Fifty-one years ago, director Tobe Hooper and his cast and crew spent a blisteringly hot Texas summer working to bring us one of the greatest horror films ever made, the 1974 classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (watch it HERE)… and to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the release of the film, Dark Sky Films is bringing it back to theatres this October! The fiftieth anniversary re-release trailer, which was created by Mark Woollen, can be seen in the embed above. To find out if The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (or The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, as it says in the credits and on the movie’s copyright) will be showing near you, and to secure tickets to showings, head over to the Dark Sky website.
UPDATE: The 50th anniversary of the film is also being celebrated in Austin, Texas, with the city’s Mayor, Kirk Watson, issuing a proclamation that has declared October 11th to be Texas Chainsaw Massacre Day! A press release invites fans to “join actors from the original film and the owner of the original 1974 house in Kingsland, Texas, now known as Hooper’s Restaurant, in memory of the film’s director, Tobe Hooper. This historic event on October 11, 2024, starts at 12:00 noon on the steps of City Hall, 301 W. 2nd Street, Austin, Texas 78701, and is FREE to the public.”
Directed by Hooper from a script he wrote with Kim Henkel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre has the following synopsis: When Sally hears that her grandfather’s grave may have been vandalized, she and her paraplegic brother, Franklin, set out with their friends to investigate. After a detour to their family’s old farmhouse, they discover a group of crazed, murderous outcasts living next door. As the group is attacked one by one by the chainsaw-wielding Leatherface, who wears a mask of human skin, the survivors must do everything they can to escape.
The film stars Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Jim Siedow, Edwin Neal, William Vail, Teri McMinn, Allen Danziger, John Dugan, and Gunnar Hansen.
Here’s the Dark Sky write-up and some praise: 50 years ago, five youths on a weekend getaway in the Texas countryside fell prey to a butcher in a mask made of human skin and his cannibalistic family, and horror cinema would never be the same. Violent, confrontational, and shockingly realistic, director Tobe Hooper’s THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE terrified audiences in a way never thought possible when it was unleashed on a politically and socially tumultuous America in 1974. Facing a storm of controversy, censorship, and outcry throughout its troubled release, this masterpiece of horror has stood the test of time to become a landmark motion picture and cultural milestone.
“THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE IS ONE OF THOSE PERFECT MOVIES.” – QUENTIN TARANTINO
“THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE IS A CLASSIC. ITS A TERRIFYING MOVIE THAT STILL HOLDS UP TODAY. THE TENSION IS RELENTLESS.” – STEVEN SPIELBERG
“IT’S THE MOST HORRIFYING MOTION PICTURE IVE EVER SEEN.” – STEPHEN KING
“IT’S THE MOST IMPORTANT FILM IN THE HISTORY OF HORROR MOVIES. IT CHANGED EVERYTHING.” – ELI ROTH
“IT’S THE ULTIMATE HORROR MOVIE. IT HAS A BRUTAL BEAUTY, AN ENERGY THAT IS ABSOLUTELY RAW.” – GUILLERMO DEL TORO
“THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE IS ONE OF THE MOST TERRIFYING FILMS EVER MADE AND A FILM WITH AN INFLUENCE THAT CANNOT BE OVERSTATED.” – EDGAR WRIGHT
Legendary drive-in critic Joe Bob Briggs, who counts The Texas Chainsaw Massacre as his favorite movie, recently revealed that he’s celebrating the 50th anniversary of the film by writing a book about the making of it for Dark Horse. Joe Bob is aiming to make that “the definitive ‘Making of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre‘ book.”
What did you think of the fiftieth anniversary re-release trailer for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Will you be catching a screening of the movie this month? Let us know by leaving a comment below. I had the chance to see the movie on the big screen back in 2013, the 40th anniversary of when it was filmed, and it was a great experience.