Alternate titles : None

Tagline : "Can You Survive... ...it Happened."

The Texas Chainsaw MassacreTobe Hooper's controversial 1970's horror classic takes place, as the title suggests, deep in the heartlands of Texas, where a group of youths are out for a sunny afternoon drive in their van.

With news reports of there being a spate of grave robbings in the area, they decide to visit one of the old cemeteries, where their relatives are buried, to see if any of their graves have been disturbed. But afterwards, decide to make a detour to visit their old family homestead, which is now abandoned (you can see where this is leading).

Unfortunately, it seems they have since acquired some new neighbours. As one by one, they go off to explore the surrounding area, only to run into Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen). A chainsaw wielding maniac, who sports a mask made of Human flesh. Who proceeds to make mincemeat of them (literally)!

Indeed, it seems no one is safe. Not even the guy in the wheelchair gets spared the saw, as Leatherface proceeds to saw his way through the hapless teens, leaving us with the question as to will anyone survive, and what will be left of them, even if they do?

Heralded as the prototype to the slasher film, Texas Chainsaw Massacre is not overly gory, but it is extremely suggestive. Indeed, looking back on this now, it's hard to understand what all the controversy was about back in the day, which resulted it being banned in the UK for 25 years. Indeed, I think horror fans who have been brought up on teen horrors like Scream, or torture porn opuses like the Saw films will probably be unimpressed and find the most horrific thing about it is the dreadful 70s fashions.

Supposedly based on a true story (yeah right), the notoriety this film achieved during it's initial release was such, that it is still regarded as a classic horror film by both critics and fans alike to this day and whilst it may not have aged as well as some horrors, I would still recommend all true horror fans see this.

Overall Marks : 7/10.

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