So I just saw Texas Chainsaw Massacre...

Of course theres a backstory of sorts, but you'll have to watch part 2 and 3 I suppose.

Love the first. It's my single favorite horror film. The second has some great FX by Savini, but other than that, I didn't care for it too much. And the third takes a lot of bad rap, but to be honest, it's my 2nd favorite in the series.

Basically, what you "saw" is what it is. There's not too much more to the movie.

- Fixxxer

Liked it a lot, didn't love it though.

Everyone I know hates it and thinks it was stupid.

Dumb, dumb people.

Well, maybe TCM's message is
BEWARE TEXAS AND IT'S INHABITANTS...
THEY'RE WEIRD!!!!



Sorry for you texan fellows, I just
had to write it... wink

GHOULE, the Alien from Quebec!

There's no real backstory for the first, just an exercise in random terror. That said, it's fucking awesome. Beautifully directed, amazing cinematography, and disturbing as hell. I have nothing but love for this movie, and I think I'll watch it today.

TCM made me who I am today. It is definitely my favorite horror movie. The first time I saw it (I was 9) I was so scared that I slept under the dining room table all that night. The next day I watched it 5 more times. It is by far the most terrifying movie I have ever seen, and I love every minute of it. Back story? Doesn't need it. That's what makes it so frightening. There's no sane reason for them to do this to people. They're just hungry for human meat. How they got like that doesn't matter. All that matters is that there's a giant out there that's wearing somebody elses face, waving a chainsaw around, that wants to take you home to feed his family...Leatherface, God bless 'im.

Hey I res-

Ok...so I am scared of my fellow Texans as well...there are alot of crazy folk around here..

One of the greatest films ever ... period ... and that's coming from a vegetarian

This movie contains some of the most uncomfortable scenes I've witnessed. When the girl almost makes it out the screen door. The hook. The van pickup. Jeez. It definitely does what it is supposed to do.

skip the 3rd one

To me, TCM is the dry land equivilant of Jaws. Simple, straight forward and completely ferocious. I've always liked going on long hikes in the cold, snowy wilderness in Northern Minnesota, especially at night. And, without fail, at some point can hear that damn chainsaw echoing through the woods. I like the unrelenting savage force of nature feel of the TCM family. No explanation, excuse or apology. They just want to eat you up.

TCM kicks ass. I remember first seeing it about 2 years ago, when I was knee-deep in horror again. It didn't really disturb me all that much, but it was creepy and very thrilling. Leatherface was so cool and evil.

The use of making your brain make up the gruesome juicey details was cool, because you can make it up however you want it to be, particularly when the brother dies.

That film will always stay with me, that's for sure. I may not remember all the details, but I remember what counted.

There's not much I can say that hasn't already been said. It's just a perfect film, in my opinion. *gets warm & fuzzy memories about death and mayhem* Ahhh.

Sums it up perfectly. One of those you just watch and thank God it isn't you at that house.

I finally saw this movie for the first time today, and I have to say that it didn't really age well, but damn. It was definately an exercise in terror. Some of the scenes really got to me like they were supposed to, and other just made me crack up laughing. Some of the scenes with Leatherface were kind of funny, like the end when he was doing his "chainsaw dance". I was shocked at the brutality of the killings. There wasn't anything fancy, especially the first one. *spoiler* He just nails that guy with the hammer and that's that. My jaw dropped when I saw that first killing. A decent movie, but I can't really get as fired up as some people can around here.

Actually, having visited the state, I can tell you that TCM makes it look like a much more pleasent place than it is.

I look forward to part 5....

the part where they younger gereations of the inbreeding get elected to the white house and take their murderous rampage overseas to.... err... wait.....

Horrified me. I was piss scared. Terrified. One of the best times I'd ever had watching a movie.

Are you sure you saw it? TCM is hardly gory. It might as well be PG compared to F13 and Nightmare on Elm Street.

I like TCM a lot. While I didn't find it terrifying, I did find it unnerving. The movie really is an execise in random horror as previously said, but it is also a great example of a movie that never lets up.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre takes a slow build to a breakneck pace, and just keeps it there. No slow moments, and that drone of the chainsaw. I swear I heard it in my head long after the movie was over. It didn't let up, and made people imagine more gore than it showed. That's why it's a classic in my opinion.

The original is on IFC in 40 minutes. Some folks in another thread mentioned having not seen it yet.

I like how Werewolf Girl's initial post in this thread completely and totally sums her up in a nutshell.

She's an inbred cannibal?

She's kinda slow, super enthusiastic, has a bit of an unearned elitist streak to her, and tries to shove her ideology into places where it just doesn't fit.

*Slow clap*

You win this round Ripoll.

That saddens me, Patrick. I though you and Werewolf Girl were MFEO.

And to think, Patrick used to be such a kind, wide-eyed, innocent young man.


This version is definitely better.

Ripoll equals pot.
Werewolf Girl equals kettle.

So, IFC's print was pre-Dark Sky remaster. Kinda scuzzy with its share of cinch marks and splices. Still works like a charm, though.

