I think i've watched 'THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE' for the last time. (1 Viewer)

[Cagri]

It is absurd for a director to insert a gratuitous remark against smoking in a film set in the 1930's when that did not reflect attitudes at the time.

I am a heavy smoker and I have no problems with that. Maybe the director was way ahead of his time.

 

[JonZ]

After seeing the trailer for the remake due out in October, I recently watched TCM after not seeing it since I was a teen - maybe 1985 or so.

Im suprised at the level of tension considering - alot of it takes place during the day and how little blood is in the film.

I always liked what I consider to be "good" horror films - Halloween,Re-Animator,The Thing etc but I really enojoyed TCM this time around.

I think when this movie came out - like Craven, they were trying to shock and scare people. Alot of people think Last House on the Left is just exploitive crap - but I think different-Nixon was in the White House, Viet Nam,Manson roaming in CA,The Zodiac was terrorizing San Fran - these were "evil" or "witchy" times.I dont think Last House is a great movie - not at all but I understand why they felt the need to make it.

I think TCM is a horror classic and on a higher plain than Last House or I Spit... The scene where Leatherface slams the steel door the first time,IMHO is a classic "movie moment"

A certain event that happend to me years ago made me more sensitive to real life violence - but it is just a movie.

BTW,I remember the first time I saw Scream and felt sorry for Drew during her killing as well.One of the most affective on screen deaths ever I think.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

TCM, isn't it a cautionary tale? Or a comment on the modern American family unit?

It's quite absurd, really. But it's extremely well made for a 16mm guerilla horror movie. The shot of the spiders' nest and the bones and... ughugh. It's a weird movie. Kinda makes you feel crazy by the end - which is a great final image.

But... it isn't exactly a movie you should watch on a first date, capische?! It has a sweaty, uncomfortable, genuinely unnerving atmosphere from the get-go, and I easily see why people detest it.

But I really wish that the amount of senseless violence was dramatically reduced in modern films. The climatic of these times does not need any bad vibes added to it.


Gordy

 

[Marvin Richardson]

I just literally cannot stand this movie for one simple, visceral reason; that stupid girl who survives to the end but SCREAMS HER HEAD OFF for the last 45 minutes of the movie straight. I just wanted to cut my ears off by that time, so any other redeeming qualities it might have had were wasted on me.
I'm interested in the remake, because hopefully there won't be any of that!

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

If that element isn't in the remake, it'll just prove that they have no idea of what the original is all about.

 

[Marvin Richardson]

If that element isn't in the remake, it'll just prove that they have no idea of what the original is all about.

I'm sorry, the original is all about annoying the hell out of viewers? Why not just watch someone scrape their fingernails on chalkboard?
There is a fine line between making someone uncomfortable, unsettled or disturbed. Annoying someone does not take talent or skill, and if that's what the original is all about, then it is just a cheap slasher flick.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Again, the original is *not* a cheap slasher film, the remake will most likely be one, however. It is designed to do the very thing you are complaining about: to unsettle the viewer. It is a nightmare movie, designed to make you - the viewer - want to wake up from it. It is unrelenting and uncomfortable. It is an art film disguised as a horror film (not a slasher film, those came from Black Christmas and Halloween) and it resides in the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection.

 

[Marvin Richardson]

It is designed to do the very thing you are complaining about: to unsettle the viewer. It is a nightmare movie, designed to make you - the viewer - want to wake up from it. It is unrelenting and uncomfortable.

Again, there is a fine line between "annoyance" and "unsettling". Last House On The Left did those things you mention better than TCM in my opinion.
I'm sorry though, I have a real tough time accepted the argument that "It is an art film disguised as a horror film" when it was directed by the purveyor of such trash as Eaten Alive, Salem's Lot, The Funhouse, Lifeforce, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2...heck everything the man has ever done except Poltergeist, and if the rumors are true then Steven Spielberg actually directed that one. If it is an "art film" it seems to me it was an accident.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

I found Last House on the Left to be unredeemable exploitative garbage. There's a special place in movie hell for that one and I Spit on Your Grave.

