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The Rewatchables ·

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

year 1974decade 70sdirector Tobe Hoopergenre Drama
host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryan
All 39 categories

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award · 1:05:08

This is the scariest movie ever made

One take is that this is the scariest movie ever made: the participant first saw it at 18 or 19 on VHS after moving into a run-down house in Mission Hill, was up the rest of the night, and, as with Blair Witch, wondered whether it was real; no movie has disturbed them like it.

Another calls it about as unsettling as it gets because it is not supernatural like The Exorcist or Jason, Freddy and Michael Myers; these people could really exist.

The Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson · 1:32:37

Don't pick up hitchhikers

The gas station guy's line that there are things you do even if you don't have to like it is cited, but the real lesson is not to pick up hitchhikers and to always have a full tank.

The film

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Directed by Tobe Hooper · Drama

83 minutes

IMDbLetterboxdJustWatch
Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Marilyn Burns Sally Hardesty
Paul A. Partain Franklin Hardesty
Edwin Neal The Hitchhiker
Jim Siedow Drayton Sawyer
Gunnar Hansen Leatherface
John Dugan Grandpa Sawyer
Robert Courtin window washer
William Creamer bearded man
John Henry Faulk storyteller
Jerry Green cowboy
Ed Guinn cattle truck driver
Perry Lorenz pick up driver
John Larroquette narrator

Everything from the episode

In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.

25:51

Steven Seagal shitting on himself award for most unbelievable anecdote from the actual film shoot

The 30-hour dinner-scene shoot in 100-degree heat

The 30-hour dinner-scene shoot in 100-degree heat

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:25:51Read transcript
  • Introduced as a rare category before the categories; the hosts suspect they picked the same anecdote, given the film was made for $60,000 in 100-degree Texas heat.
  • After getting the grandfather's old-age makeup, John Dugan would not repeat the five-hour process, so his scenes, mostly the dinner scene, were shot over the next 30 hours in summer heat in a room of dead animals and rotting food with no air conditioning and blackout curtains; the stench made people pass out and go outside to puke.
  • Edwin Neal, who played the hitchhiker, called filming that scene the worst time of his life, worse than being in Vietnam with people trying to kill him; a host compares being up 24 hours after an early flight back from Boston, and the shoot went six hours past that.
  • Marilyn Burns was tied up the entire time, screaming while being mocked, and the cast got paid about 150 bucks; the 16 millimeter cameras needed so much light that interior scenes generated extra heat.
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27:58

Peter North Effort Award

Marilyn Burns

Marilyn Burns

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:27:58Read transcript
  • Marilyn Burns is the all-in performer: she screams for the last 30 minutes, does her own stunts, jumps out of two windows and runs through brambles at night, getting real cuts.
  • She is called the first final girl and maybe the best; what Jamie Lee Curtis goes through at the end of Halloween is mild by comparison, and both the 18-wheeler and Leatherface's chainsaw as she climbs into the pickup look dangerously close.
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32:15

Roger Ebert's review
In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:32:15Read transcript
  • Ebert gave it two stars: without apparent purpose unless disgust and fright are a purpose, yet a weird, off-the-wall achievement, well made, well acted and all too effective, belonging with Night of the Living Dead and Last House on the Left.
  • A second excerpt contrasts it with In Cold Blood: no motivation, background or speculation on causes, simply an exercise in terror; the hosts answer that terror is the point, and that Ebert loved story and character, of which the film has little.
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34:13

