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The Evolution of Horror Cinema: Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Step into the horrifying realm of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with Scream Creeps! Uncover the spine-tingling origins of this iconic horror film that continues to fuel countless sleepless nights. Subscribe to join us on our eerie adventures and share the terror with your fellow horror enthusiasts! For more awesome content, check out: http://theheartofgeek.com Listen to our free podcasts: http://theheartofgeek.com/podcasts Follow us! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theheartofgeek Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/theheartofgeek Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theheartofgeek

The Heart of Geek

4 days ago

ladies and gentlemen boys and ghouls welcome to  another bone chilling episode of scream creeps I'm your host and as and as is customary I'm  here with my brothers Aaron and Josh and today we're diving head first into the gruesome world  of horror Cinema now before we get started let me remind you that scream creeps is not for the  faint of heart so if you're easily spooked or have a tendency to sleep with the lights on  you might want to go get your security blank and embrace yourselves for wha
t's coming security  blanket I like that one I like that one yep today we're sinking our teeth into a classic that  has haunted nightmares and fueled countless sleepless nights it's a movie that holds the  number 15 spot on the scientifically proven list of the 35 scariest movies of all time back  in 2020 you guessed it it's the CH Texas Chainsaw Massacre just saying those words send  shivers down the spine doesn't isn't it no released in 1974 this film has become a  benchmark in Horror history
setting the stage for the slasher genre that we know and love  today but before we s dissect this cinematic nightmare a quick reminder for all of you horror  efficient Autos out there if you enjoy the Eerie Ambiance Rec create here on Scream creeps be  sure to subscribe leave a hauntingly good review and share the terror with all of your friends and  with that we're going to go ahead and get started talking about what we thought of the film actually  this is the first time I've seen it oh you to
yeah yeah y so it'll be interesting uh I don't know  I think Josh hadn't seen it either but none of us have Aaron I okay so I I wasn't sure if you  hadn't seen it or not no I mean it's actually the same with this and the one we're doing next  Halloween uh oh you hadn't seen Halloween either no I hadn't okay so it's like but you I just known  about Halloween the story and everything else it's just you see it all over yeah they've made  another 30 million of them yeah so I mean yep I I think I've
seen the the sequels and everything  else but the original I never watched so but same with Texas Chainsaw ask her know what to expect so  man yeah so so like I said it was uh uh a horror film that was made back in 19744 it was produced  co-composed and directed by Toby Hoover uh who also co-wrote it with Kim HL the film starred  Marilyn Burns Paul a partan Edwin Neil Jim sidow and gunar Hansen for anybody that hasn't  seen it like us uh the plot follows a group of friends who fall victim to a
family of cannibals  while on their way to visit a Old Homestead back when the movie came out it was marketed as being  based on true events to attract a wider audience and to act as a subtle commentary on the era's  political climate and although the character of Leatherface and minor story details were inspired  by the crimes of murderer Ed Gan it's uh plot was largely fictional um that's what I thought  I've heard that before and when I uh yeah when I looked it up the budget uh was roughly $1
40,000  so adjusted for inflation it's about 800k today um in the box office it gross 30.9 million I think  that was rice if anybody could hear that it's rice beeding sorry I what I'm like uh I disengaged  all the fire well no I didn't you didn't hear that they beeped in the  background for so long I was like so yeah back in so it sold back in  1974 it sold 16.5 million tickets damn so five million yeah gez and like I said in the  intro it's credited with originating several elements common in t
he slasher genre uh you  know the biggest one being the use of power tools as murder weapons um and then the  characterization of a killer as a large hulking Mass figure um and probably scream  Queen uh probably well it led to it also led to a franchise that continued the story  as we kind of mentioned at the beginning and his family through sequels prequels  or remake various comic books and video games so with that we'll go ahead and get started  I guess I'll go ahead and ask you Josh I know y
ou had you were looking forward to watching this  so yeah kind of wanted to get what your opinion was first okay I thought I honestly thought I was  going to like it more when we U played The Texas Chainsaw Massacre video game I was like oh okay so  like when I was watching like after that because I was playing a chunk of that and then I recognized  the people that were in the movie as characters in the game so I was like oh okay that's kind  of cool but like I thought I was going to like it a l
