Well, had to do it. I could watch Hooper stuff all day and night. Come to think of it, a Friday Fright theme of all Tobe Hooper would be mucho fun! This is the ultimate in early(ish) slasher flicks. While the horror sub-genre can easily be traced back to the 1960's, it wasn't until directors like John Carpenter, Wes Craven and Tobe Hooper came along in the 1970's, that the idea of a "slasher movie" really gelled. It really started off as a kind of violent and gory take on the American Gothic theme. But, alas, it has gone international--so it's all grown up as a solid genre of it own now.
Original Release Date: 1 October 1974 (geez can you image seeing this on Halloween of that year?!)
Here, you can easily see that the penchant to hire truly quirky actors to fill the "Gothic" roles in his horror films was a very early temptation for Hooper--and it works.
First we have:
Who made a cameo return in the 1994 The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but up until 2007, this movie and the 1994 sequel were his only two movie credits. In 2007 he decided to take more bit parts in movies and currently has role in Post-Production slated to be released next year.
AND, OF COURSE, LAST BUT NOT LEAST!
AKA
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| LEATHERFACE! |
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| Here's a recent photo of Hansen with a fan. |
Runtime: 86 Minutes
Soundmix: Mono (it has been retooled for 5.1 dolby surround sound, but I still prefer the mono mix)
To Date It Has Grossed: almost $31,000,000 (and that's from a estimated budget of $83,500!)
The film was shot entirely in the state of Texas, with the most interesting being the Bagdad Cemetery in Leander.
Some trivia includes:
Leatherface actor Gunnar Hansen was born in Iceland. He came to the USA with his parents when he was 11. The family settled in Texas. When in high school he worked as a computer operator. He attended the University of Texas, majoring in Mathematics. His graduate school focus was on Scandinavian studies and English. Also while in college he also did some theater work. After the movie, he worked as both a magazine editor and writer. More recently he has worked for GTE designing web pages. He and his partner Gary Jones (director of Mosquito 1995) have written several screenplays together; and he has also directed a documentary about Greenland. As far as his "slasher flick" career he starred most recently in the Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre.
More Trivia:
Hansen and actress Marilyn Burns were so exhausted trying to get the cut finger special effect right, that unbeknowist to Hooper, she and he privately agreed to cut her finger for real, which was the take Hooper used. He found about it later....
Again Hooper had troubles with Australia. The film was not released there until the early 1980's.
The chainsaw used was a Poulon 245A. They covered the company logo with black tape to avoid any "legal issues."
Hansen saved his beard off to play Leatherface--he has never shaved it off since.
Was basically banned in the UK, there was a very limited release in the mid 1970's in London.
The soundtrack includes sounds that animals would hear in a slaughterhouse.
Leatherface's prosthetic teeth were made by Gunnar Hansen's dentist.
The film, like Psycho and so many others later on (most notably Silence of the Lambs) is loosely based on the life of serial killer/psycho graverobber Ed Gein, who lived (and killed) in Wisconsin.
You Can Watch The Trailer Here
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| What a totally normal looking family! |
A quick "Scare Me" note: I'm having serious Internet service provider troubles today. Called and it seems improved--but I still can't get the provider to properly access YouTube--which is pissing me off because there are so many great clips of these movies to be shared. My posts are slow for this reason too. Sorry!
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