The Great Re-Watch vol. 4 - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Some movies can terrify a generation just with a name or a poster. Movies like Jaws (1975) are so etched into the collective consciousness that even if you haven't seen it (then shame on you) you can still be scared by it. The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) is one of those movies. I know growing up as a fan of sci-fi and fantasy that segued as a teenager into horror, Texas Chainsaw was the first barrier I had. When you start watching extreme movies you set barriers for yourself. "I watch horror movies, but Texas Chainsaw is too intense for me." That barrier was quickly passed and movies like I Spit on Your Grave (1978) (disappointing), Last House on the Left (1972)(disturbing), Nekromantic (1987) (impressive, but not for everyone) and Cannibal Holocaust (1980) (now a favorite) all had a place among my barriers. Texas Chainsaw is still a very special movie to me, so I wanted to revisit it when I saw the new 40th Anniversary blu-ray edition on the shelf this October.

This movie still has the ability, no matter how many times I watch it, to feel unsettling and still a little disturbing. From the very start with the iconic opening voice over and the almost poetic flash-bulb sequence with its screeching sound effects makes the viewer wonder what they have gotten themselves into. This is no Hollywood throwaway slasher flick. This is part art film, part slaughter house tell all and part deranged family reunion. By now everyone knows who Leatherface is, but his murderous family of brothers and grandparents are just as bizarre as he is. The cruelty of The Cook and the insanity of The Hitchhiker are what really drives this movie and pushes their unsuspecting victims into a living nightmare. Make no mistakes, the original movie broke barriers and terrified movie goers for years. But the movie is brilliant in its style, grittiness and delivery. It was like no movie before it, or any movie after (especially the host of Hollywood sequels - starting with part 3 - and pale remakes).

I think it helps the eeriness of the original film to know that it is (very) loosely based on the true atrocities of American serial killer Ed Gein. Director Tobe Hooper has repeatedly told the story of how his older relatives used to tell him as a child that the cannibal was going to get him if he was bad like a modern day boogie man. So while Hooper knew some basics of the real case, he never did any real research to follow up what had become mostly urban legend. This is why the family's house in the movie is decorated in furniture and art made of the parts of their victims and various road kill. This loose mythos layered with amazing set design and the oppressive Texas heat makes for an even more intense setting for the film. On top of all of that is Hooper's avant garde approach to sound design that can make your skin crawl.

Part of the genius of Texas Chainsaw is the dark humor Hooper and company inserted amid the horror. One moment that always makes me chuckle is when the teens stop at the Cook's gas station.When he comes out to talk to the kids, a wacky hillbilly with a bulbous head follows with a bucket and starts washing the window on the van. Every time the Cook goes back to the office, the hillbilly stops cleaning and walks back. When the Cook goes back to his conversation with the teens, back to window washing. There are a few gems of dark humor throughout the film. There is a sense of thumbing their nose at American society and ideals of the family union. While this motif is faintly noticed here, I love Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) for its black comedy and high octane violence joined hand in hand.

Some of the myth of Chainsaw 1 is that it is one of the bloodiest movies of all time. This is plainly not true. While the violence is intense, clever filmmaking and inventive editing trick the mind into thinking you saw more than you really do. Many of the interviews and documentaries about the film point out how many members of the audience were too busy covering their eyes from the terror to see just how bloodless the scenes really were.

Another big impact that Chainsaw had on horror history are some very early examples of staples in the genre. It has been noted that Marilyn Burns' Sally may have been one of the original Final Girls. The Final Girl is a theory based around the common slasher theme of brutal serial murderer movies having one female character, usually the "good girl" of the original larger group of teens, that bests the killer and survives to usually show up in the sequel (ie. Nancy Thompson in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) or Sydney in Scream (1996). Another common technique in horror that may have originated in Chainsaw is creating a gang of victims that the audience grows to hate a la Hostel (2005). Sally, Jerry, Pam and Kirk are at times annoying and trite long before we meet the real bad guys of the movie. Take a look at how they treat the wheel-chair bound Franklin. Its hard to believe that any of them are friends or family to him considering the trip the take him on in the completely handicap inaccessible back roads of Texas. On the other hand, Franklin is one of the most irritating characters in the history of movies. Just like in Hostel, you are almost ready to jump in the screen and hurt these characters yourself, but luckily Leatherface and family take care of this for you.