Most Rewatchable Scene

Kirk's death and the lead-up to it

Kirk's death and the lead-up to it

In the discussion (13)
Approx. transcript time · 00:34:13Read transcript
  • The opening is admired though not offered as the pick: the August 18th, 1973 date, the opening crawl, the credits and the graveyard shot make one of the great tone-setting openings, especially since the next 35 to 40 minutes bring little.
  • Picking up the hitchhiker is compared to Antonio Brown joining the Patriots: a bad idea that went worse than expected and ended with people bleeding.
  • Getting stuck with someone fully gone is likened to the corner of a bar; one participant recalls a man in a Philly bar insisting they check out his knife, and the scariest part is that such people call the shots and you have to play along.
  • Kirk and his girlfriend go to a watering hole with no water and walk toward a house that might have gas; finding a rotten tooth and giving it to his girlfriend as a joke is where the hosts would have left.
  • Kirk goes in after hearing an animal squealing and Leatherface kills him with no music, the hammer sounding like a walnut cracking, then slams the sliding metal door; hammers are called underexplored in horror because they knock someone unconscious immediately.
  • Pam goes into the house after Kirk and ends up in the room of feathers and bones, assembled by an art director who collected decomposing animal parts around Texas; Leatherface carries her to another room, puts her on a hook, and she watches Kirk get chainsawed.
  • Jerry goes into the creepy house looking for both; the interaction between Franklin and Sally, brother and sister, is singled out as a riff on Hansel and Gretel: she cannot leave him, which saves her life but costs his.
  • The girl in the freezer, called the igloo, Jerry getting smoked and Leatherface killing Franklin follow, and Sally runs to the gas station guy, who is not really helping her.
  • The gas station guy turning out to be bad, the person you run to for help, became a horror trope; she sees the organs roasting and wonders whether to run before he pulls up with the bag and rope, and Friday the 13th repeats the moment with Jason's mom.
  • The grandfather sucking Sally's bloody finger is super disturbing and her passing out is called the correct response; they reportedly cut her finger for real.
  • The dinner is called the worst dinner invite of all time, tied up while three psychopaths mock her, and the grandfather trying and failing to hit her with the hammer is compared to an aging quarterback trying one last season.
  • She escapes by jumping out the window a second time; the hosts are unsure why she and the truck driver leave the truck, and call the ending, her bloody face screaming while Leatherface waves the chainsaw in the dawn sun, the most haunting ending and an all-time last shot, better even than Halloween's.
  • The pick is Kirk getting killed and the lead-up to it, which another participant agrees with without question; it is the stretch they would watch if the movie came on cable.
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38:29

Todd Parker Award for Best Character Entrance

Leatherface

Leatherface

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 00:38:29Read transcript
  • Leatherface's first appearance gets the award, which could be renamed the Leatherface Award; the way he frantically slams the sliding door shut is among the best ever.
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47:17

The most 1974 thing

Hitchhikers

Hitchhikers

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:47:17Read transcript
  • Candidates include the hitchhiker's Polaroid camera with its flashbulb attachment, the title spelling chain saw as two words, and Franklin's old wheelchair.
  • Calling someone's girlfriend your old lady is also offered and liked; the girls' outfits have somewhat come back, but hitchhikers have not, and hitchhikers is called the winner.
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49:39

Floyd Gondolli Enjoyment Award

Kids on a normal road trip where something abnormal happens; Leatherface moving like Warren in There's Something Abou...

Kids on a normal road trip where something abnormal happens; Leatherface moving like Warren in There's Something About Mary

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:49:39Read transcript
  • One pick is kids on a normal road trip where something abnormal happens.
  • Another is that Leatherface moves and acts like Warren in There's Something About Mary, with the same run; the participant's wife was dying watching it, Farrell should hear about it, and everything about how Leatherface runs is called hilarious.
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50:29

What’s Aged the Best?

Slaughterhouses as a horror setting; grave robbing as a premise; the graveyard scene; seatless 70s vans; the We Slaug...

