Fathom Entertainment and Dark Sky Films has scheduled a special, one-night event for August 18, honoring the original, groundbreaking (1974) Texas Chain Saw (Chainsaw) Massacre. (Check your local listings for theaters and showtimes.)
The date of the presentation coincides with that of the movie, when upon an idyllic, summer day a group of youngsters faced unimaginable horror.
Though twisted at heart in its stark, documentary-like styling, director Tobe Hooper and his co-writer Kim Henkel manage to keep the cannibal-ridden carnage to a minimum (i.e. being more implied than not), for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is, in truth, a study in masterful, high-tension suggestion.
In this respect, its suspense is visceral and unpretentious (working off the basic, effective notion that its events could happen to anybody who might fall into the wrong place at the wrong time). Call me the odd man out, but I find this unsettling premise (or more so, its execution) so identifiable that it inspires a cozy feeling in me. Maybe this is also because I've come to learn and respect a great deal about the movie and its creators, many of whom have passed on in recent years.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is perhaps best known for one of my all-time favorite fiends, its towering, Ed-Gein surrogate, Leatherface, played by the late Gunnar Hansen. (I had the pleasure of meeting Hansen at a Fangoria convention in the early 1990s, at which time, I'm proud to say, he signed the box top of my Screamin' Leatherface, model kit). In addition to Hanson, the cast includes Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, John Dugan, Marilyn Burns, William Vail, Allen Danzinger and Terri McMinn, with John Larroquette as the narrator. (The movie's bone-chilling sculptures were provided by art director Robert Burns and the sweltering photography by Daniel Pearl.)
For those who filmed it, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was (and remains) a macabre labor of love, and many rank it right up there with such comparable, grassroots fright fests as Night of the Living Dead 1968, Dawn of the Dead 1979, Day of the Dead 1985, Carnival of Souls 1962, The Hills Have Eyes 1977, Halloween 1978, and the bulk of the Phantasm and Evil Dead franchises.
(Re)experience the one that initiated the masked-slasher subgenre, and if you've never seen it, now's as good a time as any to get terrorized. (FYI: As a morbid treat, the commemorative showing of Texas Chain Saw will offer a sneak-peek of Alexandre O. Philipe's upcoming documentary, Chain Reactions, which will analyze the movie's reverberating impact.)
What a weird, devilish delight to see the raw intensity of CHAIN SAW on the big screen tonight! The clip from CHAIN REACTIONS looks good, too. It appears it'll hit theaters, with an actual, promised release date. The snippet before the main feature was interesting, as well, highlighting the movie's refurbished locales. On the whole, this was a well presented package.
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