions to eat any meat product.
Joe Evrard
This movie really makes you think. Normal horror movies are easily brushed off. We know when the killer will strike and it is just something all made up. Usually, normal horror movies scare you alittle but once your done wacthing it, everything goes back to normal. This movie is different. Things change after seeing this. The reason is, this ACTUALLY happened. now, it was most-likely altered to make it more movie-like but this was a REAL event in history. Freddie, Jason, Zombies, and Vampires are all made up, but The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is real. This was a smart way to do what horror movies should do: scare people. Nowadays, movies of school shootings would probably be more horrific then movies of zombies.
As for the angle on families in horror movies, I have a strong point on this. I think families in horror movies are a smart thing to have. I know I might be one of the only people to think this way but, I am more afraid of my parents and/or brother's deaths than my own. If I watched my brother be killed by a man with a chainsaw, I would be more afraid of him/her then if he/she was just coming after me. That probably sounds stupid, but that is what I feel. I think that is why families are in horror movies. It makes movies more frightening.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is more of a film about terror than horror. It is a dirty film and I often say that I feel the need to take a shower after watching it. The dry, hot landscape and graveyard shots that occupy the opening of the film are very effective and makes you wonder why anyone would be there in the first place. Hooper manages to make TCM authentic by using natural lighting accompanied by mostly hand held camera shots. The close ups during the dinner scene are the most memorable to me because the camera is to close for comfort, like a nature film about insects. The film's low-budget style is the reason it is so terrifying. The grainy film compliments the events taking place so well that if I were there in the house I would expect it to look as it does on screen. TCM did not require buckets of blood, although you that they're sitting somewhere in the house. Hooper uses remains and references death in so many shots that there's no real need for blood. When the girl is thrown on the meat hooks the idea and noise are what makes it hard to watch. With a higher budget I can only imagine a subdued version of TCM like it's remake, which is cleaner but wants to have the same dirty style.
I've never really noticed the family "foregrounded as the site of horror" in the ones I've seen until now. I think that if filmmakers were making any reference to the changing culture of the time in their movies that it would be the dismemberment and seperation of the normal American family. It is interesting that out of any of the genres, horror would be the showcase of that idea. Using the family in horror films makes it easy for the viewer to say,"What if that was my family?". In reference to Romero's work, he used his "Dead" series to say something about society more so than just the family. With NOTLD it was civil rights, Dawn of the Dead it was commerce and Day of the Dead was military control. More centered on the family were films like Halloween, The Omen, The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby,Psycho, Don't Look Now and Phantasm. They either dealt with the possible loss of a family member or the addition of one. The family is a source of horror because something terrible is happening in the home or to someone close to you that is not disposeable, not a random psycho killing random people.
Christian Turckes
I think that the type of horror that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre evokes, is something that you would think could never happen, and that it is just something out of science fiction, even though this incident really did happen. I think that is what makes the movie so scary, was the fact, that something like this really happened. I think the low budget style that was used didn’t take anything away from the movie, and that it actually added something to the movie. I think that it made the movie more real and gritty than it already was, which in my opinion just made the movie that much better.
I think that the family was present in the horror movies of the 60’s and 70’s, because family can be the scariest thing for people. Especially because in the 60’s and 70’s, you had many kinds of people, with many different kinds of lifestyles, and maybe the family kicked that person out because they didn’t like what their relation was doing or believed. I think that in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, was in a sick way, like the Godfather, because the kids are taking over the family business, even if it is butchering cows or people.
I also think that a family can occur bad memories for some people which makes people scared, like the clip in Night Of The Living Dead, when the two on screen recall when he used to scare the girl in the cemetery by jumping out at her from behind trees and graves.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre felt like a very different kind of horror film with different strengths and weaknesses than most when it first came out in 1973. I can guess that Marilyn Burns, who played Sally, was hired to act for two reasons, her beauty and her scream… and that’s really it. This kind of use for a character begins a revolution of horror sub genera called “the slasher film.” These films featured a psychopathic killer (often wearing a mask) who stalks and graphically murders a series of victims in a random, unprovoked fashion, usually teenagers or young adults within a single day, who are away from mainstream civilization or far away from help and often involved in sexual activities and/or illegal drug use. If you look at the structure of the film we see two major halves: The first half where Jerry, Frank, Kirk and Pam, each get killed one by one in a thrilling game of hidden cat and mouse. The second half of the film has Sally all alone and being first chased, then held captive and later tortured. This type of horror feels seemingly rehashed by the modern Saw series in which captive torture and gross visceral makeup or blood work provide the source of repulsion (i.e.: leatherface’s mask, the animal bones, and the eating of human flesh by the chainsaw family). All in all, the film plays on the common themes of instincts, bonds of trust and family desperation. When considering the “family unit” in this film, one finds it strange that the family is an outside element and not the main characters themselves.
In terms of aesthetic appeal the opening of the film was structured with a documentary-eqsue feel. At the start of the film a deep voice reads a title card explaining that the events that follow really happened and that this was a true tragedy. The beginning visuals are structured by a repetitive camera flash, an excellent visual device, that reveals a few frames of decrepit flesh, disturbing the viewer from the very beginning. In terms of cinematography, I was especially responsive to the day work. There’s a beautifully complex tracking shot when the gang is first entering the slaughterhouse. Somewhere throughout this sequence is also an equally scary yet pretty shot of an orange sun, also an opening main color to the film’s first image of a hanging corpse. With all of these artistic qualities one questions whether Chainsaw was just a spectacle filled slasher flick with a pretty cast or a pioneering structure for a future wave of horror films to come. Either way I felt it really wasn’t that scary in comparison to new aged horror films. Saw IV comes out this week though, Happy Halloween!
Concerning the clip questions, the use of the family as a source of horror leads me to two standpoints I can think of. From a psychologically standpoint, Freudian thinking would lead one to associate the family to act out on certain hidden desires or subconscious thoughts seemingly uncontrollable and possibly violent also resulting in easy expressions of human drama. From a narrative standpoint, it places the viewer in common relationships most people are associated with, ultimately bringing the scariest of ideas and stories into the closest, safest place known: the family or the home, probably who and where we watch lots of horror movies with too.
I think that “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (Hooper, 1973) is defined by its low budget and aesthetic. It is clear why at the time of its release it caused such hype within the industry as its style is very different to previously made films of the same genre. Maybe it was the film being based on the true story of Ed Gein, the “Wisconsin ghoul”, which made its impact on audiences stronger. Watching the film now, the obvious low budget takes away the element of fear as throughout the development of aesthetic audiences have become accustomed to extreme violence and gore, no longer shocked by images shown on films.