ot more than I did like because a lot of  people have talked about how reev not really revolutionary but like how it was kind of like the  beginning for like slasher movies really because I don't know if there was anything before this one  that was kind of like slasher esque I would say but I honestly thought I was going to like it a  lot more it was like and you were talking about how it was you said 140,000 was to make the movie  yeah roughly yeah yeah so they say it was between 80 and 140 but
yeah it looked like that's how  much they spent on it like but I think the first Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie that I watched was  the the remake with Jessica Beal in it so it was like you could tell that they took bits and  pieces like in the remake they took bits and pieces from this movie but yeah I just thought  I was going to like it a lot more than I did I I I would be interested in actually watching the  uh the newer version of it I think I have seen it well well but I just don't remembe
r watching it  I think I think they remade it twice now I think at least they did the one with Jessica Beal in  it then they did Texas Chainsaw Massacre at the beginning so I don't know if that's like another  remake of it I think the beginning's the prequel well is like yeah but oh leading up what did you  think Aaron uh I actually didn't like it I know this is probably going to be controversial or what  I don't know what but I I didn't like it at all it it was extremely tropy but you got to th
ink about  it it's this is coming from the eyes of someone that's being watching horror films his entire life  so it's like this was kind of on it was a it was a Arro head a spearhead like for this genre so it  was like if I saw it back then I probably would have been like holy crap what the hell just  happened but now I didn't no but the actual characters within the movie God were so annoying  every one of them with the exception of leather face they were all just uh unlikable and the dude  in
the wheelchair I don't even know Franklin was the worst didn't like him he was whiny like little  baby the entire time guy with the uh guy with the white guy with the fro I guess they were all  white but uh the driver of the van is just oh my God I I didn't like any of so I didn't mind him  dying in the movie yeah the the characters there were five people it was Sally Hardesty Jerry Pam  Kirk and uh Franklin okay and then obviously the family members but yeah um but but yeah the whole  tropy of
it like for instance oh no there was one scene in it that I was like oh sh okay I like this  that was when Franklin died Franklin's death was the best one because you didn't know it was going  to happen just came in suddenly and boom chainsaw through the chest that one was good the other  ones it was all like who was bound to freaking happen why are you going into somebody's house in  the in the middle of nowhere knocking on the door oh it's a little jar who does that I'm not going  to go into s
omebody's [ __ ] house if nobody's answering or anything like that I'm like oh let's  go somewhere else you're that desperate I guess it was the 70s so it was like oh safer no no it's you  were raised wrong like yeah that's unsafe don't do that maybe it's because of watching movies like  this that her parents have grown to where that's unsafe kids don't do that or don't be an idiot you  can get shot like that that's the whole Trope of the entire film so yeah yeah that was it it was  just not sca
ry yeah and the interesting part and and from my perspective it was the same thing for  me and I and I had seen bits and pieces over the years I guess I could say maybe I started watching  and then quit or something but the interesting part to me is the the scene that they point at  with uh the girl running from leather face MH happens literally five minutes to towards the  end of the movie like you don't yeah so um so there was really no I mean like when we talk  about being scared there was no
chasing really like I was always under the assumption I think  we've talked about on previous podcast that this was the movie that started the dude where they're  running and he's walking catching up well watching this that that never really happened he he never  ran the guy that ran was the brother that they picked up as the hitch hacker at the beginning  he's the only one that really ran to go catch anyone Leatherface never caught up to anyone he  literally got to him because somebody fell ye
ah or but he never ran and that's the reason they  caught up so I've always heard over the years that this was the start of where that happened  and really it wasn't when you watch the movie I mean he was CH say he was walking and CAU up it  was always what I mean was but yeah but what I mean was is it was always told to me like this  was the first movie where somebody was hauling ass and he was just walking oh yeah and I could  say really it's really it's the next movie we're going to be talkin
