The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

"The film which you are about to see is an account of the tragedy which befell a group of five youths, in particular Sally Hardesty and her invalid brother Franklin... For them, an idyllic summer afternoon drive became a nightmare. The events of that day were to lead to the discovery of one of the most bizarre crimes in the annals of American history. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre."

Aside from the dubious legitimacy of this introduction - there never was a Texas Chainsaw Massacre, with all that is shown on screen having as much claim to be a real and true record as any other fiction film that records the "proto-filmic event" - it's hard to find fault with Tobe Hooper's horror masterpiece.

Extraordinarily committed performances, adept direction and editing, effective production design and a powerful musique concrete soundtrack come together to create an almost haptic sense of dread then, when the youths encounter the cannibalistic family, throw the viewer into an all-too-plausible nightmare world.

The chainsaw-wielding Leatherface and his cohorts are, after all, only defending their property and way of life against outside intrusion, exercising their constitutionally enshrined rights to their logical, if absurdist, conclusion.

Perhaps the torment of "final girl" Sally goes on too long, possibly indicative of a discrepancy between the required running time and ideas to fill it. Maybe it would have been more PC if Franklin had been played by a genuinely disabled actor and hadn't been such an annoying whiner that you almost want to see him die as slowly and painfully as possible.

But these are minor points. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remains as powerful and disturbing a film as when it was first released.