(DARK SKY FILMS/EXURBIA FILMS/EXHIBIT A PICTURES/LIGHT BULB FILM DISTRIBUTION (102 minutes; Unrated); 2025)
I’ve always had a fascination with “behind the scenes” stuff about films I like. I’m one of those guys who would pay more for a DVD release if it had interviews with the directors and stars and special “making of” features. In optimal cases, you get fresh insights on favorite movies and it will enhance future viewings. In that light, the full-length documentary CHAIN REACTIONS, about the cultural impact of the horror film THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, was absolutely revelatory to me. I’ve only seen the film twice in my life – once in the theater and once on an old VHS tape. This doc made me want to see it again as soon as possible, and I will have a million new things to “keep an eye out for” whenever that happens. The film, written and directed by Alexandre O’Philippe, does something I can’t recall seeing with any other similar doc; it’s divided into five chapters in which five artists/directors give detailed analysis of how TTCM personally affected them, and what its enduring cultural significance is. It’s kind of mind-blowing, honestly. “We are witnessing the young artist Tobe Hooper looking into the future of America,” says filmmaker Karyn Kusama, one of the chapter narrators. “Hooper is saying, ‘I’m not optimistic about America. But I believe beauty still has a place.’”
If you’re one of those who have an “ICK” reaction at the mere mention of the famed horror film about the chainsaw wielding Leatherface and his demented family, or simply can’t imagine how this grungy, low-budget ‘70s flick could POSSIBLY warrant “serious” cinematic discussion, well, this film may or may not be for you. But I found it to be absolutely riveting in every way, one of the most thorough analyses of a classic horror film ever conceived. You really DON’T have to be a hardcore fan of the movie to appreciate the commentary and insights contained in this doc.
Rather unpredictably, the first chapter is a detailed account by comedian/comic actor Patton Oswalt, a no-holds-barred admirer of TTCM, who begins by telling us his first lasting movie memory was one of “terror” after seeing the original NOSFERATU in a theater. We see a clip from one of Oswalt’s stand-up routines in which he talks about the importance of a “good title” for a movie. He says that THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE was the “greatest movie title ever,” letting you know EXACTLY what you’re in for. Oswalt says that the film struck him, visually, as a series of “crime scene photographs,” and addresses how the dumbstruck early audiences were unable to avert their eyes from the carnage on screen. “There is poetry in you not blinking as you watch,” he relates. Oswalt has unabashed admiration for the ways compelling shots accumulate in Hooper’s film and his singular vision for the plot. “There was no negotiating with this family,” he says with regard to the murderous clan who prey on some unfortunate young hippies who wander onto their property by mistake. “The camera is simply observing what happens.” The incongruity of a famous comedian sharing his passion for one of the most disturbing horror films ever made was one of the first things that grabbed me about CHAIN REACTIONS.
Next up we have the famed Japanese director, Takashi Miike, maker of over a hundred films including the legendary disturbers AUDITION and ICHI THE KILLER. He states with absolute sincerity that TTCM was the first film that made him want to be a director. He goes on at considerable length about the movie’s mesmerizing visuals, boundary-crushing norms and the willingness of director Hooper to explore his dark side. “Up until that point, movies had been somewhat SAFE,” said Miike. But things changed with the story of Leatherface and company. “I think of it as a role model,” the obviously reverent filmmaker says. If you saw TTCM back in the ‘70s, when it created something of an uproar, chances are you’ve tried to forget about ghastly scenes like the character of “Pam” being violently thrust onto a large metal meathook in Leatherface’s slaughterhouse, a wheelchair-bound young man being chainsawed to death (even when we DON’T see any actual blood, something astounding, really), and most notably the prolonged dinner table scene with a bound, repeatedly tormented Marilyn Burns, playing the first “final girl,” Sally Hardesty, in one of the most distinguished and unforgettably convincing SCREAMING roles ever put on film. It is seriously amazing even to this day; I wish I’d had the opportunity to interview her about the nightmarish role (Ms Burns sadly passed away in 2014 at the age of 65). These scenes are discussed often in CHAIN REACTIONS, along with way more detailed analysis of moments of real “beauty” in the film, and the opposing “family dynamics” of the cannibal clan, on the one hand, and the freedom-loving but overly curious and naive hippies on the other hand.
