THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE

Very near and dear to my black little heart is a film called THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE.

First discovered it while I was in high school and just cutting my teeth on *good* horror movies. I remember the images of what I saw (or rather what I thought I had seen) haunted me for days. A couple years went by and I revisited the film and to my surprise it was not nearly as gory as I had remembered it. I brushed it off and the movie has had a permanent place in viewing rotation ever since.

I've noticed that in conversations about the "goriest movie you've ever seen" MASSACRE tends to be one the first 3 movies out of someones mouth. The first couple times I herd this I just let it go ..... but over the years I've herd it SO much I feel I need to address it publicly:

IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD.

I've counted. There are 4.5 blood spill scenes in the movie.

1.) Ed Neal cuts his palm in the van.

2.) Ed Neal cuts Paul Partain on the arm in the van.

3.) Marilyn Burns get the tip of her finger cut for grandpa.

4.) Gunnar slips and cuts his own leg with chainsaw.

.5) Paul Partain does squirt blood while getting hit with the chainsaw ... HOWEVER you do not see chainsaw contact.

The opener has a couple of slimy corpses and there are assorted body parts in the house. But when you really sit and watch it ... MASSACRE has less gore than JURASSIC PARK.

This is not a slam on the movie in anyway. In fact it's the greatest complement one can give to a horror film. It didn't need gore to scare the fuck out of you. Those horrible things you have in head after watching are all implied ... a masterful trick played on you, the viewer.

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE truly stands the test of time. To this day it's hard not to be uneasy while watching it, even if it's for the 40th time.

Truly amazing.

STAY DEAD!
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