Even after 50 years, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre – a horror classic – remains shocking and potent. Like Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Friday the 13th, sequels, remakes, and prequels followed. Yet unlike these horror franchises, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre as a series has never achieved the same level of success or consistency. In Episode 3, I look at some of the factors that have limited the wider appeal of this franchise.
What are the best slasher movies of all time? With its roots in psychological thrillers Psycho and Peeping Tom, the slasher subgenre saw its template coalesce over the 1970s before its ‘Golden Era’ took flight in the 1980s. Horror would hit a low ebb in the 1990s before Wes Craven’s Scream would revitalize the genre. […]
After over 40 years, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remains among the most influential horror movies ever made. Tobe Hooper’s classic is the rare example of a movie that has lost none of its ability to shock with time. Halloween, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street – each of these movies owes some debt […]
As Halloween approaches, it’s time for scary movies, pumpkin patches, haunted hayrides, and scare parks. Over the last decade, haunted attractions or scream parks have increased in popularity alongside escape rooms. Clearly, there’s money to be made in scares. To date, there’s even been at least one good documentary on the subject, Haunters: The Art […]
As we roll into October, what better way to kick off the Halloween season then with one of the genre’s classics. Believe it or not, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre premiered 46 years ago on October 1st, 1974. With all the sequels and remakes, it’s hard to believe that several countries outright banned Tobe Hooper’s original […]
Everything may be bigger in Texas, but that’s little comfort to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise. After 40 years, Tobe Hooper’s original low-budget horror movie remains a disturbing classic. Even Hooper’s belated sequel has earned a critical re-appraisal. And about that 2003 remake – it’s better than most fans are willing to admit. Nevertheless, most […]
New killer alligator movie, Crawl, hits theatres today. Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, Drag Me to Hell) produces and Alexandre Aja (High Tension) directs the genre-blending horror flick. And much to probably everyone’s surprise, critics seems to really like it. Maybe that’s because we all know that alligators and crocodiles are damn scary. They’re basically living […]
Tobe Hooper directed several memorable horror movies over the course of his career. Though he’s best known for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hooper’s eclectic filmography included Poltergeist, Salem’s Lot, and ‘hillbilly’ horror Eaten Alive. To say that his 1985 movie, Lifeforce, might be his most bizarre would be an understatement. Based on a novel called […]
