Massacre no Texas

Uma reflexão de sangue puro, direta, sem poupar ninguém, sobre a violência e o terror no seu aspeto mais naturalista. Pode não ter ideias, mas também não tem clichés embaraçosos nem perversidade barata. E com uma culminação única. Um dos pontos altos do género de terror. (09/09/2003)

Despite the lack of bloody naturalistic details, it is an absolutely brutal piece that I don't recommend to weaker characters. The last quarter of an hour is probably the scariest passage I've seen in the horror genre. No macabre orgy, no flying limbs, but something much worse, a concentrated mixture of terror, dismay and a certain sense of disgust at seeing human perversion in its most horrible form. The last time I had a similarly intense experience was watching the famous violent scene in Boorman's Deliverance. (16/11/2003)

A very intense film full of violence and filth in the distinctive style of Tob Hooper. I was very surprised that when compared with the remake, this one is a completely different film, one that relies on the atmosphere generated by the violent behaviour of the cannibal family, but without being as graphic (the remake had blood and innards hanging everywhere), here the brutality is only hinted at. Since the viewer doesn’t see anything clearly, their fantasy can start working at full steam, which is a lot worse than when they show intestines and blood. (08/06/2008)

It's strange, but much more of the tension and eerie atmosphere happen in the daytime. With the onset of night comes a psychotic sequence of scenes that jolt the brain and common sense rather than the nerves. The confused running through the forest accompanied by the roaring of the "chainsaw" may not be as strange, but the dinner scene at the family table is among the weirdest things one can witness in cinema. The editing of both the visuals and sound, along with detailed close-ups of the protagonist's eye, create an almost hallucinogenic impression. The resulting effect, presumably intended to disgust the viewer, is achieved fully. All in all, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre feels like two disjointed episodes that don't quite fit together, and the connection between them, represented by the shared title, seems somewhat forced. The feeling of mutual incoherence lingers in the mind and cannot be easily dismissed. (16/12/2005)

Today, it’s considered a classic slasher film, which, among other things, shows that even a proper maniac should be in good shape. What I certainly didn't expect was the swift and uncompromising elimination of all the protagonists. For the opening scene with the skeletons and the ending with the dinner and everything after (especially the dance with the saw), the film deserves five stars. But it's still missing "something". And there is quite a lot of "something".__P.S. Now I can watch the remake in peace, so I'm in the loop. (09/05/2010)