Welcome to Bizarre Crimes: Essays on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Join us every day in October for a new piece of critical analysis on Tobe Hooper's legendary film, as Pop Heist's Matthew Jackson breaks down why this film remains one of the greatest pieces of horror cinema of all time. Subscribe to Pop Heist so you don't miss an essay!
Even after five decades of analysis, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is still often viewed in the popular imagination as a simplistic caricature of itself, because its plot still feels so impossibly garish to the mainstream palate. People see rednecks slashing up kids with meat hooks and chain saws and, well, it makes an impression that's hard to shake, let alone fill with nuance.