"Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1973)

I would say the Texas chainsaw massacre franchise is the worst. Since, it's one big dead end. The original was a complete story without the need to extend any follow up. Did we really have unanswered questions? Watching a franchise as a money grab just sucks the life out of the original. And each sequel just feels like another nail in the coffin.

And yes, this contest includes “Halloween” and its follow ups (Rob Zombie's efforts almost tipped it to "Halloween"'s favor, god his movies are awful). Even the abortion of III “Season Of The Witch” had something interesting than this weird (often confusing timeline) of TCM. In terms of "...Chainsaw..." movies...Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes retread really buried it into his own slaughterhouse goo.

I re-watched the original again. What made this movie self-contained is that it is about isolation. Ever subsequent movie introduced so many other characters from the “outside world.” And they keep expanding “the family.”

The original 1973 movie wasn’t that great. But it still had this…atmosphere. Hard to describe, except that it pinpointed that era, where people picked up hitchhikers. Bad things happen in remote places. There’s no cell phones or internet to save you. It felt like kids making a movie. But it had the visualize acuity of adults. Suffering for art to the extreme. Not really understanding what was real and what was faked. In fact, when you listen to the commentary with director Tobe Hooper, Leatherface Gunnar Hansen, and director of photography Daniel Pearl, it's hard to imagine any of those stories of sadistic behavior to be true. They sound like funny, sane, nice people (magic of cinema, I guess).

It hit at the right time, mostly the same reason most of these movies hit. The audience had nothing else to watch. Certainly not a chainsaw family of cannibals. Has Tobe Hooper done anything since? “Poltergeist”? According to lore, Spielberg directed that. “Salem’s Lot”…not necessarily on the tip of anyone’s tongue. I think he just wasn’t given his due. If he tortured himself to bring “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” to the screen, I would think studios would trust him. But as he’s said in the book “everyone has ideas and think they’re better than yours.” I would trust him implicitly.

I often wonder where the balance is. How much do you trust the people who think something’s working. Or have proven themselves enough to trust them. It’s weird, as much as the original made, they still didn’t give him the credit. Then didn’t even pay him for the terrible subsequent movies.

You know what else that bugs me about the subsequent “Chainsaw” movies? The original wanted to be a “PG” movie. Tobe Hooper specifically called the MPAA to ensure this to futility. In doing so, he made a movie that resonates so much more than this gore porn that is just overkill.