YMMV / The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

• Accidental Aesop: Don't pick up hitchhikers and never go into someone else's home without the owner's permission, even if your intentions are benign. That's a good way to get yourself arrested or shot for trespassing, even if the owners aren't a clan of crazy cannibals.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Drayton Sawyer warns the hippies not to go onto other people's property as the locals are likely to take offense. Was he actually giving a sincere warning to the others, or was he just playing with his victims? It's possible that they only decided to kill this particular group of people because Leatherface has already murdered Kirk and others. If so, is it because they seem to be fairly nice folk (he doesn't interact with Franklin much), they're a group so killing them all isn't practical, or because they're paying customers?
  • Is Leatherface actually guilty of his initial murders? Kirk arrives in their house and is wandering around uninvited. To his child-like mind, he may be an intruder. Tobe Hooper delves into this on the DVD director's commentary, explaining that, in Leatherface's mind, he's simply confused and protecting his home against what he sees as unwanted invaders.
  • Franklin's Jerkass behavior seems pretty inexcusable, and he's The Friend Nobody Likes but is it possible it's just building frustration? He's coming out there to initially see if his grandfather's grave has been vandalized, and they then go to his father's property. Said property is not very handicap accessible, and he's more or less abandoned once there. He's also gone through a Humiliation Conga where he actually gets dropped down a hill at the start of the movie, with the group never apologizing. Perhaps expecting them to be accommodating is a bit much, but it's technically his (and his sister's) property they're staying at as guests.
• Applicability: Multiple critics have noted that the film makes an extremely effective argument for veganism, as it goes out of its way to compare the activities of the villains to the meat industry.
• Base-Breaking Character: Franklin. Some hate him for his morbid personality, incessant bitching, and just being The Load in general. He also has fans praise him for at least having a distinct personality unlike the other protagonists.
• Catharsis Factor: Nubbins "The Hitchhiker" Sawyer is established as psychotic, vile sadist who gets a kick out of abusing animals and tormenting his victims, mocking their cries, before killing them. As a result, unlike the other deaths in the movie, which are depicted as disturbing, his death at the hands of an oncoming trunk ends up being completely satisfying to watch, given what a horrible bastard he was.
• Common Knowledge: This movie is nowhere near as gruesome as its title (and sequels) would lead you to believe. In fact, only one person actually gets murdered by chainsaw, and the scene in question doesn't show any of the graphic details.
• Fan Nickname: A few fans call this film "The Texas Hammer Massacre" because Leatherface's kills in this film mainly involve using a hammer.
• First Installment Wins: The only film in its franchise universally agreed to be good and a classic in the horror genre.
• Franchise Original Sin: More like genre original sin. Most slasher movies that have followed in the wake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre have been criticized for their generic and underdeveloped characters. Yet, despite being almost universally considered one of the few legitimately great movies in the genre, TCM's characters are even more generic and less developed than in most of its weaker successors, with Franklin probably being the only one of the protagonists to have a distinct and particularly memorable personality. The difference is that most later slasher movies, despite having no interest in real character development, still felt the need to devote substantial time to tedious scenes establishing which character was supposed to correspond to which stereotype. TCM, by contrast, is so relentlessly focused on thrilling the audience from beginning to end that the protagonists' lack of personality never has time to register.
• He's Just Hiding: Since the only injury we see inflicted on her was serious but not immediately fatal and her death is heavily implied but not explicitly shown, some fans (her actress included) speculate on the possibility that Pam could have survived and found a way to escape.
• Memetic Badass: Grandpa Sawyer is "the best at killing". While this is clearly just the Sawyers' delusions in the actual movie, some fans jokingly agree that the barely alive old man is indeed the apex predator.
• Moment of Awesome: The driver of the 18-wheeler at the end actually smacks Leatherface in the head with a wrench. He's then seen running away afterward, meaning that not only did he actually hurt Leatherface, but he probably lived to tell about it.
• Narm: After The Hitchhiker is kicked out of the van by the protagonists for nearly starting a fire inside said van and attacking Franklin by cutting him with a knife, he starts angrily blowing raspberries at them. Although it's supposed to show how mentally ill he is, it ends up being silly and hard to take seriously.
• Nightmare Retardant: The aforementioned Hitchhiker is clearly intended to be both disturbing and scary, due to his psychotic behavior and sadistic personality, enough to make Leatherface and Drayton look like saints by comparison. However, he also acts very goofy and silly like a child in most of his scenes, making him more comical than threatening.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • That narrator in the opening text scroll was a then-unknown John Larroquette.
  • Edwin Neal, who played the Hitchhiker, would later join the now defunct ADV Films to get involved in anime dubbing, even having a one-off role as Dr. Robotnik.
• Signature Scene:
  • Leatherface twirling around, waving his chainsaw in frustration as he realizes his victim got away. Sally riding the back of the truck screaming is also up there.
  • Leatherface suddenly appearing to bludgeon Kirk with a mallet.
  • Pam walking to the house with a Male Gaze shot of her short shorts that also exposes her back in horrible Foreshadowing.
  • The dinner scene, often acclaimed as the most horrific part of the film.
• Special Effect Failure: You can tell Grandpa Sawyer's haggard complexion is just makeup.
• Tough Act to Follow: Both within the film series and for its director. Almost no other film in this franchise, and even numerous subsequent genre classics, would capture the soul-crushing depravity and sheer horror this film would capture.
• Unintentional Period Piece: If you forgot the movie was made and set in the early 1970s, how the characters dress will remind you. Special mention goes to Jerry's perm and bell bottom pants.
• Vindicated by History: While the film was a success at the box office, it received polarizing reviews from critics for its dark atmosphere and relentless violence. Decades later, it's now seen as a classic and respected for its bloodless depictions of the murders and seen as one of the earliest and more respectable entries in the Slasher Movie genre.
• Wheelchair Woobie: It's pretty hard to not feel sorry for Franklin, considering he didn't want to come on the trip in the first place and everyone else in the group does nothing but give him shit the entire movie.
• The Woobie: Sally by the end of the movie. Her insane laughter in the final scene indicates she's probably gonna have PTSD for the rest of her life.

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