Texas Chain Saw Massacre Day: Remembering Tobe Hooper’s Horror Classic
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
By Shauna Bushe - August 18, 2026
Few horror films have left a mark quite like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. To celebrate Texas Chain Saw Massacre Day, we’re looking back at Tobe Hooper’s landmark 1974 classic and the terrifying legacy it has carved into the horror genre.
In 1974, Tobe Hooper produced, composed and directed his first ever American independent horror film; The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. An unthinkable, unimaginable terror, inspired by the true crime serial killer Ed Gein. Over 50 years later it is still a formidable entry that changed the format of Horror, changed expectations and improved the genre immensely. Credited as a success he went on to produce more classics such as Funhouse (1981), Poltergeist (1982) and a much-loved Texas Chainsaw Massacre sequel in 1986. A strong legacy that lives on even after his devasting passing in August of 2017.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre released on October 11th in the US and received a mixed reception from critics due to the grotesque themes and range of violence. It was still highly profitable grossing over 30 million at the domestic box office. It is credited for originating elements common with slasher films such as, using power tools as weapons, the characterization of the killer being large, masked and delivering a final girl. Another notable horror film from that same year is Black Christmas, originally titled “Silent Night, Evil Night.” A film that also received a lot of critical appraise but in recent years built a great cult following.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre has since gained the reputation “best influential horror film of all time” and spanned a wild circle of remakes and sequels:
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1990)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1995)
All American Massacre (2000)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)
Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013)
Leatherface (2017)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)
The remakes and sequels can have fans divided, a lot preferring them over the original for having better visuals, dialogue and characters. Specifically, 2003’s entry, Jessica Biel is a popular final girl in the fanbase. There have also been a wide range of comic books and video games for example Dead by Daylight, leaving Leatherface to become a legacy within almost every aspect of physical media.
Hooper had confirmed changes in the cultural and political landscape as central influences on the film. His intentional misinformation, that the “film you are about to see is true” was a response to being lied to by the Government about all the things happening all over the world. The lack of sentimentality and the brutality of things that Hooper noticed whilst watching the news led to his belief of man being the real monster just wearing a different mask, so he put a literal mask on his monster in the film. The mask of Leatherface was integral to horror, as it was one of the first horror masks to ever be introduced (Prior to this we were shown in Phantom of the Opera (1925); a man who covers half is disfigured face with a mask) Designed by art director Robert A. Burns to look like human flesh, using rubber latex, insulation and moulds of other people. Though the idea of using a chainsaw came from Hooper when he was in the hardware section of a busy store, contemplating the fastest way to exit through the crowd. I mean, that’d do it.
Many of the cast members were relatively known at the time, through advertisements, television and theatre shows as well as performers Tobe Hooper knew personally. Involvement in the film excelled careers for people involved. The lead role of Sally was given to Marylin Burns, Paul A. Partain played Franklin, Sally’s brother, Terri McMinn as Pam, William Vail as Kirk, Jim Siedow as Drayton Sawyer and Edwin Neal as the Hitchhiker. The late Gunnar Hanson was cast as the great Leatherface, he regarded him as having an intellectual disability, having never learned to speak properly. For research on his character, he prepared by visiting a special needs school to watch how the children moved and spoke. John Larroquette performed the narration and was paid in marijuana.
Due to the films low budget contents used to litter the farmhouse was remains of cattle and roadkill all in different stages of decomposition. Latex was in places to give off the look of human flesh, furniture skilled from animal skeletal bones and walls smeared in drops of blood obtained from the slaughterhouse. You can only imagine the stench that suffocated the air, you could feel the sticky smell through the screen which only created a more unnerving and uncomfortable ambience.
There is so much lore and intriguing factuality around this movie that you could go on forever but let us deep dive into the actual contents of this masterclass movie.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre begins with a scrolling screen filled with a monologue which is read aloud in a monotone expression, describing the unfortunate events that befall a group of youths. Sally, Franklin, Pam, Kirk and Jerry who are travelling to visit Sally & Franklin’s Grandfathers grave. It then sharply shifts into flashing disturbing and grisly images with the sound effect eerily mimicking a camera shot. Continuing, it shows a decomposing face, then what’s left of the body, standing upright in the middle of a field. All while in the background we hear a radio frequency alerting everyone about the display and how graverobbing is responsible.
Immediately Tobe Hooper drives shivers down your spine. You’re hurled into nightmarish imagery, staged with a sense of deranged exploitation and without any knowledge of what else you could possibly witness. The psychedelic title sequence amplifies it even more.
The deaths are in no doubt what make this movie memorable either. First, Kirk, who explores the house and is hit over the head with a sledgehammer by Leatherface. Pam is next, having been with Kirk, she goes to find him and his also attacked, hung up on a meat hook with a bucket underneath filling up with her blood. Then, Jerry, who discovers a still alive Pam now locked in a freezer, her body lunges forward, convulsing when Leatherface attacks and Jerry is killed also with a sledgehammer. Franklin is the last to die at the hands of Leatherface, this time with the chainsaw. Sally is the only member to survive the nightmarish ordeal. Pam’s and Franklins deaths are majorly memorable as we finally see the chainsaw in action and the violence towards women is what had it banned in the first place.
The reason why The Texas Chainsaw Massacre works is down to it’s bleak, harsh and grounding reality. Smartly marketed around the same time as a murderous killer and continues to hint that evil exists in every factor of this world. There is no one to reason with, no one to root for, it erupts menacingly without warning. Leatherface and his family feel like believable real-life monsters.
Leatherface reserves a physically gratifying connection to the violent acts he commits in such a distasteful manner. Dehumanising his victims by hanging them on hooks, hitting and beating them like cattle and in certain shots licking his lips. His heinous killing of innocents is a means for sustenance, adding layers to the horror by invoking more realism in the scenario. We need food to survive, but what food we choose makes who we are. Leatherface looking at people as if they’re meat is truly horrifying, so for us as people, how do we see others as not people? The spectrum of answers could be anywhere from culture to generational beliefs, it’s a wild theory. What you’re born into can shape who you become. Leatherface was born into a cannibalistic home therefore all he knows is meat equals food. People equal food. We didn’t. So looking at people for us is seeing them as either a friend, an enemy, a partner. Tobe Hooper tackled this with a grounded, plausible reason and it’s what makes it all the more terrifying.
Mirroring that with our youths, the difference is large in much retrospect. Sally is a perfect example. A young woman forced to either succumb to the harsh, callous monstrosities unfortunately placed in her path or endure, fight and avoid becoming prey to the worlds never ending macabre. Sally is a great symbol for seeing “all”, the wide shot of her eye in the final act is ingenious, detailed camera work. You see the terror set in, a total and complete freakout over realising the evil that is in this world, and of which could find you at any moment.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is held in high regard for not only being unique, but inspiring so many of the incredible Horror film’s we know and love today. Alien, Halloween, Silence of the Lambs ect. It is an outstanding piece in the catalogue of Horror and forever stands the test of time. Saw is family.
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