THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE Tobe Hooper 1974
 

For me, this is a near flawless exercise in film making and I find it difficult to be objective when talking about it. I struggle to understand how anyone could not love every second of it.

I first saw it in the early 80s, fuelled by cider, with a gang of school friends. It was a brutal yet funny film then and now. After we had watched it, the lad who's house we were round charged into room with his dad's chainsaw! People flew out of the room while the girls were left screaming in their seats.

After it was banned, I heard rumours that it could still be rented under the counter with some of the nasties from a news agent in the town I then lived in. I tracked it down, offered the bloke a hefty price for it but he declined.

I think it's getting better and better all the time, with the (imho actually okayish) remake already looking somewhat dated compared to the original's fierce, apocalyptic atmosphere!:woot::clap:

Watched this first on a 3rd generation copy in the early 90's, as it was- and still is!- banned in Germany, before I updated to a slightly trimmed Swedish vhs only to replace that with one of the earlier laserdiscs, which was followed by 3 different DVD releases so far:lol:

The German label "Turbine" is still struggling to "un-ban" this classic- whether or not they'll succeed is still completely in the open though due to some "stoopid" and exhausting buerocratic/legal complications so typical and revealing regarding the German "Youth Protection" system...:rolleyes:

The whole "dinner party" scene is glorious in it's madness, and for me the stand out scene of the film. It manages to be funny and as intense as **** all at the same time. Genius.

think i saw it on a pirate video,back in the 80s.i was about 10 or 11,and back at the time i thought it wasnt that good!
think mainly due to it being banned i was expecting alot of blood and chainsaw killings. now however,i believe it is what started the video nasty saga.driller killer was the same,not that much blood but still banned.
i now think tcm is a great film,great sound effects [ just love the sound at the begginning with the photo sequence ],great for its time and it has stood the test of time and also one of the most talked about horrors ever i think?
wasnt hooper trying to release it has a pg?
only own 2 versions of it,but MAY make it 3 as like the mince meat version,but wouldnt watch it as would like to keep it in its shrink wrapped wrapper.
think we need more threads on certain films?

Like ive stated on here b4 tcm is 1 off my all time fav films.
its gr8 that you can make a film with praticaly no violence gore etc etc yet be controversial is a good piece of film making to me, yet films over the yrs have tried and failed and come and gone without any 1 flinching at the contents, yet its still good to watch even now,
Glad it was called texas chainsaw massacre, because its got a good ring to the title and the original title i think was going to called headcheese :laugh:

Just think if it wernt for ed gein the chances are tcm wouldnt have been made,
he is the most true life person to inspire so many films,
Even hitchcock admited he possible wouldnt have made pyscho if it wasnt for ed gein

Took me years before I found a video club where I could rent it,the others only had the sequels.
When I finally saw it I was impressed.
But I do remember that it looked a lot darker and grim (more 70's docu) on that vhs than it does on the dvd releases.
I do still have an original Dutch ex-rental which I managed to pick up later.

Saw this first when I was a kid, my dad let me watch it and I was horrified by it.
I eventually got it on VHS in the US when I was there and when I watched it I was sure it was cut (even though the cover stated it was uncut) as in my head it was a lot more graphic than I remember.

Still gives me the creeps everytime I watch it. The first scene you see Leatherface is one of the most terrifying pieces of cinema ever

When I was first interested in watching TCM it was still banned. As far as I knew none of the local video rentals places in the small town I lived in did any dodgy under the counter nastie renting so I had to wait till I was in sixth form to see it. A guy in the year above sold me a poor quality video copy, I think he gave me a tape with number 2 & 3 on it as well.

I remeber the day I came home after school with a bunch of friends and watched it. As far as I can rememeber everyone loved it and its been a favourite of mine ever since!!!!

The new blu-ray is a thing of beauty I wouldnt go back to my crappy VHS copy for anything.

Agreed, BZ. The Blu-ray is a stunner, best the film has ever looked. That is to say, on BD it looks grimy and exactly how it should look. It's got even more of a grindhouse feel to it on Blu-ray, more natural and filmlike. It's a prized possession, for sure.

I'll probably get blasted for saying this but I much prefer Tobe Hooper's Death Trap to TCM.
Dont get me wrong, I like TCM and have it on dvd as well as the excellent BluRay release , I just think Death Trap is a better film.

I wouldn't say that I prefer Death Trap, but I do like the film very much. It also has the immortal line:

'My name's Buck and I'm raring to f*ck!'

:D

Nevile Brand was made to play the lead in Death Trap, he's one crazy looking dude..lol.

I think Death Trap suffers and is underrated by most fans simply because TCM was made first.
I think Hooper too has suffered due to his first film being so near perfect as he's always judged by TCM standards every time he directs a new film and each time falls short of the mark even though some of his stuff is pretty decent.

Im 40 so my first copy of TCM was a bootleg vhs that was surprisingly good quality.

Death Trap is certainly a lot more polished than TCM and boasts a pretty decent cast - including Mel Ferrer who is dispatched rather messily. It's great fun and Neville Brand is superb. He's also worth checking out in Psychic Killer - now there's a strange little film but nevertheless is rather enjoyable.