For me, the excitement of picking up this blu-ray edition was the extras. I was happy to see that among the documentaries on the second disc was the David Gregory feature Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Shocking Truth (2000). This doc is a wealth of stories straight from the filmmakers' mouths and a big influence to me when I started interviewing horror icons when I was in grad school working on my thesis film. Along side of Shocking Truth is a collection of newer featurettes including Red Shirt Productions excellent Flesh Wounds: Seven More Stories of the Saw (2006). I love the candid look at actors Ed Neal and Gunnar Hansen, the fans of the film and more. Both of these docs are available on past DVD sets, but its nice to have them together here.

New extras in honor of the 40th Anniversary are on this edition too. There is a wonderfully intimate discussion with John Dugan who played Grandpa as a teenager. Seeing him now look back on the torturous shoot and the behind the scenes fun was great and at times touching. A brief interview with the editor of the movie, Larry Carroll, also revealed some new stories. And another cool bonus extra that I was happy to see on this set was the episode of Horror's Hallowed Grounds that tours the locations from the film.

On a sad note, there was a definite delay in me writing this blog post. The horror community was shocked by the news that Leatherface actor, Gunnar Hansen, had passed away on November 7th. This was a very tough blow for me. As I mentioned earlier, when I was in grad school I made a two part documentary on horror and cult films called indie/cult/horror. At the time Gunnar was a little hard to get in touch with and I had to actually send a letter to his home in Maine asking for an interview. Gunnar was not giving many interviews back then, but expressed interest in my project and agreed because of the educational nature. He was the nicest man I encountered during the year that I made my movie. So much more than a man behind a mask in a horror movie, Gunnar was a witty and charming person who led an interesting and happy life. His career as a journalist and writer was his true passion and trips to horror conventions to meet fans made for a strange and pleasant diversion. He was kind and warm to me and would greet me at conventions after our first meeting with a big hug and smile. I will truly miss him and was so sad when I heard of his passing.

Back to the review. So if you haven't guessed, I highly recommend this movie to anyone that loves horror movies. Having sat through the 2003 re-make, I honestly wish it hadn't been made. I was so disappointed that I wanted my money back...for both tickets...and popcorn...and soda. It makes me sad that an entire generation think of the wrong movie when the words Texas Chainsaw Massacre are spoken. If you fall under this category, you owe it to yourself to right this wrong. The clothes and the music may feel dated, but the brutal terror is still there.

Texas Chainsaw on imdb

The Great Re-Watch vol. 3 - The Omen

Now its time for a real classic, Richard Donner's 1976 epic, The Omen. This movie is one of the all-time top horror films, up there with iconic movies like The Exorcist (1972) and Psycho (1960). Its a classy, A list picture with an impressive cast. I would hope almost everyone reading this has already seen it, but if not, I hope I can move it to the top of your "To Watch" list.

The Omen is the tale of the coming of the offspring of Satan in the form of a little boy. The parents have no clue that the child they are raising is pure evil, until the strange events start to add up. Even then, rational thought keeps them from accepting the truth till it is almost too late. Gregory Peck stars as the adopted father who is the American ambassador to England, while his wife, played by Lee Remick, starts to suspect something is wrong. The world's strangest nanny has had a heavy hand in bringing up little Damien and she has kept him safe and sheltered with the help of a rather large hell-hound. A priest tries to warn the father, but it is only when a freelance photographer brings some physical evidence does the politician start to listen. Their quest to discover the truth puts everything in a truly biblical level and makes for one of the most epic stories in horror history.

I have always felt that movies like The Omen and The Exorcist have had a deep impact on me personally because of my Roman Catholic upbringing. There is something purely terrifying about the idea that so of what I was told in catechism may have actually been true and there will be an earthly battle between God and Satan in my lifetime. Even though I consider myself a well educated agnostic, movies like these still creep into that place in the back of my brain where the irrational stories of religion still live.

This is only part of what makes The Omen such an effective film. On the other side, this is an extremely well made film that still works today. From the screenplay to the cinematography and the physical effects and extraordinary acting, The Omen is a perfectly formed story that lent itself wonderfully to a motion picture. It is quite easy to get swept up in the story and let the film take you captive for two hours. Quite frankly, Hollywood doesn't make movies like this anymore.

There are so many iconic images in this movie it is hard to avoid spoilers. From the epic suicide of a nanny, a horrifying zoo visit, the violent reaction to just the sight of a church, we watch as Damien's evil becomes more apparent.

Two moments stand out to me as so impressive that they are the reason I love this movie so much. The first one is the set design on the obsessed priest's bedroom. As part of his penance, the priest had covered the room with bible pages and crosses. The images of his cell are eerie and will stick with you. Another moment that made a big impression on me is when they go to the ancient cemetery to find the grave of Damien's birth mother. The gothic setting coupled with the horrifying hell-hounds are the stuff of nightmares. Just brilliant. And on top of all of that is one of the greatest film scores of all time!

Apparently this is the screenplay that got rejected all over town. No one wanted to touch a horror movie in those days. Then The Exorcist did so well that Warner Bros. was preparing to make a sequel. Now Fox wanted to be able to compete with their own horror movie and The Omen got a second chance, luckily for us. According to Richard Donner, who went on to direct Superman (1978), The Goonies (1985) and Lethal Weapon (1987), the success of The Omen even helped to finance Star Wars (1977), so thank you for that too!

I was so happy to see that with this viewing that the film still works. It is still just as beautiful and compelling as ever. The only thing I did notice this time though was just how negligent Damien's adoptive parents truly are. At some points they just plain forget to pay attention to him and the rest of the time they seem to completely trust his care to a virtually unknown nanny. It is hard to think that this type of absent care would fly in contemporary movies.

So the version I watched was the Blu-ray special edition. I was happy to hear Donner talk about just how important The Omen was, not only in film history, but also in his own career. The documentary had some great interviews with everyone from the screenwriter (David Seltzer) all the way to the composer (Jerry Goldsmith) about the making of the film and its impact. The best feature though is the master class by director Wes Craven on the importance of The Omen with a breakdown of some of the iconic moments.

So its quite obvious that I highly recommend this film to everyone and anyone, horror fan or not. The Omen is just a true Hollywood classic. I know that it became a trilogy (I gave them a watch and they were decent) and a recent remake in 2006 (which I haven't bothered to watch yet) but the glory of The Omen is that is a beautiful stand-alone film that doesn't need any other resolution beyond the final frames of the film. Check it out. You won't be sorry.

imdb listing for The Omen

Movie 12 - Nightmares in Red, White & Blue

Back to the great unwatched of my DVD collection that is looming in the corner! Next up is a documentary from 2009 by Andrew Monument called Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film. This film is an excellent decade-by-decade look at how American horror films were influenced by the world around us featuring a cast of some of the most important names behind the scenes.

This really smart documentary becomes a timeline of horror in America. The truly awesome cast of great American directors includes John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing), Joe Dante (The Howling, Gremlins), George Romero (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead), Roger Corman (Pit and the Pendulum, The Terror), Larry Cohen (It's Alive, The Stuff) and many more. And it is even narrated by Lance Henriksen of Aliens and Near Dark fame!

I really love that this documentary starts at the very beginning by talking about Edison's Frankenstein (1910) and then moves to the films of Lon Chaney in the 1920's and the backdrop of World War I and the Great Depression. The 30's are dominated by Universal's game-changing Dracula and Frankenstein which are the first true horror films and usher in the monster age ... and a host of imitators. This led to the 40's monster mash-ups like The House of Frankenstein starring Dracula, the Wolf man and the Monster, but by then the Nazi's were scarier than anything Hollywood could put up on the big screen. Then, of course, the 50's are full of sci-fi terrors that put our fears of the A-bomb front and center like Them and The Day The Earth Stood Still. On and on the movie analyzes how each generation has different fears based on the real world and how they translate to the fantasies we watch on the movie screen.

It's also interesting how over time films get more brutal as real life gets more violent and crazed around us. Obviously this happened during Vietnam with films like Night of the Living Dead and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. So many filmmakers in this documentary and others have noted how they didn't shy away from being gruesome since everything was silly make believe compared to the nightly news. It was interesting to see a doc new enough though to equate this same reaction with the post 9/11 world and the advent of so called "torture porn" like Hostel and Saw.

I definitely recommend Nightmares in Red, White and Blue to any fans of horror movies, film history, world history and even psychology. While I may not have picked exactly the same line up as the people we see here, it is a great group of filmmakers that represent the genre. I would have liked to hear from maybe some of the screenwriters and fx artists to round it out a bit more, but this does include some cool people we never get to hear from like Brian Yuzna who produced Re-Animator and From Beyond.

imdb listing