Five friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way, they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.
Marilyn Burns, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain, William Vail, Teri McMinn, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, Gunnar Hansen, John Dugan, Robert Courtin, William Creamer, John Henry Faulk, Jerry Green, Ed Guinn, Joe Bill Hogan, Perry Lorenz, John Larroquette
Where to watch
Amazon Prime Video, Peacock Premium, Philo, Shudder, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Peacock Premium Plus
Curator Review
Verdict
A landmark of horror: raw, oppressive, and still brutally effective. Its power comes less from gore than from documentary-like grime, relentless tension, and the sense that civilization has simply fallen away.
Best for
Viewers who want a foundational slasher and horror history essential
Fans of bleak, sweaty, low-budget atmosphere over polished effects
People who like survival horror with a feral, chaotic energy
Audiences interested in influential 1970s American horror
Skip if
You need likable characters or a clean moral framework
You’re sensitive to intense screaming, dread, and abrasive sound design
You prefer slick pacing and modern horror conventions
You want explicit gore to be the main attraction rather than atmosphere
Overview
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is one of horror’s great acts of aggression. It feels less like a movie that builds to terror than one that traps you inside it, using heat, noise, and ugly textures to make every wrong turn feel fatal. The result is a film that still feels alive, unstable, and mean in a way few horror films ever manage.
Worth noting
What makes it endure is how stripped-down and immediate it is. The violence is shocking, but the deeper horror is the sense of social collapse: a road trip drifting into a nightmare of decay, hunger, and madness. It’s grimy, frantic, and strangely funny in flashes, which only makes the terror hit harder.
Bottom line
This is essential viewing for horror fans, though not always an easy one. Its rough edges are part of the point, and the film’s power comes from how little it explains and how much it makes you feel. If you want a primal, influential nightmare that helped define modern horror, this is one of the key texts.
Top Letterboxd reviews
YI JIAN (5★) · 39442 likes
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH"
AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH H !!!!!! HHH H
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
AAAAAAAAAAaaaAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! AHHH!! AHHHHH!!! HHH H AAAAAHHHHH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHH!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH.
AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH
aliyah (4★) · 17848 likes
maybe if the planets weren’t in retrograde this wouldn’t have happened
Wes (5★) · 12600 likes
a list of things im never fucking going anywhere near ever again:
1. gas stations
2. chickens
3. pigs
4. pick up trucks
5. the entire state of texas
Ethan Colburn (4★) · 11295 likes
You may see it as a story of teenagers being dismembered by a chain saw killer but I see it as a like minded family trying to give their ailing grandfather one last shot to do the thing he loves best ❤️
adambolt (2.5★) · 10063 likes
surprised he hasn't been caught yet considering he uses the loudest fucking weapon in human existence