Is the texas chainsaw massacre (1974) still good?

First released in 1974 the Texas chainsaw massacre took America by storm amid a sea of controversy and calls for its ban. While it undoubtedly had a heavy influence on lots of films to follow it, how does is stand on its own merits today?

The film tells an uncomplicated story of a group of amusingly dressed young people getting stuck in the wrong part of backwater America and tormented by a chainsaw wielding behemoth and his cannibal family. While the central plot of the film is by today's standards generic, the moment to moment interaction between the characters is quite interesting. A superb early scene featuring a bizarre hitchhiker performing increasingly crazy acts while the characters watch on unsure of whether to stop him, before finally forcing him out when he attacks the wheelchair bound Franklin with a razor is a great introduction to the backwoods setting and foreshadows later scenes. The film isn't afraid to increase tension slowly, so while there is little that i would call scary in these scenes they really bring a sense of dread and unease to the film.

The film is a very brief 84 minutes so there isn't enough time for these characters to be established before they start getting killed. With the exception of Franklin whose memorable feature seems to be how he annoys the others, i cant name one characteristic of the others. Thankfully the villains are far more memorable. The animalistic, childlike leatherface is imposing and horrifying while remaining scarily close to human thanks to a later scene i wont spoil. The family of cannibals that take centre stage towards the films end and are all demented and twisted which makes watching them much more interesting that the 'heroes'

But is it scary? while the power of the films 'jump' moments has diminished over the years the films ability to unnerve still remains intact. Not showing any violence onscreen was a great decision as it means there are few dated gore effects and more is left to the viewers imagination. The films final half hour is very tense and while i would struggle to call the film anything more than slightly scary it remains nasty and sometimes horrifying.

The film may start slowly but the final half hour more than makes up for it with inventive scenarios, a superb performance from Marylin Burns as she tries to escape leatherface leading up to an ending that is completely amazing. Further credit must go to the films great cinematography which uses lots of alternate angles to make things even more unsettling, as well as the soundtrack which is low key and industrial.

Overall this remains a great horror film (although those looking for larger scares or violence should look elsewhere). While the main characters leave something to be desired the villains are great and its nice to see what appears to be a low-brow horror take its time to build up tension and present it's villains as more than just masked goons. I really recommend you watch this film, while age may have diminished its ability to terrify it remains a very entertaining film.