I used to be terrified of this movie but not because I had ever watched it. I knew this movie was banned when it first came out and I always thought if a movie is banned it must be awful! I tried to watch this once before but couldn’t brave it, but, for this review I finally watched it all the way through. My thoughts? It really wasn’t that bad.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre follows a group of teenagers/young adults on a road trip to visit two of the characters’ grandfather’s grave. On the way they run into a family of cannibals and of course get killed off one by one. In the end Sally is the only one left alive and she is tortured by the group until she finally escapes and runs free.

This movie is only an hour and a half long and in that time not a lot happens. Within the first 45 minutes most of the characters are dead and the other two, Sally and Franklin, aren’t too far behind with being caught. Franklin is killed pretty quickly in a rather barbaric way, sawn in half in his wheelchair, and Sally is then taken by the family. The scariest thing of this movie is Leatherface and his famous chainsaw which plays a big part in the middle of the film.

What I found with this film was things went on for too long. At the start of the chainsaw chase and with Franklin’s death I was really quite terrified as it was so abrupt and quick but, when they’ve ran around the same woods for the last five minutes, it gets a bit boring. Literally, either Leatherface loves the chase too much or this is his version of a cardio workout. The amount of times Sally jumped through numerous windows as well started getting pretty humorous, I mean, there is a door right there…

Was I right to be as worried as I was about this film? No, definitely not, yes it had its moments but overall it was quite tame. The hooking scene wasn’t even gory, the scene where Sally gets hit over the head by the hammer is so stupid. The grandfather misses hitting her so many times that I almost wished he’d conk her one just to have some pay off. And the ending! It just ends, Sally gets away and then it abruptly cuts, like was that meant to happen?

Would I recommend this movie? Yeah, sure, why not. But only because it’s a classic and not because it’s that good. Maybe a remake would be better (I know, blasphemy in the film world) but maybe with better effects and more gore it would be even more shocking.

What do you think of the Texas Chain Saw Massacre?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding