The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

[Os Cangaceiros]

Watched it recently, and it's still my favorite movie of all time.

Tobe Hooper may never make another good film for as long as he lives, but he'll still be an admirable figure to me simply for making TCM '74. There have been a lot of movies since that have capitalized on the "travellers break down in the boonies and get picked off by psychos" genre, but TCM was one of the first to do it. There's actually been quite a lot written on the underlying themes of TCM, involving the Vietnam War and such, but personally I just like it for what it is at face value: the story of a bunch of hippies who take a wrong turn into the heart of a Gothic American wilderness (in this case, The South, which has always provided American cinema with an ample supply of leering psychos) and get slaughtered in a film that descends way, way down the rabbit hole...I read a chapter in a film book about it, and supposedly drug use was rampant during production.

[Widerstand]

Classic. Very awesome movie. Really nothing more to add.

[Reznov]

That movie scared the shit out of me when I was younger. Halloween, Freddy, Jason and the Lephrechan movie didnt, but for some reason this one did. I think its because out of all of them, I could actually see sometihng like this actually happening.

I need to watch that movie again.

[x359594]

The late Marxist film critic Robin Wood brought TCM to the attention of other critics with his penetrating review of the movie in a 1977 publication called The American Nightmare where he talked the movie as a metaphor for capitalism (a system where people devour the labor of other people for sustenance.)

Hooper's first three movies were all good, TCM , Eaten Alive and Fun House. After that he didn't make anything up to those three (and TCM is definitely the best of his movies.)

[Pirate Utopian]

That movie scared the shit out of me when I was younger. Halloween, Freddy, Jason and the Lephrechan movie didnt, but for some reason this one did. I think its because out of all of them, I could actually see sometihng like this actually happening.
But not the Leprachaun?

I like this movie. It's one of the few slashers that isnt boring as shit.

[The Ben G]

Fantastic movie. I love how it's remembered as the most goriest film of all time even though there was very little blood and no gore in the whole film.

[Il Medico]

I can't say I particularly like slasher films. But TCH 74 wasn't bad.(the remake was utter shit) It isn't something I would go out of my way to watch again, but meh. It was definitely better than the Friday the 13th series and most slasher movies.

[Reznov]

But not the Leprachaun?

I like this movie. It's one of the few slashers that isnt boring as shit.

You know, I don't think I saw all of the films. And I dont really remember much of them. But I will say that the Leprachaun comes in second out of the list.

I do remember two parts in one of the films though, one where he gets that girls butt and lips to grow huge till she explodes, and aother where he meets a elvis impersonator. For some reason, these two scenes stick in my head.

[anticap]

I agree with the OP that 'TCM74' is a must-see classic.

I also consider the first three Friday the 13th films to constitute a classic slasher trilogy, and the entirety of the rest of the franchise to be absolute shit.

The Halloween films never did anything for me. I find them tedious.

A Nightmare on Elm Street was a good franchise in the beginning (I can't remember when it went to shit; probably early).

The Leprechaun franchise is just plain goofy.

[praxis1966]

But not the Leprachaun?

I like this movie. It's one of the few slashers that isnt boring as shit.

I dunno. The slasher flick is probably my favorite subgenre of horror, probably because they're so much more realistic than supernatural or "creature feature" type horror. Perhaps I lack imagination, lulz...


I also consider the first three Friday the 13th films to constitute a classic slasher trilogy, and the entirety of the rest of the franchise to be absolute shit.

I need to rewatch these I think. I probably haven't seen the second and third Friday the 13th movies in 20 years...


The Halloween films never did anything for me. I find them tedious.

To each his own, I suppose, but I absolutely loved the Halloween films, especially the first one. Every time I watch it I get nostalgic for the golden age of horror. You know, before Scream came out and set the precedent for PG-13 horror as a way or ratcheting up profits for horror movies by taking out all the good shit: nudity, blood, gore, drug use, decent plot lines...


A Nightmare on Elm Street was a good franchise in the beginning (I can't remember when it went to shit; probably early).

It really was a good franchise until I believe the third one. Somebody else here will probably have to correct me because I'm not entirely sure, but I think that Dream Warriors was the one that had a couple 3D scenes in it. If I'm correct, that's where the series became as much about comedy as it was horror and also where it all went wrong.

Anyway, given that we're talking about slasher flicks, I'm surprised noone's mentioned Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (McNaughton, 1986). Apart from TCM and the first Halloween, that's probably my favorite of the bunch.

[Os Cangaceiros]

I really like H: POASK, but I wouldn't really consider it to be a "slasher film", in the same way that Halloween, TCM, Black Christmas etc. are slasher films.

[praxis1966]

I really like H: POASK, but I wouldn't really consider it to be a "slasher film", in the same way that Halloween, TCM, Black Christmas etc. are slasher films.

