25. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
I wanted to save this one for Halloween, but Vicki asked if we
could watch it earlier, and I couldn't say no. Here are five reasons why it's
the best horror movie ever made:
1. Leatherface - He's by far
the most interesting horror villain, and this has a lot to do with the fact
that the movie tells us so little about him.
All it reveals is that he's part of a family of butchers
who treat humans like any other livestock, that he wears a mask made of human
skin, that he cross-dresses, and that he can't speak. We learn nothing about his family history,
why he wears the mask or where it came from, or why he sometimes wears a wig
and make-up, and not once during the dozens of times I've watched this movie
have I to stopped to ask. Sequels and
remakes try to explain Leatherface and by doing so they ruin the
character. Psychos are much more
horrifying when there is no explanation for their behavior.
Another important fact to remember
about Leatherface is that although he's responsible for the deaths of three
people in the movie, he does not harm them until after they enter his house. In fact, TCM could be viewed as a home
invasion movie. The first time we see
Leatherface is when a young man walks into his house looking to borrow
gas. Leatherface, clearly a misanthrope
with no semblance of social skills, sees this stranger in his home and then
reacts the only way he knows how: by
beating him on the head with a sledge hammer, placing the body on his chopping
block, and then cutting off the meat with his chainsaw. Several minutes later, when Leatherface finds
the young man's girlfriend in his living room, he defends his home from this
intruder by dragging her into the kitchen and hanging her on a meat hook. Granted, he didn't have to kill either of
these people to defend his home; he could simply have chased them off his
property with this chainsaw, but the point is that unlike Michael Myers, Jason
Voorhees, and Freddy Krueger, the other horror icons of the 70s and 80s, Leatherface
does not stalk his victims.
In fact, he even seems distraught by
the fact that he has been compelled to kill the home invaders. After hanging the girlfriend on the meathook, he retires to the
living room, holds his head in his hands, and seems to ponder why these people
keep coming into his home uninvited.
Later in the movie, Leatherface does kill wheel-chair bound Franklin in
a field outside his house, but he still can't be accused of stalking his
victims. He was tired of people coming
into his house and had decided to be more proactive in keeping them out.
Of course, the main appeal of
Leaterface is the chainsaw. The scene
when he chases Sally through the field with the chainsaw buzzing and smoking
makes most other horror-chase scenes seem like playground antics.
2. The ending -- The
difference between a good horror movie and a great one is often the
ending. In too many cases the ending
either lamely sets up a sequel, provides a quick, easy, and utterly
unsatisfying resolution, or both. TCM ends
with Sally escaping in the back of a pickup truck while Leatherface spins
around in the middle of the road swinging his chainsaw in frustration. Neither will ever be the same. Sally might have survived, but the final shot
of her sitting in the truck bed, covered with blood laughing hysterically makes
it clear that she'll be spending the rest of her days in a loony bin. Leatherface, who seems to have had little or
no contact with the outside world before Sally and her friends entered his
home, has just endured an experience he is incapable of understanding. Both
have been terrified by the experience, and because nothing has been resolved,
the ending leaves viewers with nothing to latch onto that might provide some
relief from the 80 minutes of horror we've just witnessed.
3. The realism -- Too many movies try to seem realistic by
claiming they are based on real events.
In most cases, the connection between the movie and the events are so
tenuous that the same claim could be made about almost any movie. Although it's based loosely on the real-life
serially killer Ed Gein, TCM never makes such a claim (although it has probably
been marketed in this way at some point in the last 40 years). Instead, it horrifies by telling such a
convincing story that it feels real.
From the opening monologue that gives the movie a documentary quality,
to the convincing performances of all the actors, to Sally running through
windows to escape the crazy family, to the closing shot of Leatherface swining
his chainsaw, every aspect of the movie helps create the impression that the
events it depicts could actually have happened.
4. The beginning -- Building upon the ominous tone of the opening
monologue, TCM unsettles further with its opening shots of a sculpture made of
parts stolen from graves. But what makes
the beginning so effective is the way the sculpture is revealed. First we see a black screen and hear sounds
of something grinding. Then a camera
starts flashing, gradually revealing different parts of the gruesome
sculpture. When night becomes day, we
finally see the full figure made of dug-up limbs and a skull sitting on top of
a gravestone, and as it's revealed, we can just barely hear a news report
claiming that the graves were robbed for occult rituals. Images and sounds work together to create an
opening that hints at the horrors awaiting Sally and her friends.
5. The dinner scene --
While she's tied to a chair in a kitchen decorated with human skin and bones,
Sally can do nothing but watch and listen while the crazy family debates who
will kill her. When they decide to let
Grandpa do it, Sally's head is held over a bucket into which Grandpa keeps
dropping the hammer with which he's trying to kill her. Each time the hammer falls into the bucket,
the bang it makes gets louder and so do Sally's screams until she finally pulls
free and jumps through a window. We observe most of this from Sally's point of
view, and the scene is so intense that in addition to the horrifying sights and
sounds, we can almost experience what she's smelling and feeling, resulting in
a very uncomfortable viewing experience.
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