The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

"Who will survive and what will be left of them?"

1974 1h 23m EN

👍

7.3

SOLID

★7.3TMDB · 3,998

Horror

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Five friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way, they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.

“Who will survive and what will be left of them?”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Cast

Marilyn Burns
Sally
Allen Danziger
Jerry
Paul A. Partain
Franklin
William Vail
Kirk
Teri McMinn
Pam
Edwin Neal
Hitchhiker
Jim Siedow
Old Man
Gunnar Hansen
Leatherface

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Tobe Hooper
Writers: Kim Henkel, Tobe Hooper, Kim Henkel
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

83 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.1M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $31M — a 220.9× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

52 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Tobe Hooper, shot by Daniel Pearl. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Tobe Hooper. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor J. Larry Carroll shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Tobe Hooper directs. Daniel Pearl behind the camera. Tobe Hooper scores. J. Larry Carroll cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

183 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Shot for just $0.1M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
3Grossed $31M — a 220.9× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
452 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
5Part of the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
6Directed by Tobe Hooper, shot by Daniel Pearl. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Tobe Hooper. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor J. Larry Carroll shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Marilyn Burns and Allen Danziger and Paul A. Partain carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "Who will survive and what will be left of them?".
11IMDB entry: tt0072271 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 23 themes, including "van", "gas station", "sadistic", "texas".
13Released under 11 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Daniel Pearl
Original score: Tobe Hooper
Editing: J. Larry Carroll
Makeup / hair: Dorothy J. Pearl
Sound: Wayne Bell
Runtime: 83 min · 1h 23m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $140,000
Box office: $30,926,225
Return: 22090% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Part of

Texas Chainsaw Massacre Collection

Series of cannibal slasher films focused on Leatherface and his family, who terrorize unsuspecting visitors to their territory.

Also by

Tobe Hooper

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2019-11-18
★ 6/10
Disturbing iconic slasher about a demented family in rural Texas After a van of young people picks up a psycho hitchhiker in east Texas they stumble upon a farm house of crazies, including a burly mute man with a mask made of human-skin. Tobe Hooper’s "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1974) is a seminal, iconic slasher that’s genuinely disturbing and horrific because it plays out in a gritty, realistic manner. While some viewers might find a couple of scenes amusing, like Franklin in his wheelchair accidently rolling down the hill and, later, having a hammy fit in the dilapidated building, it doesn’t change the fact that this is a serious, unsettling horror flick. By contrast, Rob Zombie’s homage (or rip-off), “House of 1000 Corpses” (2003), wasn’t disturbing or horrific at all because he opted for an over-the-top, cartoony approach. It was colorful and amusing, yes, but not unsettling or horrifying. Other positives include the rural locations, cool nighttime sequences, e.g. the thorn bush, and the effectively photographed women with no raunch: Teri McMinn (Pam) and Marilyn Burns (Sally). They’re girl-next-door types, but alluring enough. So this is a standout film as far as serious slasher horror goes and I can understand those who give it a high rating, but horror movies are about more than just scaring & troubling the viewer. For me, the last act is overly one-dimensional, focusing too much on the eye-rolling demonic dirtbag family and a girl fleeing & screaming. It’s thoroughly manic, indeed, but also vacuous and uninspiring. The film runs 1 hour, 23 minutes; there’s also an 88 minute unrated version. It was shot in east Texas as follows: Round Rock (house), Bastrop (gas station/BBQ shack), Leander (cemetery) and Watterson (slaughterhouse). The house has since been moved to Kingsland and refurbished as a restaurant. GRADE: B-/C+
CinemaSerf2024-01-28
★ 6/10
It's maybe not fair to appraise a film 50 years after it was made too harshly, but I found this really quite over-rated and annoying. Five travellers pick up an hitch-hiker in their van but quickly discover that he has a penchant for knives and, well he isn't quite the full shilling. Anyway they manage to get shot of him and arrive at a garage that has no petrol near the grave of the grandfather of the wheelchair-bound "Franklin" (Paul A. Partain) and his sister "Sally" (Marilyn Burns) who are travelling with her boyfriend "Jerry" (Allan Danziger) and friends "Kirk" (William Vail) and his girlfriend "Pam" (Teri McMinn). It's the latter two who set of for a swim and never come back. Concerned, "Jerry" goes off in search before, yep - the other two head off into the desert in the dark to see what's what. Pretty early on, we know just what has happened to the first pair and so fully expect the expected... Except, it doesn't quite pan out quite how we might anticipate - else how we could we ever have known about this story? It's all about the last twenty minutes and even then I found it all rather flat and noisy. Way too much of the sense of peril here comes from endless screaming, running about in the bushes in the dark and the behaviour of visitors who just haven't a clue about basic self-preservation. Who would set off into unknown terrain in pitch dark pushing a bloke in a wheelchair after three of their friends had gone missing? Once we meet the perpetrators, again it all just comes across as something that wouldn't look out of place in a Carry On film made in the Hammer House of Horrors - there isn't an hint of menace at any point amongst the faux gore and crescendo hysterics. It's clearly been made on a tiny budget and the production standards reflect that - the continuity is a bit of a joke with wounds that are there then not or windows that self-repair... Nope, perhaps I just wasn't in the mood but I found this really quite disappointing and funny - but not really in a good way.
cineast782024-11-12
★ 10/10
One of the best and most fascinating horror movies ever made. Just as the title says it, it is wihout any doubt one of the best and most influential horror films ever made. Its production history is also quite fascinating. If you are into horror or slasher movies, you simply have to have seen and experienced it. Nuff said.