I wouldn't either to be perfectly fair. However, it seems to get categorized that way a lot of the time. That's where Netflix, for instance, has it listed.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Netflix is full o' crap.

That's a dark movie, though. Right up there with Nekromantik and Ex-Drummer in painting the human condition as bleak and gritty.

[praxis1966]

Netflix is full o' crap.

That's a dark movie, though. Right up there with Nekromantik and Ex-Drummer in painting the human condition as bleak and gritty.

I agree, but *shrug* that's the reality. As an aside, ES, not to be a kiss ass but you seem to be the closest thing this place has to a resident horror flick expert. I'd be interested to hear your take on Let the Right One In. From what I can tell, a lot of horror fans poo poo it and I'm not sure I fully understand. I don't know if it's that they're suffering nervous exhaustion from a recent overload of vampire crap, or if it has too much of that stuff that doesn't seem to occur in horror movies all that often. You know, talking, character development, that sort of thing.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Well personally I really liked it (I even started a thread about it, that's how impressed I was, LOL. Unfortunately I can't seem to find it now). All the people I know who like horror also liked it, with a couple of exceptions (mostly complaints about it being "slow" or "dreary" and such). And now the Hollywood remake is coming out (sigh...)

In any case, the country in Europe that I'm most impressed with horror-wise at the moment is France. They've been putting out a lot of good mainstream horror films...the UK and Scandanavia too, to a somewhat lesser extent.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Ah! Found it!

http://www.revleft.com/vb/let-right-one-t128278/index.html?t=128278

[praxis1966]

Well personally I really liked it (I even started a thread about it, that's how impressed I was, LOL. Unfortunately I can't seem to find it now). All the people I know who like horror also liked it, with a couple of exceptions (mostly complaints about it being "slow" or "dreary" and such). And now the Hollywood remake is coming out (sigh...)

Yeah, the word "slow" coming from horror fans is the one I hear most often. Basically, I chalk that up to the kind of horror fan who's your typical movie goer (aka one with ADD). They're not impressed with a film that doesn't have somebody being brutally splattered across the screen ever 30 seconds. I dunno what it is with your average American's need for breakneck pacing...

As for the remake, I'm kind of betwixt and between. I've heard it's actually really good, but on the other hand a lot more direct than the original. I interpret that to mean that like most Hollywood films it wraps everything up with a nice tidy little bow, which I can't stand. I'm an adult for chrissakes, I don't need anybody wiping my ass for me.


In any case, the country in Europe that I'm most impressed with horror-wise at the moment is France. They've been putting out a lot of good mainstream horror films...the UK and Scandanavia too, to a somewhat lesser extent.

I keep hearing that about France but I'm not sure about too many titles; most of the French movies I watch are what you expect that country to put out: artsy (or pretentious, if you prefer). The only French horror movie I can recall seeing is High Tension (Aja, 2003), which while derivative was pretty damned good as I recall. Them (Moreau, 2006) is another that I really enjoyed, but I dunno if it would be considered French or Romanian.

[Os Cangaceiros]

As for the remake, I'm kind of betwixt and between. I've heard it's actually really good, but on the other hand a lot more direct than the original. I interpret that to mean that like most Hollywood films it wraps everything up with a nice tidy little bow, which I can't stand. I'm an adult for chrissakes, I don't need anybody wiping my ass for me.

Yeah, it's probably going to be a little more palatable for American audiences, with how it concludes and all (the ending of the original wasn't a happy ending, in my opinion). Plus I read that they eliminated the whole element of Eli being transgender in the original film (and probably the novel too, although I've never read the book), which I guess is to be expected.


I keep hearing that about France but I'm not sure about too many titles; most of the French movies I watch are what you expect that country to put out: artsy (or pretentious, if you prefer). The only French horror movie I can recall seeing is High Tension (Aja, 2003), which while derivative was pretty damned good as I recall. Them (Moreau, 2006) is another that I really enjoyed, but I dunno if it would be considered French or Romanian.

Well, if you like artsy films I'd probably recommend Trouble Every Day (2001).

But mostly I like the full-throttle gore- and-brutality-a-thons that France has been pumping out. Namely Inside (2007) and Martyrs (2008). Frontieres (2007) is amusing too, just because of the plot: in the violent aftermath of a right-wing government being elected in France, a bunch of assholes from the banlieue flee into the countryside after commiting a robbery, where they encounter a clan of inbred neo-nazi cannibals. Tell me that doesn't sound like a great movie!

I'm not that big of a fan in regards to High Tension...it was OK, if a bit derivative (the whole home invasion thing has been done a lot of times before, and this one didn't really impress me with it's application of it) up until the ending, which I was very disappointed by.

