After reports of grave robbing and vandalism in local cemeteries, Sally and her paraplegic brother Franklin Hardesty travel through Texas with three friends to check on the grave of their late grandfather. When everything seems to be in order, they decide to stop by their grandfather’s old, dilapidated house. Along the way, they pick up a deranged hitch hiker, who erratically rants about the local slaughterhouse before stabbing himself and Franklin. The group forces the hitchhiker out. Shaken, they press on to the old manor where they hope to kill time. The Hardesty’s friends explore the property and journey up to a neighboring homestead. Is is here where we meet Leatherface, a massive, deranged man wearing a mask stitched together from other human faces. With brute force and his puttering chainsaw, Leatherface hunts down each of the friends. When Sally and Franklin go looking for their pals, they are plunged into a hillbilly hell full of corpses, carnage, cannibalism.
I didn’t enjoy “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” in the conventional sense, but contend that it’s genuinely scary and probably one of the better horror films that I’ve seen. Much is said about the movie’s “based on a true story” marketing, but the film never explicitly says it is. It simply takes itself really seriously, with news stories and narration that make the events feel real-enough and possible. The film so gradually takes its time, playing with the knowledge *you know* something is coming, slowly spinning out new characters and circumstances that have you asking “is that the bad guy?”, “is this where shit hits the fan”? So much tension is built that when Leatherface finally shows up, I was almost relieved and ready to get this massacre over with! Speaking of Leatherface, the chainsaw-wielding murder-giant was a far more sympathetic character than I ever imagined going in.
But more than a big-bad, macabre imagery, and jump scares, the film seems to have a lot to say. The flick expertly juxtaposes sanitized newscasts against the gruesome reality being reported; those who benefit from industrialized society vs. those left behind, off the grid; and ironically and through parody, the limits of friendship against the sanctity of the American family. And then there’s meat. The film is probably the most pro-vegetarian film I’ve ever watched, forcing the audience to consider the flawed logic in humane-slaughter and reflect on where we choose to draw the line among animals we eat and those we do not.