Today is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Day!

The film which you are about to see is an account of the tragedy which befell a group of five youths, in particular Sally Hardesty and her invalid brother, Franklin. It is all the more tragic in that they were young. But, had they lived very, very long lives, they could not have expected nor would they have wished to see as much of the mad and macabre as they were to see that day. For them an idyllic summer afternoon drive became a nightmare.

The even of that day were to lead to the discovery of one of the most bizarre crimes in the annals of American history, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

And just with those words a new horror begun. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a slasher franchise of 8 films, a video game based on the original film, and comics. They focus on the serial killer Leatherface and his family, who practice cannibalizing. The original film, and the most successful one, was released on October 11, 1974 but the events of film occurred on August 18, 1973 making it the official day of the film and franchise. In total the 8 films has grossed over $250 million at the box office worldwide.

The original film is considered the first slasher film of the 70s and the responsible for some of the clichés on the sub-genre, specially on low budget films. Leatherface is one of the most known killers of the horror cinema and villain on cinema history. The franchise is marketed as “based on true events” which is not the case but the character of Leatherface used as inspiration the serial killer and cannibal Ed Gein (he didn’t used a chainsaw and worked alone).