There's also a semi-decent zombie movie called La Horde (2009), about a bunch of cops and criminals teaming up in a decaying apartment complex during the apocalypse to fight off an army of zombies.

There's a few other ones that I've seen from the past few years, but those were probably the most memorable.

[Diello]

Yeah, it's probably going to be a little more palatable for American audiences, with how it concludes and all (the ending of the original wasn't a happy ending, in my opinion). Plus I read that they eliminated the whole element of Eli being transgender in the original film (and probably the novel too, although I've never read the book), which I guess is to be expected.

The ending of Let Me In is actually going to be more overtly dark than the ending of Let The Right One In; in the remake, I'm given to understand, it will transpire that Oskar/Owen has been groomed by Eli/Abby to replace her former caretaker. Though this was an interpretation some drew from Let The Right One In, it will be explicitly made canon in Let Me In.

On the whole, though, Let Me In does look far more sanitized.

Eli, in the novel, isn't so much transgender as kind of asexual. What her "real" gender is is debatable; she's female-pronouned (even in the Eli-centric chapters) for the first portion of the book, and then, after Oskar becomes aware of her biological maleness, her pronouns switch to male ones. Eli only explicitly addresses how she identifies once:


"No, I don't... but Oskar, I can't. I'm not a girl."

Oskar snorted. "What do you mean? You're a guy?"

"No, no."

"Then what are you?"

"Nothing."

"What do you mean, 'nothing'?"

"I'm nothing. Not a child. Not old. Not a boy. Not a girl. Nothing."

Incidentally, there's a mention of the Internationale in the first chapter of the book.

[praxis1966]

Yeah, but I think that passage could be interpreted to mean that Eli's just not human anymore (ie a vampire) so labels like girl and guy aren't applicable. Or, perhaps, that Eli is supposed to be post-gender; whatever that means... Could also mean that Eli's androgynous as opposed to asexual. Any number of inferences could be drawn.

Fuck. Nevermind. I thought when I started this post I was going to clear something up; instead I only obfuscated things further, lol...

[anticap]

I need to rewatch these I think. I probably haven't seen the second and third Friday the 13th movies in 20 years...

I like the transition from mother, to Jason in potato-sack mask, to the iconic Jason in hockey mask. After that it became all about that image (though, to be fair, that image wouldn't have become iconic had they not milked it). I see no reason to continue after the third one, which has a pretty good ending anyway.

[Os Cangaceiros]

If anyone wants to see a classy slasher film, I always recommend Black Christmas (1974). Also, Mario Bava's Bay of Blood (1971) is wildly entertaining, and arguably the first bodycount slasher film ever made.

[Widerstand]

Eli, in the novel, isn't so much transgender as kind of asexual. What her "real" gender is is debatable; she's female-pronouned (even in the Eli-centric chapters) for the first portion of the book, and then, after Oskar becomes aware of her biological maleness, her pronouns switch to male ones.

What. That's awesome actually.

[praxis1966]

What. That's awesome actually.

Yeah it is. I guess the American producers thought it'd be too difficult for audiences so they cleaned it up (patronizing assholes), but the story essentially revolves around a 12 year old transgendered vampire and his/her male companions. I'd give credit to the Swedes for leaving that bit in, but it was only just hinted at briefly. I mean, I hadn't read the book before viewing the original so I didn't know to look for that part of the story. As a result, that element wasn't immediately clear to me, but it's there. Much more prominent in the storyline of the book, though.

[Widerstand]

Yeah, I saw the Swedish movie. I found the scene a bit odd, but didn't attribute too much significance to it either until I read some reviews of the movie. Guess picking up the books is an idea.

[Diello]

Funny story-- director Tomas Alfredson originally intended to include Eli's castration scene, but had a change of heart:


I try to be true to myself: use violence only when it is necessary to say something. I tried to do a flashback scene, where we see the castration of Eli two hundred years ago, with very close shots of a knife coming close to skin, starting to cut, and I said to the make-up guys that I want to do this. They said you can't do this unless it is real animal, because if you are so close to the camera, you can't use rubber or special effects, so I said okay, let's do that then, then I forgot about it, and the assistant director said, we have the pig here now. I said, what pig? The pig for the cutting shot. A living pig. He is outside together with the slaughterer. So I went outside the studio and a butcher was standing with his knife, and this pig looking with his sad eyes. I said no. I wouldn't be able to sleep if we killed him. That's bad karma.

(I'd link the interview, but I can't post links yet.)

[praxis1966]

Funny story-- director Tomas Alfredson originally intended to include Eli's castration scene, but had a change of heart:



(I'd link the interview, but I can't post links yet.)

Fuckin' hilarious. PM the link to me and I'll post it for you.

EDIT: Welcome to the Puzzle Factory, btw.

Also, Thomas Alfredson interview (http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/63/63alfredsoniv.php).