g about that really points to  that happening oh yeah that and I me it's not on the list but Jason bores yeah I mean he's that's  the real one that's the yeah that's the real one and so much that they even made it into the the  video game where you could just instantly teleport across the map yeah they put that in because how  he could just catch up to you no matter what but yeah Friday the 13th Aon was earlier on the list  it was like number 25 20 something yeah oh it was it was oh I just on th
at cast well it was the  original one too the one that didn't even chasing and fact that this is actually lower on the on  the ranking than that is like that's surprising well I thought yeah it was it was at 20 it was  at 28 but so as we're talking about that let me go over the rankings since that's where it's gets  ranked this way so as you guys have listened to our previous ones the the study study 250 people  the average resting heart rate starting out for every individual the average was 65
beats per  minute so Texas Chainsaw Massacre the average movie heart rate was 77 beats per minute so it was  actually the same uh average movie heart rate as the previous two movies that we've talked about so  28 Days Later and The Exorcist both had an average movie heart rate of 77 beats per minute so that's  a 12 overall difference from the resting rate the difference where Texas Chainsaw Massacre comes in  as the highest Spike during the movie was 98 beats per minute I bet you that was during
the the uh  the Franklin Franklin scene yeah yeah yep so I it would be interesting to see that like like where  was that Spike that's what I wish that the the study results would tell you guante was everybody  or in average of everybody that scene is what caused it yeah cuz that was that was really the  only jump scare yeah yeah and so and yeah where I could tell like you were talking about the  budget Josh I could tell the budget was 140,000 and just the makeup and stuff oh yeah more lack  the
reof yeah yeah but I mean that was actually a Saving Grace for the movie for me but I think it  was just real people like well real people yeah and I don't know if you guys have seen the movie  x yet but this since I've seen that and watching this I can see where they got inspiration from for  that movie yeah definitely I mean eventually we should talk about X and possibly Pearl on the and  I think they're a third one too I forgot the name we got one an exponential amount of movies we can  talk
about on this podcast I mean so so um but but yeah the other thing I wanted to point out is Toby  Hooper was also the director of poltergeist if you guys remember so he's kind of a horror guy yeah  uh he uh he uh directed what else the fun house I think I talked about that when we talked about  Poltergeist back then uh and then but he's also directed a few other things um but they've been  pretty much horror related uh body bags and The Mangler you guys remember those for sure yep so  um but but
yeah I mean I was shocked that well I wasn't really shocked because I had heard that  this movie was just well an interesting one uh but I can see like back in 74 we talked about it  because Exorcist I think came out didn't we talk about it was 1973 right and it was really the  first horror movie um and then uh they could be considered in the the newer version of horror um  slashers really didn't start probably until this movie where they were killing victims I think this  was the first one so
I could see why this one's looked at the way it is because before this one  there really wasn't anything what year was this but you could see the 1974 1974 and then yeah  Halloween was 1978 yeah yeah so you could see where stuff started to progress started to change  yeah yep so um yeah it'll be interesting cuz like you know the next well I mean the thing is  because the evolution of everything really is just dependent on on the viewer still so it's  like and that's the the reason why it pushed
that direction this genre in particular was because  of the 16 million tickets being sold that was like the studio was like holy crap cuz $128,000  and then let's say each ticket is what back then was what five6 a ticket but that's yeah you can  extrapolate that really if you took 30 million times or whatever by 16 and a half that's more  like less than $2 really yeah but that's a jack up of 1,000% they made on that oh no I'm not yeah  I'm not disagreeing with you I'm just saying that I think mo
vie tickets were more like less than $2  back then it was probably a dollar something in the 70s yeah cuz if you take the box office was  30.9 if they sold 16.5 million that's less than two oh all right yeah that's true so I mean just  if you you know one show it's you're paying what 12 13 it's 20 bucks if they sold yeah here we said  we uh I have to pay $18.99 for an adult ticket out here in Seattle so it's like yeah yeah how much  do you pay for kids the Regal pass 20 bucks that's why I said i
