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...

Instead, it plays with the viewer's internal mind, providing merely hints of what is going to happen and letting the viewer to draw conclusion of the violence and bloodshed that occurs of screen. Perhaps it is the film's power to bring out the worst in the human mind that we find more terrifying tan anything else.
In conclusion, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a remarkable film simply because it is remarkable at so many different levels. On the one hand, it is remarkable in its groundbreaking cinematography and the founding of the modern-day horror genre. On the other hand, it is remarkable in that it provides an entertaining and subtle social critic of the haves and have nots. Finally, it is remarkable in that all of this is done with little to no actual graphic violence or bloodshed.

Bibliography

Chow, Walter. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Film Freak Central. 2007.

Crum, Steve. "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Dispatch-Tribune Newspapers. January 4, 1974.

Ebert, Roger. "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Chicago Sun-Times. January 1, 1974.

MetaCritic.com. Texas Chainsaw Massacre. www.metacritic.com.2007.