The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
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A group of friends on a road trip through rural Texas fall victim to a family of cannibals.
The story
In the early hours of August 18, 1973, a group of five teenagers—Sally, Jerry, Pam, Kirk, and Sally's brother Franklin—embark on a road trip through the Texas countryside. After stopping at a cemetery and picking up a mysterious hitchhiker who becomes aggressive, the group finds themselves low on gas. They stop at a local gas station and eventually seek refuge in a nearby abandoned house. However, the atmosphere shifts from a simple road trip to a nightmare as they encounter a family of cannibals, including a large, masked man who uses a chainsaw as a weapon, forcing them into a desperate struggle for survival.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
While traveling through rural Texas, five friends encounter a hitchhiker who becomes violent after they refuse to pay for a photo. After the group is forced to abandon him, they stop at a gas station where they are told fuel is unavailable. They seek refuge in a nearby house, where they are hunted by a family of cannibals. Kirk and Pam are separated and attacked; Pam is caught and impaled on a meat hook, while Kirk is dismembered by a man in a skin mask known as Leatherface. Later, Sally and her brother Franklin are hunted by the masked man, who kills Franklin with a chainsaw. Sally flees to the gas station, where the proprietor—who is revealed to be the hitchhiker's brother—subdues her and takes her to the house. There, she is held captive and subjected to a ritual involving an elderly man called 'Grandpa.' The next morning, Sally escapes into the road as the brothers pursue her. A truck driver intervenes, injuring Leatherface and allowing Sally to escape in his vehicle, laughing hysterically as the sun rises.
- First release year
- 1974
- Runtime (minutes)
- 83
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Tobe Hooper
- Writers
- Kim Henkel · writer; Tobe Hooper · writer
- Cast and characters
- Marilyn Burns · Sally; Paul A. Partain; Edwin Neal; Jim Siedow; Gunnar Hansen · Leatherface
- Genres
- slasher; horror
- Themes
- cannibalism; violence against women; anti-capitalism; paranoia
- Premise and plot tags
- slasher; survival; cannibalism; rural horror
- Franchise connections
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
- Content notes
- gore
- Reception
- Initially received mixed reviews but became a highly profitable and influential classic of the horror genre.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 8.20 · scale: 10 · review count: 91; Metacritic · score: 92 · scale: 100 · review count: 18
- Awards and nominations
- Special Jury Prize · Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival · 1976 · win
- Production trivia
- The film was marketed as being based on true events to appeal to a wider audience.; The character of Leatherface and some details were inspired by the crimes of murderer Ed Gein.; The film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 2024.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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