Slaughterhouses as a horror setting; grave robbing as a premise; the graveyard scene; seatless 70s vans; the We Slaughter BBQ sign; chainsaws; the dad and his hitchhiker son; fear of the wrong hitchhiker; the poster; the one-chainsaw budget and 868 edits; its influence on Alien and other filmmakers; Daniel Pearl's cinematography; Marilyn Burns' screams; the helper who turns on you; Leatherface's masks; the film as a rich text

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:50:29Read transcript
  • Slaughterhouses make a great horror location, tying human violence to a murderous bent of society, and grave robbing creates dread through the radio report and the opening shot of the statue of bones in the graveyard.
  • The graveyard scene, with the old drunk and the people leering at the women, is low-key creepy; every stop is meant to be small-town America backbone, a gas station or a graveyard, shown in its most demonic version.
  • Seventies vans with no seats or seatbelts and everyone piled in the back, and the We Slaughter BBQ sign, which promises the freshest possible barbecue.
  • Chainsaws are still underrated, Scarface has a great one, and seeing one makes you want to grab it and do the Leatherface.
  • The dad and his hitchhiker son, with lines like 'come here, you nap-haired idiot'; the fear of picking up the wrong hitchhiker; and the poster.
  • They had only one chainsaw and one Leatherface outfit for the whole movie, there are 868 edits in an 83-minute movie, and the film inspired Ridley Scott to make Alien.
  • It was hugely influential, loved by Scorsese, Spielberg, Tarantino and Friedkin; Daniel Pearl's cinematography is called easily the best aspect, a precursor to Paris, Texas vistas mixed with handheld documentary style, looking far better than the shoestring budget allows.
  • Marilyn Burns' screaming, the trope of the person you think will help turning on you, and the masks: Gunnar Hansen described a killing mask, an old lady mask and a pretty woman mask, the last worn at dinner with a wig and black suit because in Texas you dress up for dinner.
  • The film is a rich text, with countless books and analysis from gender studies to anthropology about its relevance to Texas and American history in the Nixon era; the best horror says something about its time.
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55:38

The Great Shot Gordo Award for Most Cinematic Shot

The last shot; the shot under the swing of Pam walking toward the house

The last shot; the shot under the swing of Pam walking toward the house

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 00:55:38Read transcript
  • The last shot was already covered; a different pick is the shot under the swing of Pam walking toward the house, defended with a joke about her figure, and the film has a couple of random, very long shots.
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56:11

The Big Kahuna Burger Award for Best Use of Food and Drink

The human sausage

The human sausage

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:56:11Read transcript
  • The human sausage is the obvious pick, with the discussion of head cheese also mentioned; head cheese is looked up as ground cow head turned not into cheese but a jelly.
  • Whether Franklin was eating human meat or plain barbecue from the gas station is debated: he seems puzzled by the first bite of the sausage but finishes it.
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56:59

Chest Rockwell / Brock Landers Award for Best Character Name

Leatherface

Leatherface

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 00:56:59Read transcript
  • It has to be Leatherface; his brother calls him Leatherface once, probably the only way to tell the audience his name, prompting a joke about a Kevin Durant-style objection to the nickname.
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57:16

Is There a Better Title for This Movie?

No better title

No better title

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:57:16Read transcript
  • They worked on Saturn's Return and also considered Leatherface and Headcheese; Headcheese is not a bad title, though under it the movie makes a dollar.
  • Texas Chainsaw Massacre is called one of the better titles of the last 55 years because it tells you what the movie is going to do.
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58:47

He Got Game Hooker Scene Award for Most Awkward Walk-In

Pam getting thrown on the meat hook

Pam getting thrown on the meat hook

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:58:47Read transcript
  • The pick is Pam getting thrown on the meat hook. — Chris Ryan
  • The movie may have more such scenes than any film, and anyone walking in on the dinner scene would have questions.
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58:47

The Den of Thieves Benihana Award for Scene-Stealing Location

Pam's chicken room

Pam's chicken room

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 00:58:47Read transcript
  • The chicken room is offered as an additional pick and the choice is liked.
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59:20

The Butch’s Girlfriend Award for the Weakest Link in the Film

Franklin

Franklin

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:59:20Read transcript
  • Franklin is the pick, with full understanding that he is supposed to be the weak link; there is no worse hang, and you want him to die.
  • Texas Monthly is quoted on his constant demand for attention, high-pitched cries of Sally and anger at everyone, making him one of the most despicable handicapped people in film history and the only one who almost seems to deserve his death, which is the point.
  • His key moment is when everybody pairs off at the first house and he is the fifth wheel, which explains why he engages the hitchhiker: lonely, longing for connection, he finds the worst possible one.
  • Jokes imagine him today with a lot of Reddit posts and 82,000 Letterboxd reviews.
  • Paul Partee (as transcribed) was reportedly a pain-in-the-ass method actor, and the hosts cannot imagine being a method actor on a $60,000 movie.
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1:01:18

What’s Aged the Worst?

