The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a 1974 American independent horror film directed and produced by Tobe Hooper, who cowrote it with Kim Henkel. It stars Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, and Gunnar Hansen, who respectively portray Sally Hardesty, Franklin Hardesty, the hitchhiker, the proprietor, and Leatherface, the main antagonist. The film follows a group of friends who fall victim to a family of cannibals while on their way to visit an old homestead. Although it was marketed as a true story to attract a wider audience and as a subtle commentary on the era's political climate, its plot is entirely fictional; however the character of Leatherface and minor plot details were inspired by the crimes of real-life murderer Ed Gein.
Hooper produced the film for less than $300,000 and used a cast of relatively unknown actors drawn mainly from central Texas, where the film was shot. The limited budget forced Hooper to film for long hours seven days a week, so that he could finish as quickly as possible and reduce equipment rental costs. Due to the film's violent content, Hooper struggled to find a distributor. Louis Perano of Bryanston Pictures eventually purchased the distribution rights. Hooper limited the quantity of onscreen gore in hopes of securing a "PG" rating, but the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) rated it "R". The film faced similar difficulties internationally.
Plot
En route to visit their grandfather's grave (which has apparently been ritualistically desecrated), five teenagers drive past a slaughterhouse, pick up (and quickly drop) a sinister hitch-hiker, eat some delicious home-cured meat at a roadside gas station, before ending up at the old family home... where they're plunged into a never-ending nightmare as they meet a family of cannibals who more than make up in power tools what they lack in social skills...
Keywords: 1970s, abandoned-house, anthropophagus, astrology, avant-garde, banned-film, barbecue, based-on-ed-gein, based-on-supposedly-true-story, bell-bottoms
The idyllic summer's day that became a nightmare of fear and blood... [UK Video]
It Really Happened. It's Terrifying. It's Here. [Australia, Video]
For them, an Idyllic summer afternoon became their worst nightmare! [Australian, Video]
Nothing Cuts Like the Original! [Ultimate Edition DVD]
Banned for over 7 years! Now finally released INTACT! UNCUT! [Australia theatrical]
America's most bizarre crime! Brutal beyond description! Grisley beyond comprehension! [Australia theatrical]
Who will survive and what will be left of them?
can you survive ...it happened
For five young friends, a typical summer afternoon drive becomes a terrifying nightmare. [DVD Cover]
What happened is true. Now the motion picture that's just as real.
Jerry: That's the last goddamn hitchhiker I ever pick up.
Jerry: Come on guys, quit goofing on me.
Franklin: If I have any more fun today I don't think I can take it!
Franklin: They just shoot a bolt in their head, and then retract it. It's just BOOM-shht-BOOM-shht.::Sally: Franklin, I like meat. Please change the subject!
Franklin: [refering to the Hitchhiker] I think we just picked up Dracula.
Old Man: I just can't take no pleasure in killing. There's just some things you gotta do. Don't mean you have to like it.
Old Man: Those girls... those girls don't wanna go messin' round no old house!
[last lines]::Sally: Go! Go!
Franklin: Hey man, you ever go in that slaughter room or whatever they call it? The place where they shoot cattle in the head with that big air gun?::Hitchhiker: Oh, that gun's no good.::Franklin: I was in there once with my uncle.::Hitchhiker: The old way... with a sledge! You see that way's better. They die better that way.::Franklin: Well how come? I thought the gun was better.::Hitchhiker: Oh, no. With the new way... people were put out of jobs.::Franklin: Did you do that?::Hitchhiker: [digs through pouch for a few pictures] Look!::[Hands them to Franklin]::Hitchhiker: I was the killer!::Franklin: [looking at the pictures] Damn...
Old Man: Look what your brother did to the door! Ain't he got no pride in his home?
Oh, oh, oh
Sitting here with nothin' to do
Sitting here thinkin' only of you
But you'll never get out of there
She'll never get out of there
Texas chain saw massacre
They took my baby away from me
But she'll never get out of there
She'll never get out of there
I don't care, wohoho
When I saw her on the corner
She told me, told me, told me, told me
She wouldn't go far
Ooh, now I know I'm so much in love
'Cause she's the only girl that I'm ever thinking of
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, wohoho
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, wohoho
Sitting here with nothin' to do
Sitting here thinkin' only of you
But you'll never get out of there
She'll never get out of there.
Sitting here with nothin' to do
Sitting here thinkin' only of you
But you'll never get out of there
She'll never get out of there.
I don't care, wohoho
Texas chainsaw massacre
They took my baby away from me
But she'll never get out of there
She'll never get out of there
Texas chainsaw massacre
They took my baby away from me
But she'll never get out of there
She'll never get out of there
I don't care, wohoho
When I saw her on the corner
She told me told me told me told me
She wouldn't go far
Ooh, now I know I'm so much in love
'Cause she's the only girl that I'm ever thinking of
Texas chainsaw massacre
They took my baby away from me
But she'll never get out of there
She'll never get out of there
Texas chainsaw massacre
They took my baby away from me
But she'll never get out of there
They cut her up and I don't care, I don't care, wohoho
Texas chainsaw massacre,
Texas chainsaw massacre,
Uhow-Oh no, oh yeah
Uhow-Oh no, oh yeah
Uhow-Oh no, oh yeah,
Oh, oh, oh
Sitting here with nothin' to do
Sitting here thinkin' only of you
But you'll never get out of there
She'll never get out of there
Texas chain saw massacre
They took my baby away from me
But she'll never get out of there
She'll never get out of there
I don't care, wohoho
When I saw her on the corner
She told me told me told me told me
She wouldn't go far
Ooh, now I know I'm so much in love
'Cause she's the only girl that I'm ever thinking of