The more I watch Blood Court in Texas, the more convinced I am that it’s Tobe Hooper’s horror film out of this world is. This year the classic, best known by its original title The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, celebrates its 50th birthday.
For the anniversary, I was able to watch it on the big screen in the cinema for the first time this year. After that I knew there was no better film in the genre.
If you don’t know the film yet, be warned of spoilers from here!
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a glimpse into hell itself
I’ve watched Hooper’s 1974 film over and over again over the years and it seems to grow with me every year I get older. At first I was surprised at how little explicit violence the scandalous film actually shows. With multiple sightings my impression changed more and more Admiration for the raw, almost documentary shock effect.
When I was able to watch Blood Court in Texas in a large Berlin multiplex at the end of May 2024, the tension crawled through my body after the first seconds of the film. At the beginning, all that can be heard is a radio report reporting looting and brutal murders, while Hooper intercuts with oblique flash images that end with a shot of a decomposing corpse under a glowing orange sky.
After less than five minutes, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre has opened the gates to hell, into which the five young main characters finally end up. Their drive through rural Texas leads them right into the clutches of one degenerate family of human slaughterers and almost none of them will still be alive at the end.
Tobe Hooper’s horror masterpiece makes the disgusting horror palpable
Until Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen) strikes for the first time (literally) in the film, Hooper builds sets dripping with decay Scenes of pure horror. Although this time I was sitting in the comfortable cinema seat, which can be turned into an armchair with a footrest at the touch of a button, I suddenly found myself in the house of the film.
As Pam (Teri McMinn) stumbles screaming and terrified through the living room full of animal bones and live chickens, I could almost smell the stench of the place. The fact that Hooper had to shoot on a low budget at the time and therefore relied on “decoration” like real chicken poop often makes the film seem uncomfortably real. As if this wasn’t a horror film, but a true crime documentary, long before they shot through the roof.
When it comes to mental cinema, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre also seems like a shocking magic trick. Of the death scenes that the director only briefly hints at or completely ignores, you remember it afterwards as if you had been there in the most bloody detail. At this point I was feeling slightly dizzy, but the endless climax was yet to come.
The finale of Texas Chain Saw Massacre left its mark
For the immortal terrorist film milestone will be blood court in Texas through the last half hour. This is all about the martyrdom of Sally (Marilyn Burns), who has to fight for survival as the Final Girl.
In the Leatherface family home, she is reduced to a panicked, shocked body, with the cannibals playing with Sally like a defenseless animal before slaughter. In this final act, the soundtrack of Hooper’s film only seems to consist of the actress’ loud screams, which rang in my ears for a long time after the cinema visit.
In the last few minutes, Sally managed to get out of the house by jumping through the window. Now all she has to do is run away from Leatherface and his loudly rattling chainsaw. My heart beat faster and faster during the final chase, even though I know Hooper’s film almost scene by scene.
After Sally maniacally triumphantly drives away in the back of a pickup truck and Leatherface spins around with his chainsaw in the sunrise like he’s dancing in the legendary final image, I had to stop myself from walking out of the cinema Remember to breathe calmly and evenly.
Only the best horror film in the world can achieve such an effect even after the umpteenth viewing.