No nude scene despite horror expectations; Sally's 'I'll do whatever you want' plea; only one chainsaw death; the bea...

No nude scene despite horror expectations; Sally's 'I'll do whatever you want' plea; only one chainsaw death; the beating the actors took; the sound of the hammer on Kirk's skull

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:01:18Read transcript
  • A participant's wife was surprised there was no nude scene shoehorned in as in every horror movie; at the watering hole the hosts expected one, and the family shows no interest in Sally as a pretty young woman, in it for the love of the game.
  • The victims are not killed because they are having sex but because they go looking for gasoline.
  • Sally's plea at the dinner table that she will do whatever they want is flagged, though one host counters that she is trying to live.
  • There is only one chainsaw death, Franklin's, with more hammer than chainsaw, and the actors got beaten up, Marilyn Burns above all, hit in the head with a rubber hammer, landing from windows and running through branches; according to Hooper, everyone hated his guts by the wrap party.
  • The sound of the hammer hitting Kirk's skull returns whenever the participant cracks a shoulder.
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1:02:58

The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award

The hitchhiker; the gas station guy at dinner

The hitchhiker; the gas station guy at dinner

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:58Read transcript
  • There are a lot of possibilities; the hitchhiker is the probable choice, with the gas station guy at dinner also named, and one of them was apparently the only SAG actor, whom the production needed.
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1:02:58

When I Would Have Died

When the grandfather sucks the bloody finger; during the hitchhiker scene in the van

When the grandfather sucks the bloody finger; during the hitchhiker scene in the van

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:58Read transcript
  • One participant dies when the grandfather is sucking the bloody finger, by swallowing their tongue or dying afraid; another would roll out of the van at 45 miles per hour when the hitchhiker starts going off.
  • As Franklin, getting knocked off the road by a truck while urinating into a coffee can, a bad omen early in the film, would be the end, and not making it through the hitchhiking is also offered.
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1:05:08

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

This is the scariest movie ever made; film shoots should go back to being nightmare shoots; Leatherface was the victi...

This is the scariest movie ever made; film shoots should go back to being nightmare shoots; Leatherface was the victim; the hitchhiker is scarier than Leatherface

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:05:08Read transcript
  • One take is that this is the scariest movie ever made: the participant first saw it at 18 or 19 on VHS after moving into a run-down house in Mission Hill, was up the rest of the night, and, as with Blair Witch, wondered whether it was real; no movie has disturbed them like it.
  • Another calls it about as unsettling as it gets because it is not supernatural like The Exorcist or Jason, Freddy and Michael Myers; these people could really exist.
  • Asked for a hottest take, a participant argues movie shoots should go back to being nightmare shoots, 100 degrees and the same outfit, with a waiver like climbing Everest, because it gets the best performance.
  • None of the actors participated in the profits after the film became a hit, which recalls complaints from the Obsession set; today people on set would post stories about inhumane working conditions.
  • The take is that Leatherface was the victim. — Bill Simmons
  • The take is called a really good one, with the defense that multiple people came into his house, he was defending his property, and taxidermy is his hobby.
  • During the scene discussion, offered as one of a participant's hottest takes, the hitchhiker is called scarier than Leatherface because everybody has had an interaction with someone fully gone.
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1:09:48

