What is interesting about this quote is that it talks about the overall effect of the film as a whole. The latter was perhaps best summed up by the quote, attributed to Rob Zombie, that “it looks like someone turned on a camera and started killing people” (or something very much to that effect). At various times, the film has been likened to a documentary or even a home movie. This destabilizing effect of the film is perhaps most evident in the fact that so many viewers, at the time and even now, often describe it as looking and feeling as if it were real. “It’s only a movie, it’s only a movie, it’s only…” In both cases, the film consistently subverts expectations, achieving a destabilizing effect on the audience that is matched by few films before or since. The other concerns its formal qualities as a story, specifically its plot structure and story elements.
One is the formal characteristics of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre as a film-i.e., its approach at the technical level of filmmaking. The question that I will attempt to answer here is what, specifically, makes the film so effective, even 45 years later? I have narrowed it down to two closely-related elements, both having to do with the formal qualities of the film.
I realize that this film has just about been discussed to death, and who am I to add my two cents, anyway? Nevertheless, much as the power of Christ compelled Regan/Pazuzu, so the power of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre compels me to write about it. October 1 st of this year marked the 45 th anniversary of the release of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre*, which seems as good a reason as any to talk about it.