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The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
One of my favorite Horror Films of all time. A CLASSIC, simply put!
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was the first film of its type that I saw when I was a kid. I started watching horror films when I was very young. I remember watching Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street series, Chucky, Michael Myers, and so forth. I was 12-years-old when I finally watched this film in the summer of 2000. After watching it, I remember knowing then and there that it would go on to become one of my favorites.
The plot (which I am sure everyone knows by now) is pretty simple to say the least. Five friends, Jerry (Allen Danziger), Pam (Teri McMinn), Kirk (William Vail), Sally (Marilyn Burns) and her wheelchair-bound brother Franklin (Paul A. Partain)are driving on the lonely back-roads of Texas on their way to a nearby graveyard to check up on their grandfather's grave, after hearing reports on grave robberies occurring in the area.Thankfully, the grave is untouched, and they go on their way. Shortly after passing a slaughterhouse (and some pretty gross details on how the cattle are mutilated courtesy of Franklin), the group encounter a strange-looking skinny feral-looking man (Edwin Neal) hitchhiking. Feeling sorry for him walking in the sweltering Texas heat,they make the first mistake.......they stop to give him a ride.
At first (despite his obviously incest appearance), the man seems quite polite and even somewhat befriends Franklin as they discuss slaughterhouses, and the correct way of cooking headcheese. However, the man quickly becomes more and more erratic, first slicing his own hand with Frankiln's pocket knife, and then setting a photo on fire he had recently taken of Franklin. Thereafter, he slashes poor Franklin's arm before the group manage to kick him out of their moving van.
The group (all except for Franklin)believe the worst of the day to be over......that is until they unknowingly end up at the house of the crazy hitchhiker, where they meet his enormous, equally insane brother......the chainsaw-wielding Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen).
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is one of those films that will always stick with you after watching it. As one poster described it: "Once you stop screaming, you will start talking about it", which is very much correct. There has never been any other film quite like this. There is something just totally horrifying about it that can never be matched. Whether it be the ominous grainy documentary-like feel of the film, or the insane close-ups of terrified Marilyn Burns' face and her screams of pure terror. Watching it for the first time (even by today's standards), one will get a feeling that what they are seeing is actually REAL. When it was first released, the film was marketed as a TRUE STORY. The VHS copy I originally rented from the video store had the tagline, "The UNCUT TRUE STORY!", which made it all the more scary. The documentary-like feel to the film, and the reports that it was a true story really made it all the more a horrifying experience. Being someone who has always been interested in crime and forensics, I was even somewhat disappointed that it later turned out this film was only LOOSELY based on a true story, that being the story of Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein. Sadly, there was never a family of inbred chainsaw-wielding cannibalistic lunatics who went around barbecuing their victims and selling their remains to unwary travelers at a lonely gas station. Sure, that sounds weird being disappointed, but that is how powerful this film is. It is so raw and realistic, that it seems completely plausible that this stuff really did happen in real life. And you feel weird after learning that most of it was made up by the very-talented Tobe Hooper.
I don't think there will ever be another movie like the original TCM. Though I enjoyed most of the sequels and remake, it is always the original that I remember whenever someone asks me...."Have you ever seen The Texas Chainsaw Massacre?"
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
Leatherface and the boys are back.....and this time, they're slaughtering for laughs!
As I reviewed before, the original "Texas Chain Saw Massacre" is one of my favorite horror films of ALL TIME. It was gritty, raw, and realistic, and as I explained on that review, it seemed like it could have REALLY HAPPENED as many of the promotion of the film had marketed it as being a true story. Everything about the first TCM I love and there will NEVER be any complaints from me about anything in that film.
I had not seen the first sequel, Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2, until I was about 18. The film was BANNED where I live and was not released until around 2006. Finally, I got to sit down and watch it when it played on late-night TV. Overall........I enjoyed it.
The film takes place about a decade after the original. Lieutenant Enright (portrayed by the great Dennis Hopper) is a relative of Sally and Franklin Hardesty from the original film who has made it his life mission to find the killers and bring them to justice for murdering the invalid Franklin. After two young college kids are killed by Leatherface (this time played by Bill Johnson), Enright becomes convinced that they were murdered by the same killers, as the local radio DJ, Stretch (Caroline Williams) recorded their death cries, along with the sound of a roaring chainsaw, on her radio program. "Lefty", as Enright is nicknamed, then goes and arms himself up with numerous chainsaws in his quest to hunt the serial killers down in a bloody battle of revenge! Now, I can understand why many fans of the original did not take too kindly to TCM2. It completely diverts itself heavily away from the original film. The realistic documentary-like feel is lost, and instead, Tobe Hooper treats us to a black comedy of gory mayhem. When I first saw this movie, I must admit, I thought it was quite dumb. The terror and suspense that kept my interest piqued in the original was all but lost. However, it was then when I slowly began to realize......it was MEANT to be dumb. Tobe Hooper knew that he could never outdo the original TCM, so he tried something a little different this time around. The entire cast is new, except for the late Jim Siedow who reprises his role as Drayton/The Cook, who is the older brother of Leatherface and the gang. We also get to meet a new member of the serial killer clan in this film, Chop Top (Bill Moseley), who we discover was away fighting in Vietnam during the events of the previous film. The hitchhiker also has an appearance in this sequel, as a now decaying corpse his twisted twin brother carries around.