I'd actually really like to hear how I'm elitist, cuz it's not intended at all. I try my best to follow the DaveB school of open-minded debate, and I never want to come across as implying I'm better than anyone.

I often question things I don't understand, like the incredibly huge popularity of sports, but it's never from the position of "all of you who disagree are inferior to me", and if I come across that way, I really apologize. In the case of the sports thread, the replies actually DID make sense and as a result, I now understand the many many reasons why professional sports are so huge, even if I personally am not interested in them. Which was the point of the thread in the first place.

And though I'm poking fun at her, I do in fact like Werewolf Girl. She's got a good sense of humor, she's not dumb, and she is very enthusiastic about her interests and beliefs. I really admire enthusiastic people, whether or not I agree with what they're enthusiastic about. That applies to everyone from Werewolf Girl to Moltisanti to Darkmite to Beaks. I could care less about Marylin Manson's next album the same way I'm sure that Werewolf Girl could care less about Woody Allen's next movie, and that's fine.

A lot of people have been commenting on how cynical I am, but I really don't think that's true about me. I think cynicism is antithetical to open-mindedness, which is what I strive for. And if I'm failing at that (which apparently I am, since so many people find me cynical and elitist) I apologize. I make fun of people and things sometimes, but no malice is behind my humor. You can poke fun at someone and still like and respect them.

The one thing that shines through the recent remaster is an amazing - AMAZING use of lenses. No small feat considering you're shooting on 16mm, but DAMN.

Not now, Phil. We're talking about what Werewolf Girl said six years ago.

As someone who is ignorant about the technical side of film making, how do those screen shots demonstrate amazing use of lenses?

I got the Blu-ray of the film. It looks good, but the improvement from SD is marginal, though I know there was a reported issue with the original DS 2 disc, and there is a new extra. But I don't watch most supplements these days, so that's not worth much to me.

The screencaps were what was on hand, only meant to invoke the scenes in the film to people who've seen it.

The first one is a macro lens. That's the only screen shot I could find of that shot, but in other frames you can see the different layers of capillaries in her eye. You can see globs of mascara clinging to her lashes. It's ugly, beautiful, intimate, unsettling.

The second is from the final shot of the film, and again, pointing 16mm at the sun and getting ANYTHING, let alone a shot that's beautiful on the level of a Malick film, is remarkable. The film's visuals are full of textures and layers that are often dismissed as "grimy", as if it looked that way by accident.

I only have marginal knowledge of the process, but I imagine getting a 16mm camera that close to an eyeball and getting that much detail is a bitch, as is getting that shot of Leatherface with the sun in view without getting a whiteout.

EDIT: What Phil said pretty much.

Did Hooper ever again make a film that was even close to this, or at least showed off his abilities of as a director? TCM is so amazing that it's hard to believe that the rest of his career is so pale by comparison. Then again, I haven't seen a lot of his films (only TCM, TCM 2, and Poltergeist) and apparently Poltergeist isn't really his.

Lifeforce has its....merits. Otherwise, nope.

While TCM is the only great Hooper film, TCM2, Lifeforce, and Funhouse are all really fun. I didn't give a shit for Eaten Alive, but I understand it's pretty well respected.

He's currently taking a stab at King's From a Buick 8, which was a glacial, meandering ode to the unexplainable. It will probably be terrible.

It has one pair of fantastic fucking merits.

He also remade The Toolbox Murders and did The Mangler or some shit like that.

The first TCM is lightning in a bottle, and history can't really let you put that all on Hooper.

The long awaited O'Bannon/Hooper pairing was inspired.

boobies boobies boobies

I just saw Eaten Alive fairly recently, and it's bargain basement crap, for the most part. Unless you're a Robert Englund completist, I'd avoid.

Werewolf Girl you said it best... it's that crazy mayhem that is what makes it good. We don't need to see the back story, we don't want to know the backstory well, we might, but our imagination is far greater than what someone could film. It's a classic horror film and gave birth to one of the most famous horror icons of the modern era. Leatherface is in the same league as Freddy Krueger, Jason Vorhees and Michael Myers.

I don't know if it was gory really, although if that's what you took away from it then the film was quite successful, it shows next to nothing gore wise, but your brain registers it as very gory.

Indeed. NSFW.

First of all, I'm so pissed I missed that this was on IFC last night.

Part of that has to do with Hooper and Wayne Bell's ingenious sound design, which still holds up today as a master class in the subject. Take the first kill, for instance. When the kid slides into the hallway and Leatherface hits him, the entire impact of that scene is made with sound. You take it away, and the sight of the kid flopping around on the ground is comical. But the deep, resonant *thud* of that mallet hit, and the ferocious way the door clangs as it's slammed shut, it's like the kid's being drug down into Hell. The girl being stuck on the meathook works much the same way.

A long time passed between my first and second viewings of this movie, and I remember thinking the second time how visually brutal the kills were. When I watched the second time, I realized that the visual aspect had little to do with why I remembered the kills so forcefully.