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The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Director: Tobe Hooper

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Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

A band of charmless youngsters ignore all the warnings and stumble across a psychopathic family (closer to Charles Addams than Psycho) in remote farmland. This abattoir of a movie boasts sledgehammers, meathooks and chainsaws, and the result, though not especially visceral, is noisy, relentless, and about as subtle as having your leg sawed off without anaesthetic. It's notable only for taking woman-in-jeopardy about as far as she can go. The three men are despatched unceremoniously, and the women (bra-less and hotpants respectively), their screams rising into orgasms of fear, are toyed with endlessly while the camera often assumes a pointedly aggressive stance. Pernicious stuff and not even true, like the ads suggested - the Ed Gein case, on which this is supposedly based, bears little relation.

Author: CPe

Time Out Film Guide


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