How The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Enhanced Its Twisted Premise

Jul 03, 2023

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre features some of horror's most uncomfortable moments. But an invisible factor helped enhance that terror to new heights.

Some of the most iconic slashers that many think of when talking about the genre are Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees. However, with so many famous faces that put out nearly a dozen films each, it's hard to overlook the original masked killer of the '70s, Leatherface from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. But Leatherface was only a small portion of what made the movie so terrifying, as its greatest takeaway has always been how it managed to make the audiences feel the discomfort and grime from their own home.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre followed a group of college students on a road trip in Texas when they picked up a strange hitchhiker. After he started to grow more threatening, cutting himself with a knife, the group kicked him out. But even though they were safe for the moment, they eventually found themselves n the clutches of the hitchhiker's family, the Sawyers, which included Leatherface. However, even though it never showed a stabbing or much blood, it was still one of the most violent slashers of the era. But that may be thanks to Tobe Hooper and Wayne Bell, who created a soundtrack with no orchestra that put audiences in a literal slaughterhouse.

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With little blood and no gore, it's hard to see what could make The Texas Chain Saw Massacre such a horrifying addition to the world of horror and slashers. The answer came directly from how director Tobe Hooper captured the tone and weaponized it against the audience. From the start, the sticky heat of Texas was felt on the screen and forced the audience into a mentality that nothing they did would make them feel comfortable. At this point, there was a sense of tension that the discomfort needed to end. And as the terror ramped up, the tension reached a fever pitch. But the best part was the power of implied horror that aided in this.

Each kill added to the implied terror, as there was never a moment where the kill was fully shown, such as when Leatherface captured Pam and placed her on a meat hook. Audiences never saw the hook enter her body, while Pam's reaction sold the entire moment. The same could be said for Franklin, who was practically placed in the line of Leatherface's chainsaw. With each rev, the small splatters of blood made things all the more discomforting, even though the blade was never visibly shown in his body. Even still, these moments and the dinner with the Sawyer family wouldn't have been as scary had it not been for the strange musical choice that Tobe Hooper and Wayne Bell curated.

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When Hooper and Bell created the score for the movie, it was clear that they wanted audiences to feel a certain way from the start. This included Bell recording the sound of his father imitating animals and the use of cymbals and children's toys like xylophones that helped create a sense of chaos from the start. There was also the iconic flash bulb sound effect that has become synonymous with the franchise as it captured the gritty and grotesque acts of Leatherface and his family. When compiled, this unique style of terror offered some of the best scenes in the movie.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre's first kill featured Leatherface smacking Kirk in the head with a hammer, followed by a second strike to subdue his twitching body. While the scene had no song playing, it featured the sound of Wayne Bell's father imitating animals, as well as the sound of creaking doors. This style made it, so it was hard to tell whether the sound was diegetic or a part of the soundtrack. However, this benefited the story as it introduced a cacophony of chaos not unlike a slaughterhouse.

Those that know what it's like to run a slaughterhouse are aware that it's one of the strangest places to be, as the only thing that's heard can be the sound of animals unsure of what's happening. As a result, it's also one of the saddest and scariest places to be as it shines a light on the harsh reality of how people get their meat. And having the music in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre alluded to the chaos of a slaughterhouse and served to show how its victims were nothing more than cattle for the Sawyer family walking through a maze of death until they become their next meal. In the end, it added an almost invisible layer of depth to the narrative that seeped into the subconscious of the audience, leaving them at the mercy of the movie.

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There's no denying that The Texas Chain Saw Massacre had a sense of style that, even without music, could've gotten across feelings of tension and discomfort. But the music allowed the movie to access more subliminal feelings that the audience may not realize otherwise. By tying the music to a slaughterhouse, it sent a message to the minds of its viewers that this place was anything but safe and there was no escape. As a result, seeing Sally flee Leatherface and survive the ordeal felt closer to a dream than a reality. Without the soundtrack, it's possible this feeling would've been harder to achieve.

The musical contributions of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre helped show the beginnings of everything from industrial music to dark ambient sounds. It's become one of the best examples of sounds that instill feelings and uncertainty and, when used properly, can enhance a movie to new heights. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was a perfect example of this and has helped grow the franchise even further as it established a tone that was consistent in each entry. In the end, the movie also showed that sometimes the most important thing to enhance a film is the music that evokes the proper emotion.

Nicholas Brooks has been writing professionally for over a decade, covering many aspects of pop culture from film and video games to comics and anime. Writing has remained his passion in that time and loves to theorize and pick apart unique connections in franchises like Marvel, Jurassic Park and much more. In his spare time, he could be found working on his bookstagram, collecting figures, reading comics or watching movies with his girlfriend.