The original Texas Chain Saw Massacre was groundbreaking in many ways. The 1974 horror classic was one of the very first youth horror films, it was our first real slasher movie and it was one of the early horror flicks to tell the audience “This was real; this really happened,” so that even today, people still believe this movie is based on true events.
At the time, this movie involving five young people on a horrifying drive through the country, was received with mixed reviews. Early audiences were horrified and reviews were scathing; later audiences laughed; and today, critics watch this cult favorite with a new appreciation for choices that defined horror cinema.
The fact that this tiny-budget movie made by a bunch of unknowns over 50 years ago, is still so present in our cultural zeitgeist is, according to the movie’s writer Kim Henkel, “a bit like vindication.”
“It was vilified quite a bit when it was first released,” says Henkel. “So for it to come around and receive the kind of critical acclaim it has over time is pretty gratifying.”
Right now Chainsaw is in talks with major production studios, with A24 as a lead option, according to an insider, for a new reboot with none other than Glen Powell. We imagine this is especially vindicating after learning what went into the making of this first movie, often literally involving a lot of sweat, a whole lot of blood, and certainly many tears.
Director Tobe Hooper. (Courtesy of Vortex Inc.)
The Beginning of the ‘Texas Chain Saw Massacre’
Henkel first met Chainsaw director Tobe Hooper in an earlier film called Eggshells. The two became friends and over the years started brainstorming their next movie. According to Henkel, options for low-budget films were limited to either horror or sci-fi, and the two landed on horror.
The duo lifted the story structure from Hansel and Gretel, with borrowed details from the real-life Ed Gein story (the serial killer who inspired Psycho and Silence of the Lambs).
Horrors of the real world painted the backdrop for this film, in abstract and immediate ways. The war in Vietnam was ongoing; there were gasoline shortages, meat shortages, and “The Candy Man Murders” in Houston had just come to light in 1973, the year they wrote and filmed.
Drayton Sawyer played by Jim Siedow. (Courtesy of Vortex Inc.)
“One of the root things in Chainsaw that’s going on is these people are giving themselves permission to act in certain ways when they feel threatened, you know?” Henkel says. “In other words, we reject limits on what is possible for us to do when we feel threatened. And looking around at the world at that time, that’s what we saw. That was the zeitgeist.”
The war seeps into the movie in more literal ways as well – in little news snippets heard on the car’s radio as they drive around Round Rock, Leander and Bastrop, only to ultimately find themselves at the famous Sawyer family house. From there it all went wrong, for both the characters and cast and crew.
Leatherface and “Kirk,” played by William Vail, stop for a cigarette (Courtesy of Vortex Inc.)
The Sweat of the ‘Texas Chain Saw Massacre’
Texas Chainsaw Massacre was all filmed within about 18 frenetic days, at the very worst time of the year. It was an especially hot August in Texas, and according to Henkel, because of sound reasons, they weren’t able to run air conditioning in any of the scenes filmed indoors. They also filmed “day for night,” so the infamous Sawyer house was draped in tarps to cover any light from the windows, and lit with old-fashioned high-intensity incandescent bulbs.
“It was 100 degrees or more inside that house while we were shooting,” says Henkel. “At one point we wound up shooting for like 26 or 28 hours straight inside that house.”
Plus, he adds, all the props – the bones, the hanging carcasses, and the taxidermied animals – were all made from actual animals. This deteriorating flesh, mixed with the heat, mixed with the cast and crew packed into a cramped space made for a very sweaty and smelly two and half weeks.
The final scene of the movie, after the “weed brownie incident.” (Courtesy of Vortex Inc.)
The Blood of the ‘Texas Chain Saw Massacre’
“Marilyn Burns was just beat up to hell,” says Henkel. Burns plays the lead, Sally Hardesty, who winds up being the sole survivor of the horrific, cannibalistic Sawyer family, including chainsaw-wielding Leatherface.
But before her narrow escape in the final scene of the movie, the character – and the real-life actress – was put through the ringer.
Leatherface sits down for dinner, played by Gunnar Hansen. (Courtesy of Vortex Inc.)
“There’s a scene where she runs into the little barbecue hut and she falls down as she comes through the door. She doesn’t have any protection, and she’s falling down on rough concrete floor, and I mean rough. She’s just tearing up her knees. And we did that take after take,” says Henkel.
Another “cast member” who didn’t come out unscathed was the chicken, famously caged in the Sawyer family living room. This poor chicken had to be replaced several times throughout the movie’s filming, due to the stifling heat inside the home.
The “hitchhiker,” a.k.a. Nubbins Sawyer, played by Edwin Neal. (Courtesy of Vortex Inc.)
The Tears of the ‘Texas Chain Saw Massacre’
From the beginning of filming, this movie was dogged by problems. The heat, the run-ins with local authorities because the crew used a public road for filming, the constant worries about budget, and at times, issues between the cast.
“Everybody hated the Franklin character, Paul Partain,” says Henkel, frankly. When asked if he means everyone hated the character or the actor, he replies, “A little bit of both.”
He explains that Franklin, Sally’s brother, was written to be both sympathetic, as he’s in a wheelchair, but also whiny and obnoxious. And unfortunately Paul Partain stayed in character… the whole time.
“So most of the cast kind of avoided him,” Henkely says, but making clear that outside of filming Partain was the “nicest guy you’d ever want to meet. But nobody knew that at the time.”
The gas station where character Drayton Sawyer worked. (Courtesy of Vortex Inc.)
Oh, and the Weed of the ‘Texas Chain Saw Massacre’
It may not surprise people to learn that marijuana played a role in the making of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. After all, it was written and filmed in the early 70s. But the ways it shows up may not be what you’d expect.
The first time weed shows up in the making of this movie is on set. The infamous Sawyer house in Round Rock was being rented out at the time by “some hippies.”
Actor William Vail getting bloodied up inside the Sawyer House. (Courtesy of Vortex Inc.)
One day Henkel says he stepped out back to go to the bathroom, as this large, Edwardian house, only had one restroom for the entire cast and crew.
“I wandered out into the family garden to have a little privacy, and I’m standing in this field of what I think is corn. I’m looking up at this stuff and I realize I was in their marijuana patch,” Henkel shares, laughing about it now but at the time it was less funny.
This was back in the day when you could get “30 years for a joint,” he says, and they were already working closely with local authorities in order to film out there. “So they were a little too close to the crop for comfort,” he says.
The next time weed enters the picture, it does so literally.
Leatherface inside the famous Sawyer House. (Courtesy of Vortex Inc.)
On the final night of filming, the sound man’s wife made brownies for the cast and crew. She didn’t tell anyone at the time, but these brownies were… “special.” According to Henkel, this was before one of the most important – and dangerous – scenes of the movie: the final scene where Sally is being chased down the road and Nubbins Sawyer gets hit by a Mack truck.
And during all of this, the cast was high as hell.
“That was pretty wild and crazy for those who had a brownie,” laughs Henkel.
This article originally published at ‘Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ celebrated horror classic with weed brownies.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
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