The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Maybe it has just been me lately, but for the most part, I was a little dissapointed with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). I think overall it was a pretty cool and good movie, but I found myself wanting more after I watched the movie. It was almost like something was missing for me in the movie. It certainly sparked a unique interest for future directors in this are and created a great awareness in continuing this series of Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies.

I may be just too picky or it may be me just not getting used to appreciating "older time" movies, but I really can't determine what it is that kind of threw me off course with this movie and left me hanging. I liked it without a doubt, but it seemed like a few things could've given me the impression that the movie just wasn't as much and as good as it could've been. Something I didn't specifically like was once again, the character development. It seemed that everytime I got to figure out a character and/or start to see his/her development, he/she died. I know that this is a murder and horror movie, but it agravated me that everytime I fit something into the story with that character's role and progression, they were taken out of the movie by death.

I can easily find more things about the movie that were enjoyable. The best thing I found was the director's ability to give us little information about the story details (family, relatives, symbolic things) yet just enough to wonder a little about what was going on. The only part of this that I wish he would've given us more information about was of course, the characters. I think Tobe Hoope does a pretty goo job portraying the storyline without putting it all on the screen for us to see. I love when a director makes me think, especially about the story as a whole. He doesn't give too much information away in the beginning, but this raises the affect of figuring out what happens later on in the movie about different questionable things. The ability of Hooper to do this easily keeps me focused and into the movie - its surroundings and the storyline. Once again, I think Hooper executes successfully when he ties it all together towards the later part of the film. We figure out more about the family, the actions of that family, their intentions, their personalities, and especially the big question - why. All of this comes into play as we recognize what has been going on in the film the whole time. This was an excellent factor of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Tobe did start touching a thing I love to see, even though he did it towards the end of the movie. This was getting personal with the characters. We start seeing this when Sally starts to get seriously tormented by the family. To me, I only started recognizing it when they were eating dinner. The fact that he sort of waited til the end to do this in reference to the characters gave me the sense that the characters were a little under developed. We really see the family itself come through both as a group and then the individuals. We start seeing how they function, who they are, how this evil is controlling them, and even to me, I started to see inside of the the three guys.

This family murdered and murdered and murdered and one would most likely wonder why and have no sympathy for the family. I did at first until I stopped to think about it. Sure, they may have been insane and crazy, but who were they really is the true question. The family, as a whole, is a group we could easily see that had problems. The people that make up that family were much more than problems though. Leatherface was an insecure person pressured by his family to do their work of killing. He was never introduced, as it seems, to the world, morals, and the beauty of socializing and other people. Leatherface's brother was probably ADHD and needed attention. The only way of obtaining this attention was through the acceptance of his family. The only way he could obtain acceptance from his family was to do what they were doing - killing. Leatherface's dad or the cook was easily shown as a very very insecure person. He had no idea of himself and knew nothing about a true human beings worth. We easily see this through his actions and words. This ignorance of himself caused him to make others do what he wanted because he was so insecure about himself that he couldn't even commit things he desired to do. How can you not feel sorry for these people - those who aren't introduced to ways to fix personal problems. We, as a society, often have many problems, but through society, we are introduced to paths to fix those problems. This family never had that option it seems. They were always confined to that small town and confined to the one activity of killing. Does this make up for the killing that they commited? In no way, shape, or form does it do that in my opinion, but the matter of the fact is that themselves - their true selves - would most likely not be doing the things they did.

I'd say putting aside that one major dislike of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, this movie was quite a good addition and start to a major series. I think the problem with many though is that they hear the build up of the movie and expect so much more than they saw although so much was given to them already. This is most likely what happend with me.

-Kevin