At the end of the day, I still enjoy this film. Sure, it doesn't even come near the greatness of the original, but it is great in its own unique way. Thus, this would be the reason why it too has gathered its own cult following in recent years.
The Video Dead (1987)
One of my favorite zombie films
The Video Dead is a film that has always stuck with me. I remember renting it from the video store all the time as a kid, and being completely terrified of the zombies portrayed in the film. I was even scared to venture out into my backyard of a night in fears that The Video Dead zombies would be waiting for me in the dark! Now that I am older, I am nowhere near as terrified, but this movie will always have a strong place in my heart.
The story begins with the delivery of an old TV set to famous writer Henry Jordan (Michael St. Michaels , who is puzzled because he has not ordered anything "but pizza in the last six months". However, he accepts it, and that night, he is continually annoyed when the TV keeps automatically turning itself on and showing an old black-and-white horror film called "Zombie Blood Nightmare", which is a seemingly plot less movie about the undead rising from their graves and wandering through fog-covered woods.After turning on a few more times, Henry gets mad and unplugs it. Later that night when he is asleep, the TV again turns on (without being plugged in) and outcome our rotting main villains of the movie......THE VIDEO DEAD! all of whom seem to be their own character like a rotting bride, a James Dean varsity jacket-wearing blue fellow, a curly dark-haired redneck dude dressed in rotting flannels, and the leader of the pack, Jack, who bleeds and drools a lot. During the night, they kill poor old Mr. Jordan while he sleeps.
3 months later, two teens move into his old house while their parents are out of the country. They were apparently told nothing of Mr. Jordan's murder. The brother, Jeff (Rocky Duvall)finds the old television set in the attic after being drawn to it by the voice of a mysterious woman (Jennifer Miro) who lives in the TV. Later, he helps his sister Zoe (Roxanna Augesen) get the house in order before Mom and Dad move in. Jeff meets his new neighbor, April(Victoria Bastel) who is walking a poodle for some other neighbors. The dog manages to get away from them and runs off into the woods where he meets Jack! When Jeff and April later find the body of the poodle (who Jeff insists died from a heart attack), Jack follows the couple back to the neighborhood.
After a Texan (Sam David McClelland) shows up and warns Jeff about the cursed TV, Jeff meets the mysterious Garbageman (Cliff Watts) after being seduced by The Woman, who turns out to be a zombie in disguise. The Garbageman tells Jeff to put a mirror on the TV to prevent more rotting nasties coming out.
Meanwhile, April is leaving for school when Jack arrives in the neighborhood, and has now brought the whole gang along. They enter April's house and begin investigating. April's sleazy father (Garrett Dressler) is in bed upstairs with his much younger maid, Maria (Libby Russler) who awakens to the sounds of the zombies rummaging downstairs. She comes downstairs, only to be confronted and violently strangled by the redneck zombie. During the struggle, she manages to plunge an iron into his head before he breaks her neck, henceforth, he is known as "Ironhead" (and he is my favorite zombie in the film). The zombies then go upstairs to finish off April's Dad, who managed to sleep through all of Maria's desperate cries for help. They quickly kill him and move onto the other neighbors,killing them all in unusual ways, including one victim being thrown upside down inside a washing machine! That night, the news is out about the murders, and the Texas, Joshua, returns to the house. During the night, a zombie kidnaps April, and the following morning, Jeff and Joshua head out into the woods to do battle. However, both are soon killed, and the zombies make their way back to Zoe, who is now the only survivor in the neighborhood. I won't spoil the ending for you, as it is pretty entertaining to watch, and will keep you both amused and scared at the same time.
To this day, this is my favorite zombie film. Director and write, Robert Scott, attempted to make the zombie legend a little different that we all know. His zombies don't eat flesh, but rather just kill for the fun of it (which is truly terrifying). I give credit to Mr. Scott for his creative skills, and I think he made a fantastic movie. Some might say that the acting is poor, and in some areas it may well be, but that is half of what makes The Video Dead a classic! It's just a shame Mr. Scott couldn't go on to do a sequel, because I would have loved to have seen another Video Dead film with a bigger budget and follow-up to this original.
All-in-all, The Video Dead is a classic to me, and I make sure to watch it AT LEAST a few times a year.