Hitchcock’s “Psycho” (1960) shows the beginnings of a shift within the horror genre, that is the focus around the American family. Friedkin’s “The Exorcist” (1973) began a revolution of this subgenre and Hooper’s “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” took it onto another level. Since “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” the genre’s blockbuster hits have taken on the same idea. Many of these are not only focused around the idea of the family but more so the youth generation.
The 1970’s saw a great shift in American culture; the popularity of the nuclear family began to disintegrate and the sexual revolution was upon the US. People were becoming more expressive and independent, in particular the younger generation. A new generation of young people were exposed to new media and they became the target audience for many productions. I think Hollywood realised the influence the generation was having on the culture and society, so took it into consideration when creating new films to be appealing to the same generation.
Shiraz Bhathena
The horror of ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ is in fact much because of its low budget and the aesthetics that accompany it. For starters, the filmmakers do not try and fool the viewer from the opening frames that it is low budget- the grainy muffled noise, the scratched up negative, and even the ghosting that occurs from the film being blown up to 35. Because of this, when the film begins to get gory and out of control, one can automatically make the connection- the filmmakers couldn’t afford to shoot on 35mm, which means that the bones that the character is near are way too realistic to be in the budget for props, which means….they’re probably using real bones. That goes for the chainsaw and the dead animals as well. While the viewer is probably not afraid of the actors being hurt by the chainsaw, the viewer now has known what the sound of a real chainsaw is under the tension of fear, meaning the link between a natural object’s sound and its connotation has changed, making the experience more frightening for them.
In this sense, the issue of trust becomes irreplaceable in horror cinema; this is why the family begins to always be linked to horror films. When the going gets tough, my Nana always told us, family is the one thing you can stick by. I remember being 10 after stealing this video from the rental store (because my mom wouldn’t let me borrow it) and thinking, ‘Oh Nana, you’ve never been chased by a chainsaw,’ and it was the truth! There’s nothing more fearful than seeing the people one most leans on being diminished, and that strengthens the horror because, even though its never mentioned to viewers, as it’s a wimpy thought to have, it’s a horrifying thought every person has.
TCM is a low budget slasher whose low budget really adds to the overall effectiveness of the film. It adds a sense of realness to the film which is much needed. If it was picture perfect and overdone by Hollywood it just wouldn’t have been as scary and would’ve lost its gritty, ugly, and authentic feel. This rawness makes the film more believable and in turn, more frightening. The beginning of the film builds it up as if it was based on real events with the little monologue and radio dispatch. Making this world seem real is crucial to the impact of the film because if we believe it to be authentic, we believe it’s not too far off of happening and possibly to us, which makes for a scarier film. Films like the Nightmare on Elm Street series can certainly have scary aspects but overall are just goofy. One tactic this film occasionally uses that I absolutely love in these types of films is right when an act of violence is about to occur, they cut away. You don’t actually see “the stab” for example but you know exactly what happened. When you don’t see the violence or gore, you’re making the connection in your head. You’re actually thinking about the act which makes the act more powerful and effective, rather than just viewing said act with your eyes.
There could be many reasons why family is commonly foregrounded as the site of horror. We all can relate to the concept of family so it’s a good template for provoking some sort of feelings from us. In some instances, what you see on the screen can make you feel like it could happen to you. The fact that we all have this common ground of family ensures that we are vulnerable to feeling something, whatever the filmmakers are trying to provoke in us. The thing I like about TCM is that it turns the table on the whole idea of families being victims (even though the brother sister combo are definite victims). The creepy family perpetrating all the horrid violence is a nice contrast to the nuclear family, family values emphasized in the 50s. Any way you look it, family is a definite convention in the horror genre.
I would say the Texas Chainsaw Massacre is grissly realistic gory horror movie. It shows that horror lies in real people. Many horror movies before this had to deal with monsters and aliens like the wolfman and Frankenstein, to Movies like The Day the Earth Stood Still. However this movie showed that evil lurks in real people, it stated that fact at the beginning with the hitchhiker who cut the man in the wheelchair. The "bad guys" in this horror movie did not have any supernatural powers they were just evil. The fact that the movie was shot in a low budget makes it all the more creepy. The movie is pretty much dim litted the entire time, really no big name stars, non-elaborate sets. It is almost as if you are watching a sick pervise home movie. The director was brilliant in making the violence and horror as real as he could.
I think the use of family in horror movies is done for many reasons. The saying goes Friends come and go but family is always behind you. The role of family has always been hammered into people as the cornerstone of relationships. So it is very powerful for people to see a persons family get killed before them on screen. You almost feel how alone and heartbroken they are. Then for the opposite it is sick to see members of a psycho killer's family support what the killer is doing and almost encourage them. To show a family support such rage and violence is another horrorifying thing then to see the violence actually happen. Like others have said it could also show the seperation of family around this time. In the 50's and 60's shows like Leave it to Beaver expressed how important the role of family is but 20 years later its a different story. Unprotected premaritial sex is going on, scandals and war are rocking the media and the youth is rebeling against the older authority. So to embrace the change such as Hooper did not only worked for him but it pretty much gave him immortality as a horror movie pioneer.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a very gory horror film. It is probably one of the most gory films of this time. At the begging of the film there wasnt much gore but towards the middle thats when all the action started. I guess after watching horror films of our time this film seemed a little low-budget, and it was. At that time this was considered a low-budget film and it shows. The special effects in this movie weren't the greatest and they didnt really showed a lot of bloodiness. Another thing to me that made it seem low budget was the number of characters. There was a very limited amount of characters. I dont know if the director did that on purpose but that seemed like it could have been a low-budget film.
After watching the film clip I came to the conclusion that all families are different. The family from Night of the Living Dead was very different. The man just waited for people to come visit their loved ones grave and then went after them. That is a very sick way of capturing someone. In Texas Chainsaw Massacre the man they pick up makes a mark on the vehicle labeling they should go for them. Then the man inside the house makes animal noises or noises that will make the other person curious and go in and then he grabs them and kills them. No one really knows why families are the way they are, but the Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a good example of a different family.
Dan Boville
TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE is more of a suspense film then a horror film in my opinion. So many movies nowadays rely on the “jump out at you” tactic with the crescendo of loud sudden music. This film made me tense as Sally is being tortured and messed with. Sure there were moments that made me jump the first time I’ve seen it, but naturally every horror movie does.
Special effects at this time did not come cheap; many movies after this relied on ultra-gory scenes with depictions of severed body parts, grotesque weapons, etc. This low budget film could not afford them and in turn make the viewers imagine in their head of the violence. Another example of this that comes to mind is the movie JAWS. Spielberg wanted to have the shark appear early on in the film but because of technical problems with the robotic shark, filming did not allow this. In turn, throughout most of the film the audience is wonder what this shark looks like.