t's it's a easy no-brainer for me yeah  so yeah I mean I do do that so well yeah I mean that that's what I do too I mean it makes no sense  for me not to but yeah if they sold 16 million tickets today at $20 a ticket you're talking 300  million yeah dude that's insane so that is insane but I mean of course the the the budget alone is  g is how much uh 20x what they spent on this now I said 300 million I think it's more like three  billion would be the whatever yeah yeah but um but yeah I mean fr
om that standpoint I mean I don't  there's not I was just surprised how you know considering this was a horror movie there wasn't  a even the killings there was only you think about there was only four of them yeah yeah yeah so  I mean cuz there was a a Survivor at the end um oh dude I understand I understand why she  would have been screaming but like the the whole final Act was her running away and screaming  the whole time the whole that's what time yeah the whole time like every scene that s
he was in even  when she got knocked out and she woke up she was screaming the whole time saying I could see why  you were a scream Queen at the time was because that's all she was doing I understand like if you  were in this situation you would be like trying to get out of there but like screaming does not help  really wouldn't your ears just start to hurt yeah like just up whole time the reason one screams  is to alert like for help people yeah yeah so if it stops working why are you still scr
eaming  like that and it was just oh my God the last 10 minutes of the movie oh that was that was and  that's where I was kind and I that's where I was surprised though cuz I was shocked that that's  where all that happened was just right at the end yeah it was it was like okay and then the whole  scene with the whole family and then the freaking dad being like old like oh yeah and sucking the  off the fingers what was that suit they put him in like he was just it was this old cannibal like  the
funny thing is he was a cannibal and he was sucking the blood but then at the end he couldn't  even hold the hammer up remember they were for so it was like wait a minute you're he's either and  it's funny playing the game like Josh you were talking about right the whole premise of the game  is that he is able to do stuff and in this movie no he was he was pretty much dead is what he was  yeah pretty much yeah in the game the grandpa if he had more blood he like was able to locate  where everyb
ody was yeah and so yeah so I kind of almost expected stuff like that in the movie  because where the hell did they get that from and no it was more like he was just a dead guy almost  and they were kind of crazy yeah I mean the rest of the family was just nsos why they see I mean  it would have been even better if they just had him dead and they were pretending he was alive  that's what I was thinking when I first saw him when he was upstairs and she saw him and then  because the old lady was o
bviously dead right yeah was in the chair so I thought at first that  he was dead but then they were like oh yeah have all the blood and he's just so I was just like  okay this is so [ __ ] weird and then because I watched I think the first Chainsaw Massacre mo  movie that I watched was I think it was called the Next Generation where it had Matthew mukan  playing as one of the guys in the movie and I think it's like uh it's not Renee zel wigger but  the girl from Bridget Jones Diary plays as lik
e one of the I think the final girl in the movie and  they do stuff like that so it was like the family Dynamic of the thing how like all of them were  like hey I'm just going to eat this person it's just so weird like how they were all bickering  with each other and everything uh just very a very weird movie but yeah I was not I mean from  my standpoint I'm I'm with Aaron though I was not impressed with the movie honestly and I I think  it's mainly because of the fact that we've seen so many mo
vies over our 46 well my 46 not only  that though it's like oh think about where you know I'm I'm pushing 30 or 30 I'm pushing 40 years  old we're all we're all in our 40s just about yeah and it's like we've spent our entire lives not  watching the movie and just hearing what other people have to say about it and they all rant  and Rave about it I'm wondering how many of those people actually watch the damn movie I'm like the  last time that's one intriguing thing about this podcast is how many
people are actually rewatching  this movie it will force you to watch them and be like oh my God it's nothing like what people  suggest people like this it's like the hype is around what it did for the genre and everything  else oh and then they rant and Rave about it no it's not great and that's why that's why I said  in the The Exorcist podcast that I think everybody hyped it up so much that when you watch the movie  you're just like H and that's what I was like I was even kind of hyping mysel
