I've seen Texas Chainsaw Massacre about 10 times. I used to own it on VHS, and I recently picked it up on DVD.
On Friday, I popped it into the ole DVD player and sat back to watch it again. (I probably hadn't seen it in about 5 years). I was really surprised at how enjoyable it was. I noticed details that I had never noticed before and really got engrossed in the whole experience.
This movie is definitely one of the "standards" of low-budget movie watching (along with LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, THE HILLS HAVE EYES, I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, etc., . . . you know the list). Yet, after 5 years or so of not seeing it, it was almost a completely new experience for me.
I think that the 2 things that make this movie so good (and so timeless) are:
1. The cinematography - the camera work is excellent and the lighting is appropriately creepy and moody.
2. The art direction - the sets and props are perfect and add to the realistic feel of the movie.
If you haven't seen this in awhile, dig it out and watch it again. It was a real treat for me.
*
*
*
*
Post Edited (04-07-03 10:10)
It is one of my top movies of all time and, of course, with most of my favourite things in movies Hollywood is about to massacre it in a remake!!!! So instead of the classic shock horror movie with some of the best camera work in a movie we are going to have some stupid blood fest with a bunch of dumbass teenagers one of which will probably be Freddy Prinze Jr!
I agree. A remake of TCM can only end in disaster.
However, Tobe Hooper ruined his own legend when he made TCM 2. He should have quit while he was ahead.
Interesting note about the TCM dvd. On the commentary track, Hooper says that the original title was HEAD CHEESE and the 2nd title was LEATHERFACE. I'm glad they changed it to TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE.
*
*
*
The Burgomaster wrote:
> I agree. A remake of TCM can only end in disaster.
Case in point...TCM: THE NEXT GENERATION with Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger. Doesn't figure very high on their resumes I imagine.
Gerry wrote:
TCM: THE NEXT GENERATION with Matthew
> McConaughey and Renee Zellweger. Doesn't figure very high on
> their resumes I imagine.
They should be ashamed . . . but not as ashamed as I should be. I own that damned DVD. "Next generation" indeed!
*
*
*
I supposed I'll be booed for saying, as much as it had nothing to do with TCM lore, I didn't mind TCM:TNG. PBRmeASAP. Anyway, TCM 2 was great. Bill Moseley is the best crazy actor this side of Jeffrey Combs. TCM 3 was so so.
The pending remake, however....I shudder to think. What the hell happened to that rumored 25th anniversary part 5?
Brother R
Brother Ragnarok wrote:
> PBRmeASAP.
>
And that means WHAT? :-(
I was using all sorts of acronyms, so I decided to throw some more in for good measure. It means Pabst Blue Ribbon me As Soon As Possible. Don't remember those commercials?
Brother R
I like some of part 2. I believe it would have been better had the studio let Hooper make the movie he wanted to make.
The TCM was a terrible movie the first time around, a waste of my time, I will not be supporting the remake, which can only be worse
jmc wrote:
> I like some of part 2. I believe it would have been better
> had the studio let Hooper make the movie he wanted to make.
Which was? I seem to remember that Hooper signed a three-picture deal with Cannon when he had some serious post-Poltergeist hotness. He also agreed to produce a sequel to TCM. When Lifeforce and Invaders from Mars came out (after much studio tampering, something Cannon was known for, I think) Hooper reportedly wanted out of the contract, so he took on the directing reigns of TCM2. The budget of Lifeforce was 30 or so million, the budget of Invaders from Mars some 14 or so million, the budget of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 was a miniscule 4 and a half million.
Hooper started filming in and around Dallas, Texas (I think - perhaps it was somewhere else) when, due to a contractual release date, shooting production was halved. The crew lost two weeks of filming, second unit directors having to pick up what Hooper and Company could not film. Screenwriter L.M. 'Kit' Carson (who reportedly is the scribe that rewrote the O'Bannon/Jakoby screenplay of Invaders from Mars)began rewriting his script to fit the shorter shooting schedule, subplots and exposition dropped left and right. Serious trouble began when it was discovered that the second unit directors work was unusable (they chose to ignore Hooper's storyboards and the visual style did not match). Hooper and Carson tried valiantly to fill in the wholes in the time left, and were somewhat successful. Although Hooper got out of his contract, his Hollywood Hot Days were over, a thing of memory. Still, I love the sequel almost as much as I love the first movie.