The story does not seem as important as the characters themselves. The story just starts and stops with few knowledge beyond. The audience grows an attachment to the characters and the focus is on them.
During the 50’s the family unit was considered one of the basic necessities of being an “American.” This image was portrayed on television, movies, magazines, etc. As time moved on, people realized that this isn’t always true. In the 60’s and 70’s, horror films picked up on this picture-perfect realm of family and aimed to destroy it. What is more unsettling then destroying a basic unit of life? It’s terrifying.
Kevin Stephan
10.23.07
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the first gory, bloody movies of its time. and in my opinion i think it was the first of its kind and began to revolutionize the horror movie industry. It began with a small group of kids on a trip, when they stumble upon a crazy hitchhiker, with his crainess was early showing of what the kids were in for. They then go to there old house, and they had no idea that the house down the road had the crazy killer leatherface. With everyone going to the neighbors house indiviually and getting picked off one by one. In the end one of the ladies escape but leatherface is still atlarge. The low budget film kind of gave it a more creepy image to it. With not being able to afford a lot of props, they had to find the oddest of stuff and i think that was better for it.
The families of the 1960's and 70's were radical people, and they always had the mention of graves in it, kinda like comparing the scenes of night of the living dead and texas chainsaw when both films began in a graveyard. the occuring role of family i also think is something we cal all relate to, since we are all in a family. It has a big impact when u see a family get sliced and diced. plus u have many more targets when u have a family rather, then one indivual just wandering around and getting lost.
Brian Cooney
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is as scary as it is because of the realness of the film. Everything about it from the hand-held camera to the grainy quality to the characters to the true story paving the way, it's all just so realistic. This film sure has a lot less blood than one would expect from the title, but somehow it manages to gross everyone out. Hooper is a master, kind of like the shower scene in Psycho, of making us see the gore without actually seeing it. The only real violence we see first hand is the guy cutting himself with the knife and the first killing where Leatherface hits the guy on the head with the hammer. Other than that, the actual gore is left to our imaginations. I think that's what makes this film so brilliantly scary. One particular scene that comes to mind is Franklin's death in the woods. The viewer almost has to look away or cover their ears, but all they're really seeing is leatherface moving his chainsaw and the girl screaming. I think another reason this film was so successful compared to other horror films was the title. With movies like Halloween, or Friday the 13th, or the Omen you don't know what to expect, but with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre you better be ready for some blood and guts.
A striking number of horror films from this period involve members or a member of a family. Filmakers did this for a couple of reasons. One is because of the times and they used films to express their opinions on how children don't have to conform to their parents' way of life. They don't have to be just another family, and they don't have to continue a disgusting, murderous way of life either(TCM). These films show that yes, there are really crazy people out there, and a couple of them may not live far from you. The other reason filmmakers used families as either killers or victims is that is just plain scared the crap out of people. These films took places and events everyone thought was safe (out in the country, babysitting, dreaming, summer camps, adopting a child, having a slumber party) and turned them into bloodbaths. I'm sure ever since these revolutionary films came out, the number of times people peek behind them while walking alone or jump into bed after turning off the light has greatly increased.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre made me squirm quite a bit, to the point where I pretty much just hid under my jacket and peeked at the screen every once in awhile. So, it seems to have succeeded in producing a classic slasher, gory, horror film. When I did watch, the low budget of the film was apparent with the dark and grainy look of the picture. I think it added to the suspense of the film. I do admit I did get a slight chuckle when Sally is being chased by Leatherface. After awhile it was slightly comical watching them run around all over the place. That happy thought quickly vanished and I resumed my hiding place under my jacket. Lame I know, but I just couldn’t watch. What was the deal with the grandfather, ick.
I agree with Victor that the thought of something or someone attacking people we care about at such ease and not a care is horrific.
Tara L. Vickery
Nicholas Eason
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre creates horror by placing normal characters in believable situations. Earlier films used the paranormal as the source of fear, which decreases their effectiveness. Nobody is ever going to get killed by giant brains or undead monsters, but people can and have been killed by crazy guys with chiansaws. The film's low budget aesthetic is absolutely appropriate for it. Not a lot of money is needed to do this, and in fact, the film benefits by not using expensive actors, sets, and techniques. It allows the film to develop a level of authenticity that could not be achieved by using real locations, and actors that are more suited for their specific roles than easily recognizable stars would be.
The family is used as a stage for horror in this period because of the cultural trends of free love and peace. Familiar love is one of the most powerful emotional bonds that we experience as humans, so it makes the perfect setting for suffering. Its easy for viewers to understand the love between the characters, even if there is not much development of it in the film itself. Horror films of this time are a rather severe response to this movement. They illustrate that no matter how much people love each other, there will always be violence and despair. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre specifically creates a setting of despair by completely destroying the concept of being decent human being. The film places every single character on either one of two sides, the attackers or the victims, there are no innocent bystanders to help until the very end of the film.
Thomas Penglase
This film evoked a horror which I can only describe as a dirt under youre nails kindof gritty. The movies expression of terror and violence is so raw and fantastically real that the viewer is left as helpless as the movies characters getting sawed and mauled by our big teddy bear friend leather face. This sense of greater realism comes from its low budget production and aesthetics. The low cost quality of the film just seemed to amplify its depictions of dirtyness and terror.The quality of filming seemed to reflect the landscape and experience of the girl who was trapped in that terrible situation. Just compare the newer version of this movie which was made with high production values. The newer version of the film just doesent evoke the same feelings of realism, its just to polished.
Horror films of this period focused on the family as the participants of its terror and violence. My thoughts are this focus on the family was issued probably because of the external threats and seemingly imminent dangers that threatened the American way of life in this period of history. The 1960s and 70s were a period of the cold war coincinding with Americas struggle to combat and contain Communism. Perhaps the monsters in the horror movies of this period represent the ideals and nuclear bombs that anyday could iradicate our species. Or maybe it was just a broad and bold warning for movie viewers to never visit the Southern United States.
The type of horror presented in the “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” is different. Although scary, the movie focuses more on showing us things that are horrific more so than things that are frightening. We see the aftermath of murder and grave robbing more so than things popping out at us. Due to the film’s low budget, a certain scene couldn’t have too many takes. Filming dead bodies and other ghastly images were easier to shoot under a tight budget then having extravagant stunts or fancy special effects. The use of family in films of the time period in a way mirrors the state of the American family at the time. Youth was rebelling against the society. Drug use was a big part of this rebellion and often affected family relationships. Young people were also fighting in Vietnam. This was a continual source of fear towards loosing loved ones. Even if sons came back alive, the war would often seriously change them. All these factors created a source of anxiety that is reflected on the horror genre.
