Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The Burgomaster · April 07, 2003, 10:09:41 AM

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.

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Post Edited (04-07-03 10:10)

fireal · April 07, 2003, 11:18:02 AM

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!

The Burgomaster · April 07, 2003, 01:01:56 PM

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.

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Gerry · April 07, 2003, 01:47:10 PM

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.

The Burgomaster · April 07, 2003, 02:24:39 PM

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!

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Brother Ragnarok · April 07, 2003, 02:31:18 PM

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

Chadzilla · April 07, 2003, 02:41:44 PM

Brother Ragnarok wrote:

> PBRmeASAP.
>

And that means WHAT? :-(

Brother Ragnarok · April 07, 2003, 03:12:57 PM

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

jmc · April 07, 2003, 03:56:29 PM

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.

Evan3 · April 07, 2003, 04:27:08 PM

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

Chadzilla · April 07, 2003, 04:50:50 PM

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.

Vermin Boy · April 07, 2003, 06:14:51 PM

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...

Evan3 · April 07, 2003, 08:27:00 PM

If the new movie makers do not use John Laraquette as the narrator, that will be their first and last mistake.

Brother Ragnarok · April 08, 2003, 03:45:08 AM

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

BoyScoutKevin · April 12, 2003, 06:32:04 PM

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!

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

jmc

BoyScoutKevin