American horror in film and television

American Horror

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is considered by many as being a groundbreaking film in the genre of American horror, being considered by some as one of the most influential films in the industry. The film was released on October 1, 1974 in Austin, Texas, near the location it was filmed. It went national as a Saturday matinee and was attended mostly by pre-teens and teenagers. However, this rather limited audience rapidly expanded into a broader audience due to a marketing scheme that involved marketing the film as being based on a true story. The audience further grew as the film took on an underground, cult-classic reputation based on word of mouth promotion.

Initial reactions were positive. TV Guide stated that the film was "An intelligent, absorbing and deeply disturbing horror film that is nearly bloodless in its depiction of violence." Empire Magazine stated that "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the most purely horrifying horror movie ever made." According to the Austin Chronicle, the film is, "Horrifying, yet engrossing" and that "the worst part about this vision is that despite its sensational aspects, it never seems to far from what could be the truth."

Even in the decades since the film's release, the movie has earned an almost iconic status in American film lore. Grossing over thirty-million dollars in the United States alone, it still ranks as one of the most successful independent films ever. According to a consensus of critical reviews, even when compared to today's special-effects enhanced horror films, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre still remains, "one of the scariest movies ever made." According to Bravo's list of One-Hundred Scariest Movie Moments the movie ranks number five. It came in with a number two ranking on Entertainment Weekly's One-Hundred Scariest Films of All Time list and a number one ranking on Empire Magazine's Fifty Greatest Horror Movies of All Time and Premiere Magazine's Top Ten Horror Films of All Time.

However, not all reviewers were awed by the sheer horror of the film and many see it as being the beginning point for the increase of brutality and violence that now permeates the popular media and entertainment. The Chicago Sun-Times reviewer Roger Ebert stated that he felt the film was well-acted and well-directed, but was critical towards it being "too gratuitously violent" and "weird." According to Ebert, the film is "as violent and gruesome and blood-soaked as the title promises, a real Grand Guignol of a movie." Ebert goes on to state, "It's also without any apparent purpose, unless the creation of disgust and fright is the purpose...And yet in its own way, the movie is some kind of weird, off-the-wall achievement." Although Ebert states he cannot understand why anyone would want to create such a violent movie, he does agree that it is "well-made and well-acted, and all too effective."

Other critics agreed with Eberts' middle-of-the-road review, arguing that it was an effective movie but that it was unnecessarily violent. Steve Crum of the Dispatch-Tribune Newspapers said of the film: "Cult-ish trash set new low standards for brutality." In fact, some felt the movie was so violently brutal that there was significant concern that the movie would cause moral panic. Because the film came out at the same time that VCRs were being purchased on the mass-market, many people were concerned that children would be able to see the movie uncensored. As a result there were pushes to have the film both banned completely or censored. For example, the film was not released until the early 1980s in Australia and was banned from the United Kingdom.

However, despite these limited concerns about the films brutality, the vast majority of critics viewed and continue to view the film as being a cinematic breakthrough and horror classic. Not only has it influenced the spawn of numerous sequels and re-adaptations, many hold the film out as being one of the most influential horror films of all time. Because the film relies on a documentary feel, it is often cited as being the influence of the popular "real-life documentary" film entitled the Blair Witch Project. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is considered to be the founding film of modern-day horror and the use of graphic violence. Without the release of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, many argue that such horror classics as the Halloween, Friday the Thirteenth, and a Nightmare on Elm Street series would have never been created.

As can be seen by a general review of all critical reviews of the film, the vast majority of critics were positive about the film. Much of this positive feedback was a result of the film's use of the documentary, gritty and unsettling technique that made it seem real and thus even more horrifying. For example, Peter canavese of Groucho Reviews says this about the film's director: "In his laughing-outlaw way, Hooper pointed a new direction for horror cinema." According to Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus, "Few films so truly disturbing ever had such a grip on the popular imagination."

According to Film Threat's Chris Parcellin, "This film possesses more true scares than the entire 'horror' section of your local video store, or a week of Oprah re-runs."

Interestingly, only one critic really seems to focus in on the film's achievements as a critique on social injustices. According to Film Freak Central's Walter Chaw, the film is "a profoundly sensitive look at social prejudices and the toll said prejudices take on the human social organism." Chaw sees the film as "being a film that isn't about what it's ostensibly about." Chaw sees the psychotic family of the film's focus as representing a "tight social group steeped in tradition and pride and jealous of its privacy" and steeped "in the family bond." The film, according to Chow, is about a family that is willing to go to any length to protect what they hold to be important.