Melissa Neumann
October 24, 2007
The horror in “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” is different than any I have seen in other movies. It was very suspenseful. I was at the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen next and who the victim would be. I didn’t jump at any of it, but I was surprised each time Leatherface would appear. (Though I did predict when he might show up) We saw death with a man getting head bashed in with a mallet, a girl getting killed by being impaled on a meat hook, and a guy getting attacked with a chainsaw. It was all very strange to me. The way people were killed is very different. And the fact that the family digs up corpses from the cemetery and does things with the bodies is disturbing, and it takes a lot to disturb me. That all made me confused. For instance, when Pam escapes to the gas station and sees the barbecue pit just as the story comes on the radio about the bodies at the cemetery, were they barbecuing the corpses? And was Grandpa a corpse from the graveyard, or was he only a very dead in appearance man? I did think there would be more blood and gore. I’ve heard nothing but horror stories about the movie, and it didn’t scare me, just made me a little sick. And I figured the murdering was done all by the infamous chainsaw. Most of the scenes with the chainsaw were Pam getting chased with it. The obviously low budget of the film added to the horror. It was all very simple, nothing to extreme. For a family living in the outskirts, their method of killing fit with the lack of funds for the project.
In the 1950s, there was a strong sense of family values. But by the 1960s, there was rebellion against that. Granted there has always been rebellion, but it really changed in the ‘60s. I think the whole “attacking the family unit” theme fits with the horror genre. There was no way the family could really fight back. Some would be sacrificed. And an escape was always hard. In the clip from “Night Of the Living Dead,” the girl was able to get away from the zombie when she escaped to the car and drove away, though he still chased her. A group enters, but only a few will survive, but never be the same again because of what they have just gone through. It has been that way in horror films from before and horror films to follow. The lucky one(s) will not be killed.
The early 1970's had the sort of anarchic scorched-earth cultural upheaval willing and eager to smash anything with a hint of "establishment", and what paradigm more dominant to subvert than that of the traditional patriarchal nuclear family? Any slavish devotion to the ancestral ways must surely be met with mockery and derision, and in this case, a chainsaw...if history is invalid, then bet your ass the invalid is history.
Bear in mind, though, that in any revolution the middle class is highly unlikely to buy into it wholesale. It's outside their comfort zone. It ain't the warm fuzzies of the green green grass of home. To the average Iowan, 1974 must've been inherently unsettling. Goddamn right they're coming to get you, Barbara. Hit 'em where it hurts. A nuclear strike to the nuclear family.
Which is just good business if the business is scaring the pants off of Middle America. The power and safety of family bonds are innate knowledge for most people and as such are easy conduit for empathy, which you're going to need if you're going to give a damn about some random punkass teenagers getting butchered and barbecued.
Zombies. The past will eat us alive. And if the past doesn't eat us, the future will. Soylent Green is made out of people, after all.
You. Are. Not. Safe.
Your legacy is nothing. Your family is nothing. Everything is nothing, and so are you. Man up to the merciful embrace of power tools.
Yes, your demise will have the verisimilitude of cheap and nasty 16mm Ektachrome. And it's a movie, so it's realer than real. What a gas. Based on a True Story. Believe it, pink. These are the End Times.
There is money to be made in selling the illusion of disaster. The motions the human body goes through on a rollercoaster, if you were to experience them outside of the safety of a rollercoaster, would typically be followed by a wet thud and a cessation of vital functions. Hell, why do you think they invented condoms? All of the thrill with none of the consequences. So it goes for the horror genre.
And hell, where are we now? The primary natural instincts have been with us for millenia and remain as follows.
Eat. Fuck. Kill.
Kill your television, yeah, kill it and eat it. We are the image. Life imitates art imitates life imitates art imitates life. The constraints of proper society are a fiction made fact through tradition and obedience. My stock portfolio thanks you while the primal mind reels.
It's a tangent, yes, but I've decided to reinvest in Halliburton and Boeing. If I lose all my money, at least the world won't have gone to hell. And if the world goes to hell, at least I'll be rich. Either way, I win.
I have to agree with Jordan Strand in saying that I just don't like horror films. Maybe it is because they make me anxious, constantly wondering when someone is going to jump out and startle me - not scare me. The Cook book suggests that Texas Chainsaw Massacre was based on Ed Gein. This made me laugh in all honesty. In fact, Cook claims that "Gein becomes an all-male family of cannibals who terrorize some stranded young people in an old farmhouse full of decaying human and animal remains." So, they took a serial killer, turned him into multiple people (cannibals) who kill indiscriminately and also surround themselves with dead bodies. Similar stories I yes; but had Cook not said that it was based on Gein (who I had heard of before), I never would have made the correlation.
At any rate, because Texas Chainsaw Massacre was produced on a tiny budget, it was dark and a bit shaky at times, creating a realistic and creepy feel. I, too, especially got this effect as Sally was pushing Franklin towards the woods with the shaky flashlight in hand.
I think the use of family wasn't to make a political statement on divorce or relocation to the suburbs. Instead, I think filmmakers simply found a way to strike a deeper note with their audiences. By presenting a family as the killers or the victims makes people question the strength of their own families. If you present the family as the killers, you begin to question how far you would go for your own family. Would you kill? If you present the family as the victims, the viewer is upset because it is destroying something allegedly unbreakable. We are taught that no matter what, your family will always be there for you and love you. What happens if everyone in your family is killed? It is the ultimate tragedy, perhaps. I don't know. I still don't think that it was very significant that the theme of family horror arises. Then again, I hate horror films so what do I know?
'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' has a more suspenseful horror. It starts in the beginning when they pick up the hitchhiker. Yes there is slight gore with the knife and cutting, but everything leading up to that moment is suspenseful. The audience is wondering along with the characters, who is he? What is he doing? What will he do? Even after they kick him out the van there is an uneasy feeling of wondering if he will come back and in what way. The end ties up the suspensefulness with the ten or minute chase between Sally and Leatherface. You keep thinking she's going to be caught, or the audience might even think that someone will come and save her. While Sally is in the house tied up, suspense also, but a different kind. It seems like there's no way to escape, you just sit and wait and wonder.
The low budget aspect I think helps with the horror, but not on purpose. I'm afraid to think that if they did have a bigger budget it would play less on suspense and more on gore. I think the director might have wanted more since it was pretty violent, but with the lack of effects, the gore probably wouldn't have shown well. Instead he uses camera work like following Sally through the woods or closeups of her eyes while in the house.
During the 1950's many shows and movies centered around the happiness of the family, always having dinner together, thinking father knows best, but in the 60's and 70's there was a revolution, in all sorts of communities. There was the feminist movement, which affected the mothers and daughters. The Vietnam War was going on, the Civil Rights, and so on, and soon enough gaps within the family began as everyone had there own thoughts. I think this plays well into the horror genre, like an almost, you think you know your family, but you really don't. I don't even think it was done on purpose, but it was as if the filmmakers could sense the destruction of a nuclear family and just incorporated it into their horror films.