“I find it very hard to be objective about THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE,” says filmmaker Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, an Australian artist and the first of two women to be interviewed for this doc. “It’s a film that you FEEL before you think about it. It’s a very smart film.” Another unabashed admirer, Heller-Nicholas gives a nice summation of the Australian film scene in the ‘70s, talking about how PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK affected her powerfully. We see footage of that noted geographical feature and a few key scenes from Weir’s memorable film. AHN adds some pretty mind-blowing insights at this point, talking about how TTCM is a “home invasion film” from Leatherface’s point of view. “He’s stressed,” she emphasizes. “It’s a very Buster Keaton thing, the way he moves and is fussing over things.”
Next up is the horror master himself, Stephen King, the biggest name to be included here. King states that he didn’t see TTCM when it first came out; for him, the experience came later, when he was a hard-working writer in the early ‘80s. Shots of Kubrick’s THE SHINING are shown; it came out in 1980, and though King was notoriously NOT very pleased with Stanley Kubrick’s cinematic version of his novel, he allows that he loved true horror and that this popular novel was one of the first times he really tried to explore it. And he LOVED what Tobe Hooper did to capture an unprecedented sense of absolute horror onscreen. “It looked fucking REAL,” King declares. He stated that it was an example of a film where “you can’t tell where fact ends and fiction begins.” In a true bit of high praise, he compared Hooper’s opus to the work of Cormac McCarthy in works such as BLOOD MERIDIAN and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. He also cited the experience of watching THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT while recovering from a serious injury, at the prompting of his son. That “found footage” classic had elements that truly unnerved King, as the whole of TTCM did. “Both films were made on low budgets with small casts,” he said. “You don’t see too much. It’s all violins.” King made a point of explaining how in horror films, especially, there is often interference from producers before a film comes out. That can water down the impact of a potentially impactful film. “Too many producers wanna give you notes!” he explained. “I HATE the goddamn notes. Tobe Hooper didn’t have to worry about that… He never thought about ‘taste’ and ‘conscience.’” On the matter of whether certain films in this realm can be accused of going too far, King said, “You’re SUPPOSED to go too far! TTCM puts us all in touch with our primal fears. You can’t ever get comfortable watching it. I admire this movie so much!”
By this point in the documentary, you’re somewhat overwhelmed by all the praise, all the flashbacks that are shown (including the memorable shot at the end of TTCM where Leatherface is waving his chainsaw around in unhinged despair as Sally escapes in a pickup truck half-crazed from her nightmare and laughing with relief, a scene the final narrator, Karyn Kusama, calls one of the many “indelible images” in the film. Kusama’s fascination with the movie is perhaps the most impactful of all. She calls the dinner scene with Sally “the scariest, saddest depiction of masculinity that might exist on film… it’s a broken masculinity.” The director repeatedly places TTCM in a broader context, and makes you think, even more than the previous commentators, that the cultural significance of the horror classic has to be acknowledged and appreciated. “I can’t look at Leatherface and feel that he’s simply a monster,” she says. “He’s a part of US.” It’s incredible to see sophisticated filmmakers expressing sympathy for a chainsaw-wielding maniac and his depraved family; Kusama was NOT the only one here to do so. But TTCM’s place in the horror pantheon and all that has occurred since its release in the mid ‘70s have altered the perception of many towards this film, and it now routinely makes the top of many lists of greatest horror films of all time. Kusama calls it “an enduring masterpiece” which states that “America is a madness.”
I couldn’t have imagined when I began watching CHAIN REACTIONS that I would end up placing it in a context that includes the paralyzing division and violence that mark the era we’re all suffering through right now. But that’s the cumulative effect of all the commentary, analysis and deeply felt reactions we’ve just seen in this truly remarkable documentary. Without a doubt it makes you see TTCM in a new light, and how Tobe Hooper’s once controversial cinematic creation can now be seen as the singular, hugely influential piece of celluloid that it is, probably never to be matched again. Director O’Philippe has made a remarkable documentary, one overflowing with insights and the way that art resonates in far-reaching ways that one can never predict. I was stunned by this film, and I’ll be thinking of revelations from it for a long, long time.
