45 days to Halloween- 1974 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Over the next 100 days, I will present one movie of significances in horror, suspense or thrillers for each year from 1919 to 2018. The next film presented here is 1974 horror film "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" starring Marilyn Burns, Paul Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, Gunnar Hansen and directed by Tobe Hooper.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Dir- Tobe Hooper

In the history of movies, we have yet to see another film that so shocked and horrified audiences since the days of Hitchcock. Today this movie would rate about as well as any slasher film, but in its day it was not what you call a family film. A group of hippies picks up a weird guy who babbles on about his family; he is soon kicked out when he slashes one of the hippies. They then make a few turns, run out of gas and end up at a house occupied by the weirdest family on record. The family has a knack for furniture made of bones and taste for human flesh. They soon make hamburger meat out of the group one at a time. Although many critics overplayed the movie's gore it was indeed a graphic movie, the chilling atmosphere and the constant whir of the chainsaw make it more appetizing. Followed by a couple of very stupid sequels and an untold number of crappy copycats. Surprisingly this movie was based on the same story that Hitchcock used in his classic Psycho a generation before.