It is typically perceived that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is an early slasher film; an early take on what Wes Craven would create just over a decade later. However when one looks at The elements of horror used today and the elements of horror used in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, there are obvious differences. Despite that most horror films are created low budget even today (with probably only the exception of Saw), blood and gore are the centerpiece of the horror coming from the film. But when one looks at The Texas Chainsaw Massacre there is rather limited gore and limited amounts of blood, but Tobe Hooper was clearly going for horror based on suspense, what the viewer already knows. In this case the low budget film helped the film become more horrific. Rather than showing the audience the obvious it simply shows them enough to let them picture it in their minds. America is very sick people, and only god knows what some people imagine when given the opportunity.
In the 60's and 70's horror films were based around the family. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was based of Ed Gein's family. There is no arguing that during the 60's and 70's America felt the greatest disconnect from its youth than ever before thus families began to become separated as families spent less time together. It became more relatable that someone in a family could be a mass killer. That is it, relatable. Families are still used today because it's very easy to relate to. What could be more scary than a movie about a little family just like yourselves and one goes insane and kills everyone, just like Amityville Horror. Films are successful and always have been because they are relatable; horror films are no exception.
Reid Goldberg
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of cinema's most effective horror films and remains so to this day due to its creative, low-budget values. There are several qualities to its guerilla-style of filmmaking that contribute to its effect. The film makes use of handheld camerawork, which gives it a docustyle of sorts that makes the viewer uncomfortable and disoriented, much like Sally. The film also makes use of dimly lit environments, like Leatherface's home. This could have been from a lack of lighting equipment, or a creative decision by Hooper and Pearl. Nevertheless, it makes for a dark, brooding tone that gives the film a horrific quality. Overall, the low-budget aesthetics contribute to the film's bizarre, terrifying representation of murder and macabre.
In the '70s the everyday family became the victim of cinematic horror. This is because one takes comfort in knowing that he or she is safe with the family. The family represents a safe place in which people typically think they can't be harmed. However, with these films of the '70s, that safety net is torn down instantly and the entire family itself becomes the ultimate target.
Horror movies previous to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre often portrayed some sort of monstrous outside force, a monstrous aspect of a foreign nature that essentially threatened the well-being of the main characters. In each of these films the monster is the unusual, out of control force, and the mainstream American culture represents the norm of society. However, with Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and other movies such as Night of the Living Dead, the concentration seemed to shift in portraying what would on average be normal society as now the out of control threatening presence. This shift is probably due to the disillusion of society that was created because of the Vietnam War. Once America was an ideal society, but after Vietnam, its structure represented a threatening presence to its own citizens. This shift was portrayed in many movies, most notably horror movies such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Essentially, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, like Night of the Living Dead, portrays society falling completely apart. In this sense, the movie is horrifying in the sense that the complete decay of society represents a form of the apocalypse, or the end of the world. The concept of society ending, or effectively turning on its inhabitants is a terrifying concept, and utilized very well throughout the film. This decay of society is especially evident in the deviant family within the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. While once a recognizable, social structure that could enforce morality, the dysfunctional family in the film symbolizes unrecognizable familial roles, and deviant ethical social structure. This society self destruction is also built into concepts of survival, in which the characters essentially have to compete with each other in order to survive in the film. With the break down of economic structures and finances, the family in Texas Chainsaw Massacre turns to deviant forms of survival including murder and cannibalism. It seems in the family’s mentality, they feel that their very survival is just as much at risk as the victims they destroy. This mentality seems especially evident in the father when he declares that he takes no pleasure in murder, however, seems to feel it is necessary, and allows his relatives to take these drastic and violent measures for him. This horrific competition also turns into matters of entertainment and enjoyment in which the murderers engage in sadistic games with their victims. This form of entertainment contains a sort of humor that is quite disturbing given the events that are enfolding on the screen. Even given these horrific events and mentality, it is the breakdown of the slaughterhouse and its reasons behind which seem to place social blame on society. The emotions and violent behavior of the family is attributed as a result of the ending of their economic structure, and the slaughterhouse was unsuccessful because of the modern achievements that placed limits on its use. This fact seems to suggest that a society that prefers technology over employment and social benefits, will wind up creating feelings of resentment, anger, depression, and violent indifference.
Another terrifying concept in the film is the feeling of being trapped, and a complete lack of trust. One of the most notable scenes in the film is when the main character tries to gain assistance from somebody she feels might be trustworthy, only to discover that he is actually interested in her own demise. This presents a horrific concept: that once trapped within this violent communal boundary, one can not even turn to others for potential assistance, and must rely on themselves and their own survival throughout the film. This sense of mistrust and self dependence also seems to represent the lack of trust people felt for societal constructs during the Vietnam Era.
The concepts in Night of the Living Dead also represent a society run amok, however, the familial roles are more recognizable in this film. Since Night of the Living Dead is a film about the loss of identity, it is more effective to establish concrete familial roles, so that it is more effective when that familial identity is stripped of its nature, and the conformed zombie mentality takes over. While either film uses different tactics in regards to family, they are both effective in portraying society as being a potential destructive force.
Colin Stone
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is basically a typical, if not "poster child" of the low-budget slasher films of the era. Most of its thrills come from the heavy suspense and "this could be me and my friends" mentality. One thing I found interesting, however, is when looking back on the film the amount of blood and gore isn't really all that much. Most of the really brutal violence is either off screen or silhouetted. I'm reminded of Hitchcock's "Psycho" in which, even though many people complained about how violent it was, the illusion of gore and violence is given through editing and intensity. In actuality we witness very few deaths in an "up close and personal way". Given the budget and the fact that most films of this era DID use buckets of blood (Dawn of the Dead, also by Romero), I'm actually quite impressed. The mind can be tricked into seeing what it thinks is there, it fills in the blanks. These types of films often bank on the "group of friends/family out together in an unfamiliar setting". Usually because they know that their target audience, teenage-30's males can best identify with those situations, heightening the "reality" of the situation, if you could call it that.
As far as the idea of family, I think that it simply brings up the idea that horrible things are happening to you, but also the people you love and care about, which makes any situation much more emotionally traumatizing and complicated. Especially in the Romero or Romero-style zombie kill-fests, because you will often have to end up facing and/or destroying the re-animated body of a loved one. Yeah...not only is mom dead and killed by the living dead, now I have to kill her before she eats my brain! Damn it all, what a buzz-kill for the weekend!
