The Darkness on the Edge of Town: American History and Religion as Horror

The original Texas Chainsaw Massacreranks as holy iconography for most horror nerds, myself included.

Have you seen it? If not, it may be because it would be the very last thing you would want to watch, or admit to watching. You are probably picturing an exploitative bloodbath. A disturbing and sick (in the old usage of the term) combination of teenage pulchritude and screaming logging equipment turned weapon of mass destruction. I bet you are imagining blood spattered everywhere to the delight of the socially degenerate.

You would be wrong.

There is surprisingly little gore in Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This is in fact true of much of the early slasher genre (in Halloween, 1978, there is not one drop). And yet this is a deeply disturbing film, one of the most unsettling you’ll ever watch. The deeply twisted Sawyer family and their house of horror in rural Texas will reappear in your dreams. You may never forget Leatherface swinging the chainsaw over his head in rage, frustration, and, inexplicably, some kind of totemistic and elemental dance of twisted joy.

Director Tobe Hooper, in a somewhat recent interview, was asked what exactly his savage fairy-tale was all about. His response: “It’s about America man, it’s about America.”

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