Casting What-Ifs

No casting what-ifs

No casting what-ifs

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:09:48Read transcript
  • There aren't really any what-ifs because none of the actors were known; Gunnar Hansen regarded Leatherface as having an intellectual disability and performed him that way, and John Larrakat (as transcribed) narrated the opening credits, was paid in marijuana and, per an interview, had not seen the movie as of about 2008.
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1:09:48

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

None

None

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:09:48Read transcript
  • The Joey Pants Award for best that guy gets no nominee.
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1:10:34

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

The gas station windshield washer

The gas station windshield washer

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:10:34Read transcript
  • Offered the grandfather or the gas station windshield washer, the windshield washer is the choice; the hosts wonder whether he is part of the family, decide he was not invited to dinner, and imagine him as a part-timer going home after another weird day cleaning up bones.
  • During the scene discussion, the redhead washing the windows at the first gas station stop is called one of the funniest parts of the movie and flagged for the Dion Waiters Award.
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1:10:49

Recasting Couch

Jeff Bridges; Rob Reiner; Ron Howard; Penny Marshall; Goldie Hawn as the final girl

Jeff Bridges; Rob Reiner; Ron Howard; Penny Marshall; Goldie Hawn as the final girl

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:10:49Read transcript
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1:11:26

The Dennis Peck Relationship Test

Dennis Peck could have charmed the family

Dennis Peck could have charmed the family

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:11:26Read transcript
  • Craig's flex asks whether Dennis Peck could have charmed his way out of the house; the hosts picture him clean cut with the polo tucked into his jeans and the collar flipped up, complimenting Leatherface's dress, and think it works.
  • One host rarely rewatches a movie for years after an episode but watched Internal Affairs six months later and loves its star; the appeal is whether anyone has enough charm to talk his way out of that house or talk the family out of killing Sally yet.
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1:12:27

Half-Assed Internet Research

Filmed mostly at a 1900s farmhouse near Round Rock; art director Robert A. Burns collected the remains; Gunnar Hansen...

Filmed mostly at a 1900s farmhouse near Round Rock; art director Robert A. Burns collected the remains; Gunnar Hansen cut Marilyn Burns' finger for real; the gas station is now a horror-themed barbecue attraction; mob and Deep Throat money financed the film and the cast lost its share

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:12:27Read transcript
  • They filmed mostly at a 1900s farmhouse near Round Rock, Texas, and the art director who drove around picking up the cattle remains was Robert A. Burns.
  • In his book Chainsaw Confidential, Gunnar Hansen admitted that after several failed attempts he secretly removed the protective tape from the knife and cut Marilyn Burns' finger for real, which the hosts call an OSHA violation.
  • The gas station featured in several scenes is now a horror-themed attraction at a Texas barbecue restaurant and motel, closer to Austin, still with the vintage We Slaughter Barbecue sign; a live show there is floated.
  • Short of money to finish, the production got financing from basically the mob and the company behind Deep Throat, which needed to wash money; the cast was promised a piece, got only half of what was claimed, signed it away, and the owners lied about how much it made.
  • Nobody from the film slingshot into an acting career, unlike the Obsession argument that you get paid on your next job; the company that owed the money had gone bankrupt and New Line Cinema belatedly gave them some money.
  • A recurring theme is that nearly everyone involved made no money, was emotionally scarred and stayed bitter, except Gunnar Hansen; they had to make it their crowning achievement, giving interviews in rooms of memorabilia and signing chainsaws at conventions.
  • Earlier, the hosts read that the finger cut was real and it was her actual blood because they could not pull off the cut with fake blood.
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1:16:46

Apex Mountain

Indie horror movies; chainsaws; cinematic rural Texas; head cheese; the 1972 Ford Club Wagon

Indie horror movies; chainsaws; cinematic rural Texas; head cheese; the 1972 Ford Club Wagon