The type of "Horror" that the Texas Chainsaw Massacre used was a mixture of suspense and the audience's own imaginations. With a name like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the audience is already set to believe they are most likely about to see a ton of gore and violence. Instead the film lets the audience imagine a good portion of the horror for themselves. Being a low budget film, I think the horror aspect of it was still well done. The grainy quality of the film also helps make the film seem all the more grittier or dirty.
Family life had changed in the 1960s and 1970s. I think families felt more divided and I also think that bringing the horror in the family was a way of making the horror film more edgy. It hits closer to home... literally.
~Jonathan Porter
Nathan Pratt
Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a classic depiction of a Slasher film with suspense added into the mix, much like Halloween or Friday the 13th because of the foreshadowing by the hitchhiker in the beginning of the film. The gory killings one after another help the film to lean more toward the slasher horror genre. The low budget film style gives this film a more dark quality which is of course how the killings are depicted as evil or wrong. They grainy quality also keeps the viewers at the edge of their seats by giving them an feeling that something bad is about to happen around every turn.
The use of family in horror films is a reoccurring scene in horror films of the seventies: for example Michael myers of halloween is a the disturbed brother trying to find his long lost sister killing everyone in his way, in the omen the adopted child is who happens to be the devil. The family connection helps to enhance the audiences views on the film by making them think that this could actually be their loved ones being hurt which they would never want. The use of family in texas chainsaw also helps to show how families mold their kids into what they will be. Therefore the use of family in horror films helped to scare the viewer by making them think that this could actually be happening to them and their family
I tink the type of horror depicted in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is very fast paced and having little suspense. The film starts off somewhat slow providing a "crazed" hitchhiker to propel interest and then glides from murder to murder. The key difference in Texas Chainsaw Massacre, in terms of "slasher" film style, is the pace of which killings occur and the gruesome manner in which they are shown.
The low-budget aspect gives realistic qualities to the film. (I'm guessing) That they did not have a great deal of lights to use (during the night scenes), so they used available light and a faster stock to achieve the look they have. This film isn't The Godfather, it doesn't need to look perfectly lit (although part of the look of The Godfather is that it isn't perfectly lit, but you get the idea).
The reason family is often involved in horror films is to make the protagonist watch her family members get killed. Basically they have to go through hell and I think people in general kind of get off on that...or at least it allows them to justify that person surviving.
Michael Kubaszak
Texas Chainsaw Massacre depicted a morbid form of horror. The film kept audiences informed. They know where the killer lurks. They know leatherface is just behind that door. And the thrill and terror comes from the characters in the movie being ignorant of it all. By blindly stumbling these youths into such a situation we are forced to watch their unknowning waltz into death. And when its all too late, we as the audience sit and watch leatherface disembody the peoples. Suspense and gore are the key elements of horror.
The low budget had a big impact upon what the director and crew could do with their twisted plot. Realistically, gore is exepensive and hard to recreate. This lead to more build up and less time spent actually killing the victim. The mirror opposite being the remake, which had a large hollywood budget. In turn its horror was primarily in the gore with little suspense to supplement it.
A family is safety. Inside your solid walls of home, comforted by your mother, protected by your father, and looked after by your siblings. These peoples are the center of your existence, your life givers. And horror has so much fun with this conception by turning it upside down. Now the family is a collaborative murdering party. Or even under the protection of the father, you are still powerless against the dark forces horror portrays. What better way to invoke fear than to take the safest, most secure idea, and turn it into a danger.
The type of horror that was represented in “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” was very suspenseful and violent. The suspense was what makes it exciting to watch because you are constantly waiting for something to happen to those kids from the start. I think that the low- budget style of the film plays and aesthetic part of the film. It gets a more darker and natural feeling that this is happening for real, in a normal everyday life. A lot of the horror films at the time revolve around a family setting because it will be more effective on the audience. It makes them think that this can be them or can happen to them. At the time if someone acts outside of the “norm” then they are weird. This shows the separation of the “normal” American family from the radical and revolutionized family of the time.
The horror is very grounded in realism; however ridiculous the plot may be, we are always given a “this could happen to you” sense. This is exemplified by the opening title sequence, the narrator literally says that it actually happened. The low budget style plays perfectly into the aesthetics of this style because the camera is always kept at eye level. When the people are running away from the killers, the camera runs with them, as opposed to showing the inside of the house or something to that effect. This is obviously due to not having enough money for multiple cameras, but works on a level that keeps you in connection with the characters being victimized. The low budget soundtrack, with the amount of screams and the absence of a score, also plays into this idea.
The idea of the family was used because it was an idea that was radically changing; feminism and the “counterculture” movement were making people reevaluate how they should live their lives and run their family, and it was nerve wracking. The entire notion of a man and a woman family had lived in America since its inception, and the change brought forth a considerable amount of uncertainty, and that led to speculation. It's along the same lines as the China Syndrome in that people really had no clue what to expect in the years to come, so radically different ideas weren't really all that unimaginable.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is definitely a slasher film--I'm not so sure if it's exactly suspenseful, because it's obvious early on that everybody's gonna die in disgusting ways. I think the allure of this film comes from getting to see [or imagine] a bunch of gruesome and unusual things, like the family and the killings themselves.
The low-budget feel was perfect for this film. The grainy darkness made it seem very real--the 16mm film looks a lot like whatever stock was used for home films around that time. If famous actors had been used, it would have been easier to distance ourselves from them--instead of seeing an anonymous person, who is easier to identify with, we would be seeing the specific actor/actress being brutally murdered.
I think the seventies heralded a re-evaluation of the nuclear family. The generation gap between the early baby-boomers and their children was larger than any ever before. It seems like at least a couple films show a contrast between a squeaky-clean family and a familial group of deviant killers--TTCM and The Hills have Eyes. Especially during the dinner scene, I was wondering where the hell the women in this family were, and what possibly could have happened to them--or how they married into the family in the first place. So maybe (well, definitely) these films comment on the overuse of male power. The fathers of this era were children in the fifties, and they probably carried with them the same behaviors that their fathers had--not interacting with kids too much, unless to inflict one's ultra-conservative viewpoints upon them or a war story or something. Mothers were probably more enlightened, what with the women's rights movement and changing times--they were probably more rebellious than would have been acceptable even ten or fifteen years earlier. These potentially uncomfortable family dynamics probably meant that there wasn't much closeness or respect, except between siblings. So perhaps seeing violence inflicted upon a family onscreen jolted people into imagining what could happen to their own families.
