Program Note
Five teenagers take a road trip through the Texas town in their van, where the grandparents of one of the teenagers used to live and are buried. They seek refuge at the grandparents' abandoned house when they run out of gas and find another home with run-down cars and a gas-powered generator running. A couple of teenagers go to ask for gas, and the nightmarish circumstances begin as these teenagers are one by one hunted down by a family of cannibals.
Shot on a minuscule budget with a 16mm camera, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a second feature film by Tobe Hooper, who also produced, co-composed, and co-wrote the screenplay. The film was highly successful at the box office and is credited with creating the slasher genre, where the use of murder weapons, characterization of the killer, and the victims became a standard for future horror films. This is not for those with a faint heart! (Jongsuk Thomas NAM)