Day 27: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre [Horror Film Review]

"Who will survive, and what will be left of them?"

About a week into these blogs, I wrote out a list of all the movies I was going to blog about, that way I didn't have to spend half the day thinking about it.  Well, Texas Chainsaw Massacre (TCM) wasn't on the original list.  And it's not because I don't like it; quite the contrary.  I was thinking about doing a blog dedicated to slasher films instead.  I didn't want to blog about Friday the 13th, because I don't consider that a Halloween movie.  Friday the 13th is an awesome slasher flick, but it's a summer camp movie; it really doesn't have much to do with Halloween.  So, I thought about blogging about the awesomeness that is 80s slasher films.  Well, today I thought long and hard and said to myself, "f*** it.  I'm doing Texas Chainsaw."  And here we are.

TCM is so raw and unpolished that it has this dirty feel to the film.  Plus, unlike other slasher films like Halloween and Friday the 13th, this doesn't have a soundtrack.  The theme to Halloween is great and creepy, but in real life, theme music isn't going to play when a serial killer is after you.  That's why I love TCM.  No soundtrack, raw, unpolished, dirty...after you watch this film, you feel like you've just experienced a Texas chainsaw massacre.  I first saw this film in my early teen years, during the day, and Leatherface's first appearance creeped the hell out of me.  And that was during the day!  Imagine if I had watched it at night!

The sequels and the remake were just OK.  All of those films combined don't hold a candle to the sheer greatness that is the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  If this film has escaped you, please, watch it.  I love high definition movies, but this is one you might want to watch on an old VHS tape.  This is one film that does not deserve an HD transfer.  The older and grainier the tape, the better.  Trust me on this one.