After watching the gory horror film, Texas Chainsaw Massacre a lot of thoughts come to mind from it. First of all, all the suspense that goes into the movie. When all the characters get scared by the killer. One fortunately gets away alive and safe but still injured and coming out someone who is never going to be the same. While all the others get killed in a very gory way. This brings me to my next point that I will remember from this film. The gore in this film that we see. Time after time people are getting stabbed or getting something sawed off by the chainsaw killing them. We see so much gore in this film which was good but a lot of it. After viewing this film and realizing it was a low budget film I could tell this is many ways. The costumes, curtain scenes in the movie and how they were thrown together, and the actors who were not very famous. This film was good but could still tell they did not put a whole lot into this movie like they could have.
Kelly Grzybowski
this film is the perfect embodiemnt of the horror genre as a whole. but does it better than most films out there. it really keeps you on the edge from the opening scenes to the end when she finally get away. and for a low budget film thats amazing.
the use of family in horror films strikes at our very hearts, family is the one thing that most people hold love for and when they are being terrorized its our worst fear. its capailizing on the safty we have with our family and naking it seem lke no one is safe.
The Texas Chainsaw Masacre is suspensful due the constant, nonstop 'terror' sequences. Right away in the film theres a fake terror scene when the wheelchair is pushed off the side of the road. the viewer is tricked into thinking something major happened. And then the crazy guy gets in the car and everything starts to fall apart. Also, a lot of things in the film seem really out of place, for instance the gas station and the attendent not knowing the house. THe foreshadowing creates a lot of suspense for the viewer just because they want to know what wll happen, all they kow is that something will happen (wandering off to the lake, entering the house). The low budget aspect of the film makes them create their images realistically. Basically, not so many special effects and a lot of 'scariness' is created by the lighting and camera movement. Same thing goes for NOTLD. They could only work with the basics so asthetics became the real tool.
As for the family style in the horor, nothing disturbs audiences more than watching somethiing that could happen to them. By watching these groups get destroyed by something realistic (maybe not plausible/possible, but seems realistic like NOTLD) strikes terror into the viewer. I think other classmates had it right by saying that people shouldnt necessarily follow what their parents do. It was a time of freedom and personal expression. HOwever, i still think the family attacking and the family suffering is a way to scare the crap out of people and make them notice what they have around them as well.
Tom Emmrich
The horror in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is definitely man vs. man. There are no supernatural entities in this film, only real people committing acts of unspeakable violence against other people. This theme fits with the other films that we have seen so far, man’s inhumanity against man, over the top violence, and a different set of aesthetic qualities in the production than what would have been found in classic Hollywood productions. The horror of this film is not only in fearing for your life from an immediate threat of violence such as Leatherface, but from the psychological aspects that come with not being able to trust the people around you in a strange place ( like the V.C. in Nam). The father character is almost more frightening than Leatherface because of his scheming nature and the false pretense he gets the girl to believe she is in a safe place and he will take care of her. For me personally, one of the most disturbing images from this film has always been her look at the BBQ pit when she is back at the gas station. The implied horror and her realization that happens just a little too late, to me, are much more horrific than say when some of the others get killed such as when the one guy gets hit over the head with a mallet. The look of the film adds to this with the grainy 16mm footage that looks like either a documentary or travelogue or, comparatively, like news footage from Viet Nam. This definitely adds to the realism and closeness that the viewer is meant to feel towards the leads of the film. As if the viewer themselves have been transplanted in the action and are witness firsthand to these horrors. The extreme close-ups of the victim’s face at the table do break with the rest of the film’s visual style, but at that point I don’t feel like they detract anything from the films overall aesthetic but help to disorient the viewer and visually represent the madness that has befallen this victim.
The clip was taken off line at the time of my writing this but the family was a very strong part of horror in this time period. Looking at films like Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, and The Omen they all deal with issues of family life. From the fears of motherhood to parenting (or like all three films raising hell spawn) or simple family dynamics such as the sarcastic brother in the beginning of NOTLD or the family in the basement, there is definitely an emphasis placed on the family. The use of this trope might show the collapse of American family and the traditional values that go along with it. No longer are there atomic monsters to scare the public but real monsters like an overly controlling father or deranged in-laws. Again, as with TTCM, NOTLD has a very documentary feel about it and some of the scenes of the bickering between the people in the house have the look and feel of a Cassavetes’ family drama.
The horror scene throughout the film is not complex on any level, using simple sound effects, gore, and props to elicit a feeling of discomfort and fearful anticipation. I think these films began in the low budget style therefore it defines the genre however remakes have may redefine the genre in the future. The notion of the American family in peril makes for a grim environment in which those held closest are in the most danger. This also brings the survivor aspect into the genre. This may also be a representation of the culture at the time. Maybe those who are seen as radical are being hunted down until they conform.
-brian shea
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre's style of horror depends not only on gore, but the unfamiliar. Before viewing this film I'm sure nobody would imagine that somewhere in America, where laws reign and people are generally safe, there could be this twisted family harboring such eccentric and ghastly interests as murdering people in the fashions that they do. As a generality about human behavior, the unfamiliar is often unsettling and people often have difficulty adjusting to change. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre really plays to this unease by giving us something so unfamiliar and gruesome that our natural instincts invoke fear in us. To top it off, they toss in lots and lots of gore. Using a chainsaw to murder people is high on the scale of gory ways to kill. They even combine gore with the unfamiliar by manipulating corpses, making furniture out of bones, self mutilation, cooking their prey, and torturing their prey.
In regards to the low budget, I think it played into the fear factor of the film very well. Instead of relying on flashy and expensive expressions of raw gore, more horror came from peculiar scenes and the macabre instances the victims found themselves in. The cheap budget made creepy shadow effects and creepy character development more practical means of horror; which I think are more effective than just a realistic, blood-splattered death (like the remake often relies on).
I think horror films from the 60s and 70s consistently struck at the family because that's where people feel most safe. A father to protect, a mother to nourish, and siblings to empathize with gives the illusion of security and safety. Traveling with your brother and friends to a family property far away and paying your respects to a dead relative at a grave site typically feel like innocent enough things to do and make you feel pretty safe. These horror films, however, strike where you feel the most safe, and show you you're not safe in the least bit. The nice family property being assaulted by backwater degenerates and the respectful show of appreciation for the dead being cut short by a zombie attack are horrific things to happen when you feel nothing horrific will arise. The low budgets of Texas Chainsaw and Night of the Living Dead making it all the more scary as it shows for something to be hazardous to your health in a horrific way, it can be cheap and doesn't have to be an epically grandiose creature or chain of events (thus making it that much more "probable" that it could happen). This is an effective way to scare people as you're horrifying them where they don't think there is room for horror.
