1974, R, 83 minutes

At first glance, you might laugh at the idea of reviewing The Texas Chain Saw Massacre as a classic. But see here, there's another form of classic movies known as "cult classics" - movies that aren't generally accepted by the mainstream critics, but develop a sort of hardcore cult following because of certain aspects of the film itself. For Texas Chain Saw Massacre, it might be the extremely violent nature of what happens on screen. Torture, cannibalism, and other forms of violence are shown in this movie, so it's definitely not for the squeamish or faint-of-heart.

Warning: Spoilers ahead

Texas Chain Saw Massacre is easily one of the more dark-natured films I have ever seen, especially after Sally (Marilyn Burns) is captured by the psychotic cannibalistic family. When this happens, the movie isn't very easy to watch - she is literally tortured, and many close-ups are made of her panic-stricken eyes. Just looking at those eyes shows how much pain and suffering she's going through, and it's very disturbing to watch. We also know that her odds of getting out of this ordeal alive are slim-to-none, as she's tied up or held most of the time. It's only during one pivotal moment that she makes a run for it.

Movies like 1999's The Blair Witch Project owe a little bit of credit to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre: both movies try to come across as true stories. At the beginning of this movie, there's a brief introduction saying that this is the story of five friends and their terrifying experience in Texas. The movie wants to make you believe that this is based on true events, and if you didn't know that it really isn't, then that can make the movie even more horrifying. Of course, events like this have happened (Jeffrey Dahmer was often associated with cannibalism, and there's been stories in third-world countries dealing with it), but not exactly as it's portrayed in this film.

With a title like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, you expect there to be a pools of blood and gore. Suprisingly enough, this is not the case. Many of the deaths occur off-screen or in pitch black darkness. Granted, you see a lot of bones and skeletons (some of those are actually real, by the way), but when it comes to blood/gore, the movie is relatively devoid of that stuff.

The movie starts off by briefly introducing the five friends: the already-mentioned Sally; her wheelchair-bound brother, Franklin (Paul A. Partain); Sally's boyfriend, Jerry (Allen Danziger); and their two friends, Kirk (William Vail) and Pam (Teri McMinn). The five are on a road trip through Texas, when they come across a deranged hitchhiker (Edwin Neal) on the road. They pick him up, and after putting up with him for a while, they finally kick him out when he attacks Franklin with a knife.

They end up going to a roadside gas station, where the owner (Jim Siedow) says there won't be any gas until later that night. After getting some barbeque from the old man, they decide to stay at the old family home of Sally and Franklin. While Kirk and Pam are searching for a place to swim, they come across another old, creepy-looking house. Kirk goes inside and into the butcher's room, where Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen) is there to greet him.

Pam is waiting outside for Kirk to come back, and after him being gone a while, she decides to make the fatal mistake of going inside the house. She ends up going to a room with bones and skulls all over the place, and she makes one HUGE mistake: she screams really loud, attracting attention to herself. Of course, this is probably realistic, but she's still an example of why horror characters are not known for being overly bright. She makes a run for the door once Leatherface rears his ugly head, but she is quickly captured, and becomes his next piece of meat.

Jerry is the next one to be butchered, and now we're only left with siblings Franklin and Sally. They start arguing about going back to search for the other three, and Franklin starts to worry about the hitchhiker coming back to finish them off. They end up walking (well, Franklin is being pushed), and this is where we get to the film's best "ooga booga" moment. With the exception of Franklin's constant bickering, the movie is pretty quiet and we're not expecting much, but practically out of nowhere Leatherface shows up (armed with his trusty chainsaw) and makes easy meat out of the defenseless Franklin. Rarely do jump scenes do anything for me (because most of them are false scares, like a cat jumping out of the darkness, or a telephone ringing), but this is one of the few exceptions that actually made me jump out of my seat.

The defenseless and bloody Sally runs through the woods, and manages to dodge Leatherface for a little while (she ends up going back to the house, and jumping through a window). She makes it back to the gas station from the beginning of the film, and befriends the seemingly innocent old man. He goes to get his truck, and he comes back and hits Sally and wraps a bag over herself, making her unable to move. Now this is where the real terror starts.

She is taken to the house, where Leatherface, the hitchhiker, and some other assorted characters are waiting for her. It's here that she undergoes so much traumatic torture that we can feel the pain she's in. Like I said, many closeups are made towards your eyes, and the movie elevates to almost unbearably intense levels. She is literally tortured by the cannibalistic family, and it seems unlikely she'll make it out of this one alive. However, she happens to get out of the house, but the family is hot on her trail.

I wish other recent movies would have taken some cues from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre - this movie really knows how to truly frighten. I'm sorry, but movies like Urban Legends: Final Cut and other so-called "teen thrillers" don't do anything for me. This movie still manages to scare after countless viewings, and that's why it should be on any movie buff's "must see" list. It's more than deserving of its "cult classic" status. Another highlight of the movie is the performances - especially Marilyn Burns and Edwin Neal. Much of the blood that you see on Burns is actually real (she was cut by sticks while filming the scene of her running through the woods), and when her finger is cut by the family, that is a real cut with real blood. Knowing that all this is real makes this movie even more unique. She gives a convincing portrayal of a young woman going through one of the toughest situations she could ever endure, and it's because of her persistance that she makes it out alive. Edwin Neal also deserves special recognition, because he's just plain creepy, especially when we first see him joining the five in the van.

A remake of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre will be released later this year, and going by the trailer, it could possibly live up to the original. One red flag it does raise is Michael Bay having a producer credit, but maybe he'll rebound after the disastrous Pearl Harbor. But the trailer does show a lot of promise, by not showing us a whole lot (just a bunch of quick snapshots, with a bunch of creepy sound effects to heighten the tension). It's easily one of the best trailers to come out this year, and I hope the actual movie lives up to it, along with living up to the original. The original Massacre was followed by a couple of critically-panned sequels that obviously failed to have the same impact as the first one had on audiences everywhere. This is easily one of the scariest and most disturbing movies ever made, and well worth seeking out.