Salem's Lot was a reasonable effective TV movie, The Funhouse had some nice music and photography, TCM 2 is funny but not very good, and I love Lifeforce as a guilty pleasure. I can't manage to seriously defend Eaten Alive. The best things in Poltergeist are the things Hooper did, Spielberg did manage to ruin a good portion of the film. I don't think Hooper is any kind of cinematic genius, but he hit gold with TCM.

 

[Marvin Richardson]

Salem's Lot was a reasonable effective TV movie, The Funhouse had some nice music and photography, TCM 2 is funny but not very good, and I love Lifeforce as a guilty pleasure. I can't manage to seriously defend Eaten Alive. The best things in Poltergeist are the things Hooper did, Spielberg did manage to ruin a good portion of the film. I don't think Hooper is any kind of cinematic genius, but he hit gold with TCM.

I agree. I like Lifeforce, also as a guilty pleasure (I have the DVD). I like trash as much as the next guy. Where is it documented who did what in Poltergeist? I still think it is one of the best scary movies in recent memory, at least since The Haunting (the original, not the Jan de Bot abortion) or The Exorcist.
I guess I really don't see Last House on the Left as exploitative. I felt they were trying to make the viewer feel disgusted watching the movie, yet unable to turn away, and it was also a comment on the loss of innocence of a generation. I certainly wouldn't lump Wes Craven (who, to be sure has had his share of clunkers) with I Spit on Your Grave. But then, maybe that's just me, and I'm sick. :b

 

[JonZ]

There are SPOILERS BELOW.............

I can understand why people would think that of Last House. I still think it was made becusae of what was going on in the world at the time.

I Spit... was made in 1978 I think, and I dont think TCM and I Spit.... have ANYTHING in common really. There is a method to the madness and the "nightmare Film" analogy is correct.Some of the scene in TCM are really well shot. As mentioned the final scene of Leatherface spinning the chainsaw wildy with the sun in the background is a great shot. The hook scene.The opening graveyard scene with the naration are just a few examples.

It most definitely isnt a slasher. U dont see the knives comes out of peoples mouths,no sex and nudity,none of the slasher cliches are really here.Those were more or less started by Halloween(my fav horror film)

TCM has no blood in it and the horror is the realism not knives being stuck into casts of actors heads.
TCM is definitely supposed to unsettle you, and the narration inthe beginning saying its real is to add to that. Back when this film was first released, it must have scared the shit out of people.

Back then people just werent ready for TCM,Last House, A Clockwork Orange,etc

 

[Joe Szott]

John,

I think you actually LOVE the TCM, you just aren't able to come to grips with it yet. If I don't like a movie, I watch it once and then it is out of sight, out of mind. If you have watched TCM 10 yers ago and had a violent (emotional) reaction to it, then watched it again 10 years later and had another similar reaction, isn't that the definition of a good movie? It held up well over time, conveyed the intended emotional response, you decided to watch it yet again, and you read more into it than last time. There have been approximately 14,684 other horror films made since then that don't meet that critieria. So whether you admit it or not, you're a closet TCM fan.

As far as the empathy goes, name me one movie (that is any good) that doesn't deal with death in some small form. You can't even stick to G movies to avoid empathizing with the character's loss; try watching Bambi, Dumbo, Finding Nemo, or Lion King. Some of the very best movies I watch are the ones that cause me disquiet because I empathize. The baby scene in Trainspotting (as a parent it is brutal for me), Tim Roth getting it in the stomach in Resivour Dogs, any halfway well done rape scene in any movie puts me off in a major way. But isn't that the point of watching a movie at all? To feel something, or take something away that makes your life better? I think of the blue baby in Trainspotting and I want to hug my kids, watch a rape scene and I want to cuddle with the wife, Tim Roth ... well, I guess saying I don't want to get shot in the stomach is pretty obvious.

This is what movie do when done right. Evoke a response from the audience...

 

[Joshua_Y]

I dont believe people are trashin Last House on the Left...that flicks a classic...and was the first to really show real violence on screen...without that a lot of horror films wouldnt have been as violent...

 

[Robert_Z]

Seeing it just sucked the "fun" right out of the movie for me, because all I could think about was what it would be like, as a father, to experience that.