Dylan Statz (301-004)
brennan o'lena
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is truely not that "scary" when compared to current American Horror films. TCM is a family based horror movie that gains credibilty because it is based on Wisconsins own Ed Gein. (Cook) THis makes it seem real, but changing the setting to the more rural countryside adds the level of mystery. Also switching from a sole villian to the family helps to twist and turn the plot line as the movie continues. In addition it lends to the idea that every family has their hidden secrets. For the most part families try to hide them, but when this familiy's secret runs screaming and bleeding out of the front door they must correct the problem. It would seem that leatherfaces family is much more open with their family secret.
I would call this a mystery horror film, because the whole movie you are trying to figure out what the hell is going on and in the last twenty minutes you learn of this messed up family. It is however much more suspensful because of various aesthics. The lack of soundtrack is extremely helpful in adding to the erieness of the film. Traditional soundtracking is replaced by sounds of metal, crushing, and various other freaky noises. This alone sets the movie apart from other horror films. In addition the 15mm blown up to 35mm makes it almost feel like you are ther watching it happen because it seems more documentary esq.
Brennnan O'lena
I would say that this type of horror is half psychological and half graphic. Sometimes it’s like a bad dream when someone is chasing you but never seem to get a hold of you nor you getting ride of him or her. The other time it’s too graphic that scares you off your chair, like the scene when someone jump out off the freezer. Its low budget allows you to feel like it’s a documentary almost and thus it enhances the fright in me. The family is used most because I belief this is the time when family value are stress the most. Having a son and a daughter, own a house with white fence, a car and a dog as well as a secure job. By using family structure, it disrupts this thinking of having a perfect family and enters into the guilty conscience mind, such as being hunted by your ancestors, excepts these films shows the physical body coming out of the graves rather than spiritually.
Xiong Koua
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the great horror films from this time. The extensive use of violence in this film along with the screaming teenage victims add up to make a great horror film. The low budget that these film makers were working with really adds to the film. It means that the film makers have to work hat much harder in order to make the film believable and to make the film look good. Hopper does a great job with this and comes out with a pretty realistic horror film that looks pretty good.
Having the family involved in the horror adds to any slasher movie. If someone was o see just another person on the street die they would defiantly effect your mind state. However if someone was to see one of their family members getting cut to pieces it would really upset them. That is why I think the family is used in horror films- it really hits the point home and brings the psychological aspect into these films.
In psychology we are talking about fear potential, this concept basically states that we are more prone to fear if we know something startling is coming. This movie keeps you in a constant state of anticipation, not knowing when something is going to happen. When something does then happen it is really frightening. I think the whole low budget aesthetic adds to the effect by making it feel like a real horror film, something imperfect, something grainy, it is dark both visibly and in its context. I think this is its purpose, it adds to it in that the effects are not extremely welly done and makes them even more real.
The way people act in horror films across the board is usually quite interesting, but even more interesting are the representation of family. In the movie Night of the Living Dead we are introduced to a brother and sister that are continually going back and forth, even though it seems playful at times, it turns violent. As they remember him scaring her, she gets uneasy, and the physical violence occurs, he is attacked by a zombie. Now, without saying a word she runs to her car and tries to escape. Family itself seems to be something of a joke, take TCM for example, the leather face family is completely whacked out, Grandpa sits with decaying grandpa upstairs, Leatherface and his brother are just monsters, ready to kill at a moments notice and only bow down to the human cooker, their father. Pretty twisted.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was a different yet repetitive story. The story starts to unfold when when they pick up the creepy hitchhiker that tries to sell pictures he takes of the people in the van. Then he whips out a knife and cuts the one that refused to pay him. You knew that this creepy character was foreshadowing the sadistic happenings that were going to happen. They go to the gas station where the owner tells them not to go near the old house, that people wouldn't like them snooping around their property. The young group decides to go anyways and many meet their end. You know that the first guy and girl that go into the "unattended" house will be attacked, you just didn't know exactly when. After they are cruely murdered it is kind of a wait and see what the remaining characters are going to do. One by one they are hacked to death by Leatherface and they capture Pam. The film answers many of the questions but not really all of them. Why do they allow the psychopath to kill all the animals and people in such a sick manner? What, or rather how, is their grandfather alive and wanting to be included in killing Pam? The low budget of the film adds a different style to the movie. It makes you use your imagination more when the people are actually being killed because you usually only see Leatherface during the kill scenes. They really don't show each individual person getting whacked, but rather the terror in their eyes or the onlookers eyes. The use of family horror was a common trend because most people didn't know who could and who could not be trusted. You always expect family to be the few you can trust. It's easier to see or know someone you don't know die than a family member. This takes away the sanctuary and protectiveness and comfort one finds with his or her family. Chris Krombach
The “horror” that is presented in this film is not that necessary of blood and gore (which there is plenty of), but is more mental. The movie screams at you, “What would you do in this circumstance.” However, there is really nothing we would be able to do besides what the main character did, and I believe that is what really scares people. Here is this helpless girl who is being hunted down, and is eventually brought into this family that is completely mental.
The films low budget-ness really helped the effectiveness of the film, because there were no special effects that made it unbelievable. All the film seemed to be shot at what the person would untimely see if he/she were there sitting in on the situation. I know that it made me feel as if I were running with the girl or was at the dinner table with her. Also it was not a film where you could attach it to a year, like Badass. The only thing that gave the film away to its age was the fashion in the film and that really helps the watcher adapt to it.
I believe that the American family was portrayed in most of the horror films during the 1970’s, because there was this push away from the convention family during the period. From the beginning of time all the way to the 60’s (sometimes even now), the American family is depicted as this perfect white collar son, daughter, wife and husband. During the 70’s with the Kent State shootings and the Vietnam war, it was becoming evident to the new age children that this was not the case, and there began this serge of rebellion against the family and more importantly the government. I think it is important to consider that every family has something to hide, and the movies from this era were really trying to hit this point.
The horror of Texas Chainsaw Massacre is simply the horror of apocalypse. The entire diagetic world of this film is coming apart in a way. From the crime-scene descriptions and horrific images of the opening credits, to the radio exerts heard throughout the film, and finally the violence we do see on screen, everything in the world of this film is horrific and violent. While the deaths that we see on screen are enough to make us squirm, the world the film represents is what should be truly frightening. It is the world that Tobe Hooper sees mirrored in the violence and scandal of the 1970s itself. In addition, the film's low-budget style seems to intensify the horror. The representations within the film are not pretty and stylized, they are ugly and disheveled. Things literally seem to be falling apart.
The family is an important part of the horror of the 1970s. Films such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Carrie, The Omen, and Its Alive all deal with horror inside of families. These films are very effective because of their representation of something that should be normal and stable (the nuclear family), but isn't for one reason or another. Carrie reacts in a horrific way, due to the repressions of her mother, while Damien brings death and destruction to a perfectly normal family unit. These films show us horror inside of something we thing we understand. They show us that perhaps the most terrifying things can be found within ourselves or those we love the most.
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