Rent The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
3.8 of 5 from 169 ratings
1h 20min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Five friends travelling through rural Texas stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. The group soon find themselves picked off, one by one, by a masked madman with a chain saw.
- Actors:
- Marilyn Burns, Edwin Neal, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain, William Vail, Teri McMinn, Jim Siedow, Gunnar Hansen, John Dugan, Robert Courtin, William Creamer, John Henry Faulk, Jerry Green, Ed Guinn, Joe Bill Hogan, Perry Lorenz
- Directors:
- Tobe Hooper
- Producers:
- Tobe Hooper
- Voiced By:
- John Larroquette
- Narrated By:
- John Larroquette
- Writers:
- Kim Henkel, Tobe Hooper
- Aka:
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
- Studio:
- Universal Pictures
- Genres:
- Classics, Horror
- Collections:
- 10 Films to Watch if You Like: Halloween, Films by Year, Films From: 1974, Films to Watch If You Like..., Getting to Know..., Getting to Know: Renée Zellweger, Halloween Films, Holidays Film Collection, Horror, Top 10 Award Winners at the London Film Festival, Top Films, Top Horror Franchise Films
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 16/11/2009
- Run Time:
- 80 minutes
- Languages:
- English Dolby Digital 1.0, English DTS 5.1, English LPCM Stereo
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- DVD Regions:
- Region 2
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.78:1 / 16:9
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Feature-length commentary with actors Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Allen Danziger, and art director Robert A. Burns
- Feature-length commentary with director Tobe Hooper, cinematographer Daniel Pearl and actor Gunnar Hansen
- 'Off The Hook' - an interview with Teri McMinn
- 'The Business of Chain Saw' - an interview with production manager Ron Bozman
- 'The Shocking Truth' documentary
- Gunnar Hansen's Chain Saw House Tour
- 'The Shocking Truth' Outtakes
- 'Flesh Wounds: Seven Stories of The Saw'
- Interview with director Tobe Hooper
- Interview with writer Kim Henkel
- Deleted Scenes
- Alternative Footage
- Outtakes
- Trailers
- TV and Radio Spots
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 10/04/2023
- Run Time:
- 83 minutes
- Languages:
- English Dolby Atmos, English LPCM Mono
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- DVD Regions:
- Region 2
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.85:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- New Audio commentary with Amanda Reyes and Bill Ackerman
- Audio commentary with Writer-Producer-Director Tobe Hooper
- Audio commentary with Cinematographer Daniel Pearl, Editor J. Larry Carroll, Sound Recordist Ted Nicolaou
- Audio commentary with Writer-Producer-Director Tobe Hooper, Cinematographer Daniel Pearl, Actor Gunnar Hansen
- Audio commentary with Actors Marilyn Burns, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain and Art Director Robert A. Burns
- The Legacy of 'The Texas Chain Saw Massacre' - a new feature-length documentary
- Behind the Mask: Alexandra Heller-Nicholas on 'The Texas Chain Saw Massacre'
- The Shocking Truth documentary, plus outtakes
- Cutting Chain Saw with Editor J. Larry CarroI
- Granpaw's Tales with Actor John Dugan
- Horror's Hallowed Grounds
- Flesh Wounds: Seven Stories of The Saw
- Off the Hook with Actor Teri McMinn
- The Business of Chain Saw with Production Manager Ron Bozman
- House Tour with Actor Gunnar Hansen
- Tobe Hooper interview
- Kim Henkel interview
- Deleted Scenes
- Outtakes
- Trailers
- TV and Radio Spots
- Stills Gallery
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Reviews (2) of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Classic in terror - The Texas Chain Saw Massacre review by CP Customer
Often copied by never beaten, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remains a powerful classic of the horror genre. For anyone who enjoys the serial killing or gore evident in today's releases, you have to check out this first.
The name itself is misleading as it creates the impression that the film will be full of blood can carnage. This is far from the truth as Hooper relies on sheer psychological terror to convey the horror of the situation. However avoid the remake and subsequent sequels as it was always going to be downhill from here.
2 out of 3 members found this review helpful.
Despite it's seminal status as perhaps THE definitive horror film, I found it mostly quite funny - The Texas Chain Saw Massacre review by TB
Whilst it has one of the most provocative & image-baiting titles you could possibly create, especially in 1974, this is actually fairly light on gore, instead going all in for mental terror & shock. Creating the set-up that has since been copied a million times (group of carefree & fairly clueless young adults on a road trip, being taken off course & then terrorised by a demonic creature,) it then proceeds to slowly kill off the group one by one in ever more horrific ways.
It is also an unashamedly low-budget film in every sense, almost revelling in this whilst also full of highly inventive camera work & staging.
However, for me, in the middle part, I just couldn't take it seriously and spent a good section of it laughing out loud. The first time we see Leatherface, it is meant to be this horrific reveal & searing onto our brains this unrestrained evil... He jumps out of the shadows, kills one of the group, drags him into a room then slams the door with a roar like Harry Enfield's character Kevin. And from there I just couldn't stop laughing.
The scenes of him then pursuing one of the women in a protracted chase sequence, consisting of an out-of-shape actor holding a blatantly fake prop with a smoke machine attached to it & finished with some massively over-the-top sound effects alongside the obligatory grunting, is one of the funniest things I've ever seen in a film. I just couldn't take it in any way seriously.
But the end scenes, particularly the dinner scene, are extremely unpleasant & nasty, bringing us firmly back into horror territory. The ending is also well done as well, really keeping us on the edge of our seats.
As much as this wasn't for me a scary horror film, I did really enjoy it in parts and it absolutely is memorable. And for the squeamish readers of this, despite the relentlessly nasty tone & atmosphere, there is amusingly very little actual violence.
0 out of 1 members found this review helpful.