Ah, the life of movie making.
I first saw the movie about a year ago; we were doing a school project on Northern and Southern characters in the media, and I chose Leatherface. I agree, it's a real cool little film. Kinda funny, though-- shortly after I saw it, I had to take a trip down to North Carolina right as that whole deal with the bodies discovered at that funeral home. Serious weird vibes...
If the new movie makers do not use John Laraquette as the narrator, that will be their first and last mistake.
I was just reading on Fangoria.com that Michael Bay is executive-producing this damned remake, and it's being directed by Marcus Nispel, who has only done commercials and music videos thus far. Something tells me neither of these jokers knows anything about the stylistic aspects of making a bare-bones drive-in exploitation movie. Ugh...
Brother R
From the Burgomaster: "The art direction - the sets and props are perfect and add to the realstic feel of the movie." Not a film I have seen, but, I have heard the director, Tobe Hooper, talk about the movie, and for the movie, he used a real farm house in Texas as a set. Maybe that is why the movie feels so realistic. Enjoy!
BoyScoutKevin wrote:
> Not a film I have seen, but, I have heard the director, Tobe Hooper,
> talk about the movie, and for the movie, he used a real farm
> house in Texas as a set. Maybe that is why the movie feels so
> realistic. Enjoy!
You are correct! On the audio commentary track on the DVD, they say that the family was still living in the house during filming. They think that the same family still lives there!
*
*
*
I saw TCM many years ago when my family had gotten its first VCR and were renting movies on a regular basis. I loved Halloween, Friday the 13th, Phantasm etc, and I'd heard about TCM, so I rented it the first chance I got. I really didn't care for it all that much. I guess I was expecting a slick production like the other movies and was disappointed with the no-budget style.
The house is now a restaurant....if you watch THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE SHOCKING TRUTH documentary it shows Gunnar Hansen walking around inside talking about the place. This was a few years ago so it may not be a restaurant now.
How interesting. Fram a smorgasboard in the film to an actual smorgasboard in real life. I ineed, wonder if the building still exists, as a restaurant or not. I had heard that it had either burned down or finally been destroyed, but, I am not sure how accurate my information is. Enjoy your visit, if it is still there.
I have seen TCM and I didn't think it was all that fantastic.. It has been overhyped all of these years and was barely worth my rental price. I did admire it's low budget bravado, but it still wasn't the great film that I always heard it was. Now don't get me wrong, I will probably buy it one day on DVD (just not for 25.00 dollars that I see it for EVERYWHERE.)
I love TCM. The DVD is filled with extras. Well worth buying! I also love TCM 2, but it's totally different in style, so it's understandable why some don't like it.
I agree. The TCM dvd is great. I'm not sure how much I paid for it, but I always check out Deep Discount DVD before I buy anything. About 80% of the time, their prices are $3 - $5 cheaper than any stores (including Circuit City and Best Buy). Plus, they ship for FREE.
*
*
*
The documentary about the film was made in 1999-2000, I think, so I guess it was there up to that point.
I found something else online from people who used to live in the house--they weren't happy at all about all the fans wandering onto their property. I think that was at one of the TCM fan sites.
I think that TCM is an excellent movie. It has probably lost much of its impact over the years because on-screen violence and gore has become so commonplace that TCM appears to be pretty tame by modern standards. After all, the movie leaves more to the viewer's imagination than it actually shows (there is surprisingly little blood considering that it is about chainsaw murders and cannibalism).
My guess is that TCM will stand the test of time. It will still be around long after Freddy and Jason disappear (if we're ever lucky enough for that to really happen).
*
*
*