f up because I never  watched it before and then I watched it I was like but I can tell you there's a huge diff I can  tell you from my standpoint though there's a huge difference between Exorcist in this one Exorcist  had a story yeah oh there was there was good in it yeah this one across the board it wasn't really  that great B movie it reminds me B movie that was a little bit yeah and I think and I think back  then like you could say it was the first one so everybody was going to watch it to
see what the  hell they were going to watch like today this movie wouldn't have done jack [ __ ] yeah because  of all the stuff that's happened in the last years yeah yeah no yeah you have to well today you have  to go to this almost Gore factor to even because of that movie that it had gone that direction yep  yep and so that's the one thing that this movie has is that it was the first one and that's kind  of what I mentioned back you know at the beginning was that that's the one thing this mov
ie has is it  could say it was the start of all of this like you wouldn't have well you wouldn't have had Halloween  you wouldn't have had Nightmare on Elm Street you wouldn't had uh Jason none of that stuff wouldn't  have happen if this movie didn't come out so it's you know it revolutionized the horror genre really  yeah and it did but it was it a good movie good movie would I ever watch this again uh no no  do you know what I would tell people not worth watching sorry sorry not sorry it's the
truth yeah  not today I mean you know back in that's it yeah I can imagine if I was of age back in 1974 I mean  I wasn't even born yet but back then you wouldn't have seen anything else I could see that back  then it would have caused an issue I'm kind of surprised that the spike was so hot yeah yeah  for this um but um cuz I've seen other movies that we've talked about on this list that I would  have Invision alien being one of them I would have thought alien or the thing would have been had 
a higher Spike the thing especially yeah but so um but with that I don't know if I have anything  else to say about this movie um do you guys have anything else you wanted to yeah um yes with that  um the next one we're going to actually be talking about here on the podcast we kind of talked about  it here earlier but the next one's going to be uh the first Halloween movie that came back came out  back in 1978 so um that's number 14 on the list of scariest movies according to science so um but 
that'll be the one that comes out next week uh for you guys to listen to and then after that um it'll  be uh the nightmare num Street uh the original uh from 1984 that's the one I'm looking forward to  talking to uh talking about because that pretty much for me was the one that really if I could  hearken back we've talked about it me and Aaron I think talked about it on a few podcast back  but that's probably pretty much the one if you consider when I was younger that scared me the  worst it was
that one and so I'll be interested uh to talk about that or I'll be looking forward  to talking about talking about that one on the podcast so but that'll be in the in two weeks  from now but but yeah for all of us at the heart of geek I hope you guys enjoyed this uh episode of  scream creeps uh check out our uh YouTube channel uh obviously uh if you're watching this video  podcast that's where you're seeing it we'll have other pod uh content out there I think uh prior  to this release uh Aaron
just released a random reacts video uh on uh I think the if you haven't  check that out going to line up because this won't be until after that's dropping yeah it'll that's  why I'm saying it would have been right before you or it'll be before you this releases so if  you guys hadn't checked that out go check it out that'll be consider go check that one out on on  the channel now but but uh yeah so um and I don't think there's anything else that we've got in the  pipeline that'll be coming out
actually besides Maybe videos that I'll be released those of you  that are watching uh or have watched comment like subscribe tell people whatever send it to  somebody so that we can discuss these and we'd really like to know what you guys think we should  watch in order for us to you know keep this keep this portion of the hardig going because we can  we literally can watch this forever or do this forever with many horror films there there are  and we obviously like watching them so Ju Just jus
t shoot us uh something that you might want to  see because we will get to yep you can comment on uh YouTube we've got a Facebook page you can even  comment on our on our website itself the heart of geek.com we put out every podcast and every video  we release out on that website so and you have the ability to comment on each and every post so um  but for all of us here at the heart of geek uh I hope you guys enjoyed this podcast and we'll see  you in the next one yep for Halloween love you bye

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