The second film I am concentrating on in this exploration of American Independent Cinema is Tobe Hooper’s, ‘TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE’. There has not been much that hasn’t been said about this film, and it still is widely recognized as one of, if not the greatest horror pictures of all time.
The main aspect of the film that quenches my filmmaking thirst is the use of editing in the film to evoke a sense of fear.
This style of fast paced, edgy editing is something I would love to try myself for my future productions, creating atmosphere in editing.
William Tobe Hooper was born in Austin, Texas on January 25, 1943. He became interested in creating movies due to his father owning a theatre and studied film at the University of Austin. In the 60s he was a college professor and documentary cameraman but eventually began creating movies and in 1974 with Kim Henkel, he wrote The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
With only a $140,000 budget, they had to shoot the film in a mere 7 days, so they were working 16-hour days. Add to that it was extremely humid, hot weather and Tobe reminisced, "By the time I finished the film, I think everyone hated me, because I knew what I wanted, and I knew how to get it." This meant the film relied on camera work and very little special effects.
In fact, there’s very little gore in the movie. It was the editing that created its raw crazy feeling. The 5-minute dinner scene took 26 hours to shoot. Marilyn Burns, the remaining victim, said it was “burned into her memory” as it was “the most intense part of the movie and I think all of us were slightly insane by then."
It should be noted that after the tube of fake blood malfunctioned, Gunnar Hansen who played Leatherface secretly cut Burns finger for the grandpa finger sucking scene. Neither Burns or John Dugan, who played the grandpa, did not find out about that until years later.
With all this obvious craziness, there was the stench from animal pieces they’d hung around the house as well as a “no funds for wardrobe” situation, so outfits were used day in and out for the sake of continuity. The cast was known to have had to make quick exits to vomit on occasion.
Despite all of this, there’s very little gore in the movie. It was the camera work, editing and sheer driving force of Tobe that created its raw crazy feeling. Although Hooper had hoped to get a PG rating but after a few subtle cuts, he wound up with an R from the Motion Picture Association of America. In the end, this quick shot, low budget indie film managed to make $30,000,000 giving it the exceptional honour of being one of the highest grossing independent films of the 70s.
Overall, the Texas Chainsaw massacre was and still is one of the first movies that comes to mind when it comes to independent cinema and will continue to be for generations to come.
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