The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Movie, 1974, The original, Set in Rural Texas, 1973
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is #1 of 9 in release order and #1 of 9 in chronological order in the The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
The story
Five friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way, they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre recap
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) strands five friends in rural Texas near a family of cannibals and their masked, chainsaw-wielding son. Tobe Hooper directs and co-wrote it with Kim Henkel on a budget of under $140,000, and it was sold as a true story. Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns) and her brother Franklin (Paul A. Partain), who uses a wheelchair, drive out with three friends to check on their grandfather's grave after reports of grave robbing. They pick up a hitchhiker (Edwin Neal) who slashes his own hand, then Franklin's arm, and is thrown out of the van. Low on fuel, they visit the old Hardesty house, and two of the friends walk to a neighbouring farmhouse to ask for gas. A huge man in a mask of human skin, Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen), kills them with a hammer and a meat hook. It starts the series, and most later films return to this night.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre ending explained
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre ends with Sally the last one alive, captured and seated at the family dinner table, where the hitchhiker, Leatherface and the gas station cook (Jim Siedow) try to let their frail Grandpa kill her with a hammer. She jumps through a window and reaches the road. A truck runs over the hitchhiker, and Sally escapes in the back of a pickup, laughing, while Leatherface swings his chainsaw in the dawn light.
Post-credits scenes
No. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre has no mid- or post-credits scene.
Where to watch The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is streaming on Netflix, Prime Video, Peacock, Philo, Pluto TV, and Plex in the US. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 7.4/10, Rotten Tomatoes 85%
Where it fits
- Release order: first, before The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.
- Chronological order: first, before The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.
What to watch before The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Nothing. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is the first of the The Texas Chain Saw Massacre essentials, so it's the place to start.
Cast
- Marilyn Burns as Sally
- Allen Danziger as Jerry
- Paul A. Partain as Franklin
- William Vail as Kirk
- Teri McMinn as Pam
- Edwin Neal as Hitchhiker
- Jim Siedow as Old Man
- Gunnar Hansen as Leatherface
- John Dugan as Grandfather
- Robert Courtin as Window Washer
- William Creamer as Bearded Man
- John Henry Faulk as Storyteller
Directed by Tobe Hooper.