I guess people watch films for different reasons. I watch movies to ESCAPE from reality for a couple of hours or so. If you go into every movie thinking "What if they were my daughters," you may never enjoy another movie again.

And not just horror movies. Would you be okay with watching....hmmmm, let's see, how about Any Given Sunday, and seeing those football groupies snort cocaine and have sex with all those players and coaches?

Or would you not watch because if those were your daughters, you would be angry, disappointed and ashamed of their slutty behavior? You obviously oppose the thought of your daughters being tortured/killed, but what about the thought of your daughters being immoral vulgar whores? Does that bother you, or would you be okay with that?

I am not trying to be mean. I just want to understand your logic.

 

[T r o y]

This has been an entertaining thread to read. I have gotten lots of info. relating to the horror movie genre.

I am a huge fan of the genre. I'll watch any horror movie that has sparked negative or controversy reaction from it's audience.

I've never seen TCM in it's entirety. When I was, I think 17, back in 85, I was on a triple date and we decided to go by our local video store and rent this flick. No one had seen it and thought it would be cool to check it out and see for ourselves if the movie lived up to it's name.
Well......being guys we were really getting into it right up until leatherface picks the girl up and hangs her on the meathook is when our dates decided they had had enough
Well, being the sports we were, we turned the movie off and went outside for a walk to give the girls a breath of fresh air. Apparently seeing the opening scene was too much for them.
Since then, I've never revisited this movie on my own, but after reading this thread, I think I'll have to check this one out once again and finish it. Yikes!

I will say, that the little bit of TCM that I did see was unnerving and unsettling to watch and that was done on a 20"+ tv with no surround sound and some lamps on (for the girls of course)
Now that I have a dedicated HT room w/FP , 90"+ screen, digital surround sound, and a pitch black room, Man!!! Am I in for it!!

Hope I don't have to turn my can lights up any!

Later!
Troy

 

[Joe Szott]

Troy,

I too saw this around '85, but I was around 13 at the time. My level of freak out was probably equivalent to your dates, was convinced leatherface was hiding behind every bush in suburbia Illinois for weeks.

TCM is one of the few movies that I think it really doesn't matter what the size of screen or sound system you watch it on. The damn thing does all it's damage in your head, it's ther whole idea of what's happening that just flips you out, fidelity be damned! Anyway, the 'meathook' is probably the most disturbing (or at least in the top 3) parts of the movie. If you can handle that, the rest follows suit. There is one other little bit with a hammer, but let's not talk about that .

Seriously, the one thing that is kind of interesting to me about this movie is the pacing. The leatherface scenes are so horrible that if it had continued in that way I think this film would have been unwatchable. But about 1/2 throught he film, Hooper starts to interject scenes with humor. Dark, sick, twisted humor, but still a brilliant way to break it up. Odd that some of the funniest bits are with leatherface and how uhhh 'whipped' he is. The dynamics of the 'family' are just too bizarre. How did someone dream this crazy movie up?

 

[T r o y]

Joe, thanks for your insight on this horror gem.

I just hope I can stomach what I have left to see on this picture. I do remember from what I did see of it, that it had a very realistic, and gritty feel to it, and you couldn't help but feel for those young kids, especially the girl at the beginning. Man that opening when leatherface comes out of the freezer or compartment thingy and grabs that girl you just feel the terror in her. Wow!!! Talk about gripping!! It was shot almost documentary style so what you see on screen looks like it is actually happening.

This is the same reaction I got when I saw Saving Private Ryan and it's unique documentary style. It put right there with those soldiers only I was a whole lot safer.

When I get around to viewing this one.... I'll post my thoughts to this thread.

I also want to get in the 80's gore fest "maniac" and
check out "House of 1,000 corpses" sometime soon. Man after watching these three films, I may not want to watch another horror movie for long long time!!!

Later!
Troy

 

[Andy Olivera]

Am I the only one who was bored through most of that film? It didn't have nearly the impact TCM did. In fact, if it weren't for the best exploding head in film history I'd say it's a complete waste of time. Bill Lustig did much better with Relentless...