Almost forty-six years after its release, it remains a horror classic that set a trend. After it, there are thousands of films in the horror genre that would use it as a reference.
Five young men travel in a van on the lonely roads of the state of Texas, to check that the graves of the relatives of Sally and her brother Franklin, who is paralyzed, are all right, as radio and television reported that several graves were desecrated. The other young men are Jerry, Kirk and Pam. On the way, he has gasoline problems and they pick up a crazy man who hitchhikes with whom they have an altercation inside the van, after the crazy man cuts his hand and burns a photograph he took of Franklin. The group of friends go to the house of Sally's relatives, two of them will go for a walk, approaching a house where there is a power plant working, not knowing that they are entering the house of horrors of the leatherface family .
Leatherface became an icon not only in horror films, but also in popular culture. Many masked killers who emerged were influenced by him. Along with the human leather face, the saw is another symbol, even though in the first film he only uses it against one of the characters.
It's a low-budget film, costing approximately 130,000 dollars. Incredibly, in the year of its release alone, it raised the sum of thirty million in the United States.How is this possible? What is the reason for its success? Great works are great because they are the sum of factors that are sometimes impossible to determine. The alignment of factors that make magic appear.
The low budget for the time, made the effects and tricks, become much more handmade. Today, those special effects, we see them and they cause laughter. But by 1974, they caused a sensation in the audience, which was mostly teenagers. I still like them and I prefer them to be that way, it's one of the ingredients of their success.
Setting the story deep in America, within a rural, lonely, economically stricken area, is also a journey for us, the viewers, exploiting the fear of what we don't know.
The filthy décor inside the house makes the scenes unpleasant. For example, in the scene where Sally is tied to the chair, while the family eats, a suffocating atmosphere is achieved. The screams of the young woman, the taunts of the sadistic murderers, all within that dirty atmosphere, achieve a very strong psychological effect. Then, when they try to get Grandpa to hit Sally over the head with the hammer, it's really sick.
All that sadism, was criticized by a conservative sector of the specialized critic. The film was banned in several countries. What those who censor it never understand is that when you make something illegal, it's more publicity for the work, and people will get to see it one way or another.
Many say that the film is bloody, but they are wrong, it is not really as bloody as some people think. If it has scenes that are disturbing, for example, they cut off Sally's finger, so that Grandpa can suck the blood. It may not be as shocking today, but we are talking about 1974.
The actors were unknown to most of the audience, actors who had done theater and television or some small appearance in other movies. They were new faces, who did their job well. For me, this was very important, along with the exhausting shooting and the low budget.
Some of the actors have already passed away. Marilyn Burns , who played Sally Hardesty, the only survivor of the youth group, died in 2014. A year later, in 2015, Gunnar Hansen, the actor who played Leatherface, died. In many interviews, the actor said that they didn't have a mask to back him up, so he had to spend the whole shoot wearing the same mask, which was unpleasant, in that hot environment. Paul A. Partain, the actor who played Franklin Hardesty, died in 2005. The actor Jim Siedow died in 2003. The actress Teri McMinn, who played the beautiful Pam, is alive, but retired from the art world. Allen Danziger has been seen in other horror films, but he never achieved the same success. The one who has had a greater career after making the movie, was the actor Edwin Neal who was the Hitchhiker and brother of leatherface, that actor was the famous villain Lord Zedd in several seasons of the Power Rangers.
Director Tobe Hooper (died in 2017) focused his career on making Horror movies, some good and some regular. But he will always be remembered for this masterpiece of the genre. The director who marked a before and after within horror.
There have been sequels, remakes and prequel films, some of them good, others not so good. I liked the one from 2003, starring Jessica Biel. But none has achieved the same impact as the original film.
My Rankin: 5/5
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