The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Tobe Hooper's 1974 original: five friends, a family of cannibals, and Leatherface.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a 1974 American independent slasher film produced and directed by Tobe Hooper, who co-wrote it with Kim Henkel. It stars Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow and Gunnar Hansen. A group of friends on their way to an old homestead fall victim to a family of cannibals.
Quick Facts
- Director
- Tobe Hooper
- Writer
- Kim Henkel, Tobe Hooper
- Starring
- Marilyn Burns
- Paul A. Partain
- Edwin Neal
- Jim Siedow
- Gunnar Hansen
- Narrator
- John Larroquette
- Cinematography
- Daniel Pearl
- Editing
- Sallye Richardson, Larry Carroll
- Music
- Tobe Hooper, Wayne Bell
- Studio
- Vortex Inc.
Facts from the source article.
Background
On August 18, 1973, after a grave robber leaves a grisly display at a cemetery near Newt, Texas, Sally Hardesty, her brother Franklin and their friends Jerry, Pam and Kirk drive out to check on the Hardesty grandfather's grave. They pick up a hitchhiker who slashes Franklin, stop at a gas station that has no fuel, and explore the old Hardesty house. At a neighbouring house a masked man, Leatherface, kills Kirk and Jerry and hangs Pam on a meat hook, and that night he kills Franklin.
Sally escapes to the gas station, only for its owner, the Cook, to take her back to the family's dinner table. The next morning she breaks free; a truck runs over the hitchhiker, and she escapes in the back of a passing pickup as Leatherface swings his chainsaw in the road. The film was marketed as based on true events. Hooper made it for less than $140,000 with little-known actors from central Texas, where it was shot.
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