The Texas Chainsaw Massacre celebrates its 50th anniversary

(Irving) Shot quickly with few resources and banned in several countries, the film could easily have been forgotten in the history of cinema. But half a century after its release, Chainsaw Massacre remains a benchmark for big screen horror.

This independent film, set in a remote location in Texas, is a precursor to a subgenre of horror, the ” slasher movie “. To summarize: a psychopath with a masked face attacks a group of carefree young people with generally sharp objects who then fall into absolute terror.

In The Texas Chain Saw Massacrein the original version, the killer is Leatherface, a 1.95 m tall guy equipped with a chainsaw and a hammer.

“Michael Myers (in Halloween1978) had a mask, Jason (Voorhess in Friday 13, 1980) had one too, but the first was Leatherface. He was the one who set the tone,” remarks Josh Hazard, a 40-year-old fan dressed like his hero and met by AFP in mid-May during the Texas Frightmare Weekend, near Dallas.

The film celebrated its 50th anniversary there in the presence of actors, such as Ed Neal. He plays the brother of the executioner, hitchhiked by the young people and who seems to warn them of the bloodbath that awaits them.

“When I read the script, I said to myself: ‘OK, no one will ever see this film’…” he told AFP. “But this is where we are. »

“No one imagined (such popular success), it was not even supposed to be released in theaters. But it’s great, this improbable film took me around the world, Germany, France, Canada,” he continues.

” Funny “

The feature film directed by Tobe Hooper, who died in 2017, was promoted as based on true events, which was not the case. But some believed it, also says Ed Neal.

“Japanese people came to see me. They really thought it was a documentary about people who lived in Texas, it seemed so real… They asked me if the cameraman was dead. It was funny,” assures the septuagenarian actor.

“This feeling of reality is really the scariest thing,” says Jeanette Nolen, a 47-year-old Texan, dressed in Leatherface’s butcher’s apron.

The film has made children since the Massacre began in 1974, becoming a franchise with sequels, prequels and remake at stake.

“To this day, there has not been another film like Chainsaw Massacre », Estimates Ronnie Hobbs, artistic director Gun Interactive, who launched a video game based on the film last year. According to him, even the other installments of the franchise “have not managed to reproduce the abrasiveness and unease of the original version”.

“Fifty years later, it still stands. Even the younger generation sees it,” he says.

” Sweat “

If the film seems real, it’s partly because its designers had to get creative to compensate for a paltry budget, according to Chase Andersen, an executive at Exurbia Films, which owns the rights to the franchise.

“They didn’t have the luxury of paying for a multitude of accessories or costumes,” he notes. “The perfect example is that Gunnar Hansen, who plays Leatherface, had to wear the same outfit for the entire shoot.”

Real animal bones and a human skeleton were used in the filming. “Even sweat is real,” suggests Chase Andersen. “The heat and humidity of Texas is almost a character in the film.”

Teri McMinn played the role of Pam, one of the young people who comes across Leatherface in a remote house on the Texas plains.

In an emblematic scene, she is followed by the camera, from a low angle, to the house where she ends up hanging from a butcher’s hook. The fear is there, but there are no dismemberments or blood splashes.

“It’s the hardest scene,” Teri McMinn, 72, told AFP. However, “violence is suggested”.

“When I first saw it, I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ I was terrified that my mother would see this.”