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THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974) Director- Tobe Hooper Cast- Marilyn Burns (Sally), Paul A. Partain (Franklin), Gunnar Hansen (Leatherface), Ed Neal (Hitchiker), Allen Danzinger (Jerry) Rated- R Runtime- 1 hour, 24 minutes Reviewed By- Josh Cartwright The Lowdown Five friends encounter a cannibalistic family during their drive through Texas. My Take Tobe Hooper's first and finest film is without a doubt one of the most disturbing films I have ever seen. Even after seeing "Chainsaw Massacre" many times over, I still find several scenes hard to sit through. "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is a dark, dreadful and very unsettling flick that still holds its own after all these years. From the opening sequence of rotten corpses, to the tortune and mayhem at the end, this is one film that never fails to amaze (and scare) me. Hooper's masterpiece is shot in semi-documentary style which adds to the realism of what's taking place on the screen. Hooper keeps the slick shots to a minimum and lets the actors dominate the film with their extremely believable performances. Marilyn Burns turns in, in my opinion, one of the finest performances in cinematic history. This woman goes through pure hell and you feel every bit of the torture through her performance. Burns was probably never the same after that stellar show. Franklin, on the other hand, drove me friggin' crazy. I hated this dude and his constant whining. I prayed hard for his death...thank God it finally happened! Leatherface and his family have to be the creepiest horror movie villains of all-time. Gunnar Hanson, Edwin Neal, and Jim Siedow totally rocked the camera in their roles as the cannibalistic, psychotic family. These guys are different in their own ways and each offer something deranged and scary to the film, but in the end, they're all freakin' crazy and come across as true-blue psychos. Hooper delivers some unforgettable images and paints a disturbing and brutal picture. A lot of the action is unsuspected and the gore is very low-key which was a big suprise to me. You think "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and you think bloody, gory violence but this is an assault on your mind more than an assault on your eyes or stomach. Some of the scenes manage to scare just by letting our imaginations take control. The dialogue is horrific and chilling because it's so real and true, you can actually imagine these psychos saying these things for real. These guy's minds are so warped that it's spooky just hearing them talk. This isn't your average horror flick, this is a true brutal tale with several elements borrowed from the real life Ed Gein murders. Animal and human bones decorating the house, a dead grandpa stored upstairs, physical and mental torture on the victims, cannibalism.....does this sound like your typical slash-and-gash horror? NO, this is the real deal and this is horror at its finest. "The Texas Chanisaw Massacre" remains one of my favorite horror films of all-time and definitely delivers the goods in a powerful and emotional way. This is one film that you'll never forget and the images Hooper tosses at us will not soon be forgotten. "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" takes so many spooky elements, combines them with great acting and a documentary type shoot that you wonder if this film is based on real events or just conjured up from the warped mind of an individual telling a story. Either way it's disturbing, freaky fun. I couldn't live with myself if I gave this film anything less than a perfect score.