I never saw TCM before the video nasty scare. When I did see it many years later, I wondered what all the fuss had been about. This was clearly a movie so clever that it had people complaining about gore that wasn't even in the movie!:shocked: There was talk of blood and guts all over the place, stuff that we never see. At the time (I forget exactly when. Perhaps late 80s) I wondered if I'd got hold of an edited version, but the only real bit of gore is when Leatherface cuts open the meat of his leg, towards the end. Everything else is implied.

It's the ultimate "reality" movie for me. Forget Blair Witch, Paramundane activity and the like, TCM really manages to suck the viewer into its world. The viewer is made to feel uncomfortable without reaching for the sick bag.

Well i saw it in the 80's, a real under the counter movie, hadto go on a waiting list to get it and it was real cloak and dagger stuff, lol
Honestly as a kid i thought it was crap, didn't see what all the fuss was about, not seen it in years now.
don't throw any pies or anything shap please!:)

It's still banned in Germany even though Turbine Medien are REALLY trying to get it off the German "nasties" list (§131 StGb). I watched it a few years back on a really shabby DVD (that comes in a chainsaw packaging, kinds cool) and I did like it for it's atmosphere, but I wasn't blown away by the film.

I found TCM to be one of the cases where I liked the remake a little more than the original, thinking that TCM:TB is the absoplute best of the series...

Wasn't sure where to post this, I thought here was as good as anywhere. I've just found a painting of Leatherface that I did using my then 2 year old son Dylan's crappy paints while on the sick from work back in 2005. It's not anywhere near up to the standard of some members' artwork on here but I like it all the same and thought it was lost forever
Attachment 73837

I don't think it was banned from the time I was born (I'm 20). I saw it for the first time 3 or 4 years ago. I think its really gritty without showing anything gory, just the implications. Its a really awesome movie, I should have a re-watch.

One of my cornerstones really. Had the old Iver VHS for donkeys years. Finally got to see it at the pictures, late 90s I think (must dig out my tickets methinks) I applauded at the end, to which i was laughed at.

Twats.

A film that I've shown to civillians on countless occasions with the same result......

It terrified them.

Enough said.

The "under the swing" shot is one of favourite shots in cinema history period.

The remakes are both f*cking shite. Really really shite.

I actually don't mind the remakes, not a patch on this mind :blush:

Word.


I've only seen the Michael Bay/Marcus Nispel effort. Bloody awful. Left me feeling angry and frustrated.

Avoid the other then, ..........and breeeathe...;)

I didn't know there was another one!

I just looked them up to see what film you meant and there are 6 films (!) with "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" in the title and another on the way!

How depressing.

Only the first two are worth bothering with really, 1st for being a masterpiece, 2nd for Bill Moseley imo. Though the 4th is funny if you want to see Bridget Jones in an exploitation film:rolleyes:;)

Best thing Rene Zellwegger and Matthew McCoughthingy ever did. :lol:

I actually like Leatherface: TCM 3 too. It's got Ken Foree and an OTT Viggo Mortensen - what's not to like? :D

funny story with this one. a mate's mate said he had "the worst thing he'd ever seen since The Thing (?? odd choice, I know)"

So we all trooped round to his.
He puts this on his toploader.

I took my Iver tape round the week after. He hated it (probably to cover up his terror haha)

It's got a painted by a famous mass murderer in jail quality to it.

Ha ha, it was actually painted by a 25 year old man suffering from a pretty heavy dose of chemotherapy, I don't think I even used a brush, I think it was one of those funny shaped sponges you get with kids paints. I did anything back then to keep me occupied and to stop the boredom from setting in :)

Breally?

Here in the UK it was. It was refused a certificate back in 1975 and, aside from a brief release on home video in the early 80's which was soon withdrawn, it was unavailable for viewing in the UK until 1999. In 1999 the BBFC finally passed it uncut for theatrical and home video. So, technically, it was banned for 24 years here in the UK.

TTCM was refused a certicate only outside London and even some councils in the capital refused to show the film (obviously never seen the film)
it was given an X (GLC)
i saw it at the Swiss Centre off Leceister Sq

James Ferman (complete idiot) banned the film esp on video years later due to the intense final scenes w/Marilyn Burns being chased by Leatherface
:crazy:

He later said he would show the film to the middle lasses but not to the working classes:crazy:
an example of snobbery which we will always have to put up

I don't want to see Bridget Jones in any bloody film. :lol:

Couldn't think where else to post this so if it's in the wrong place, feel free to move it. Here's the new poster for the upcoming TCM3D film, for anyone who gives a rat's arse :)
EXCLUSIVE Poster: "TEXAS CHAINSAW 3D"!

Looks like shit :)

I dunno, having some of the original cast members on board makes it a bit more appealing

Naw, I mean the poster.

Doesn't matter if the films looks good/bad cause I know I will end up watching it anyway. :doh: I'm sure it will be better than some of the previous TCMs though.