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:16:46Read transcript
  • For indie horror movies, this and Blair Witch are at the apex.
  • For final girls, Laurie is called more iconic, with Ripley from Alien also raised; Sally is named the most underrated final girl, while another picks the girl in Friday the 13th Part 2.
  • A tangent weighs which Friday the 13th the show should do, Part 2 or the final chapter, with a listener vote floated.
  • Chainsaws are a yes; Texas is a no but cinematic rural, scary Texas is a yes; hot 70s blondes named Marilyn is a no, with Maryland Chambers (as transcribed) instead; Toby Hooper's apex is Poltergeist, which he did direct.
  • Head cheese is a yes for sure.
  • For movie murderers, Norman Bates and Lecter are considered and Myers is probably the answer because of his body of work; Leatherface is called a schedule merchant whose victims walk into his house, and grave robbing is something anybody can do.
  • Hitchhiking is probably not at its apex, but the 1972 Ford Club Wagon they used as the van gets an apex call.
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1:19:12

Cruise or Hanks?

Hanks as one of the men in the van; Cruise as the hitchhiker

Hanks as one of the men in the van; Cruise as the hitchhiker

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:19:12Read transcript
  • Hanks would be one of the dudes in the van, while Cruz (as transcribed) could have done the hitchhiker, especially the Cruz of today's red carpets.
  • The hosts riff on Cruz in the van saying $2 is a fair price for the picture and praising Franklin; the hitchhiker's demand for $2 is called the moment you know this is all wrong, and a video of Cruz coming back for a third handshake with an amputee is recalled.
  • The idea, attributed to Craig, of having Cruz on the show is rejected: the hosts say he has lost his mind and is gone.
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1:20:53

Hans Gruber Scale Villain Ranking

Leatherface, 10 out of 10

Leatherface, 10 out of 10

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:20:53Read transcript
  • Leatherface has to be a 10 out of 10, the highest they can go, shattering the ceiling.
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1:21:09

Borat Sagdiyev Rancid Body Odor Award

Leatherface; the grandfather

Leatherface; the grandfather

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:21:09Read transcript
  • The award also goes to Leatherface: in Chainsaw Confidential, Gunnar Hansen wrote that he had one dyed shirt and wore it for four straight weeks, so by the end of the shoot no one would stand near him.
  • The other pick is the grandfather, a desiccated body sitting up in the attic heat for weeks, fueled only by blood and called one of the freakiest things ever seen in a movie.
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1:22:10

Picking Nits

Picking up a hitchhiker by a slaughterhouse; surviving a meat hook; leaving the van's lights on; continuing the trip ...

Picking up a hitchhiker by a slaughterhouse; surviving a meat hook; leaving the van's lights on; continuing the trip after the hitchhiker; the road-trip itinerary; Pam reading the Zodiac book; the chainsaw's power source; sudden traffic on the dirt road; Leatherface never running straight

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:22:10Read transcript
  • Passing a slaughterhouse, nobody should pick up that hitchhiker; would someone lifted onto a metal hook die right away or slide down, depending on where it hits, and the actress could only hang there in a harness for a couple of minutes.
  • They leave the van's lights on to run down the battery, have no gas, and keep going after the hitchhiker cuts himself and Franklin, takes their picture, lights it on fire and smears blood on the van; the trip should be over.
  • The itinerary makes no sense: visit their father's old place and make sure grandpa wasn't grave robbed, down a desolate highway in 100-degree heat, bringing Franklin; one host answers Craig that 70s road trips with three channels and no phones were like this.
  • The biggest nitpick: right after all this, Pam starts reading the Zodiac book instead of talking about the hitchhiker.
  • How the chainsaw runs with no extension cord, battery or gas, and whether Leatherface would remember to charge or refuel it.
  • At the end there is suddenly traffic on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, a giant truck and then a pickup, so she got very lucky; Leatherface never runs in a straight line, so Sally could have put more evasive moves on him.
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1:25:33

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

Eight follow-ups exist, including Two, The Next Generation, the Jessica Biel reboot, the Netflix film and the 2017 pr...

Eight follow-ups exist, including Two, The Next Generation, the Jessica Biel reboot, the Netflix film and the 2017 prequel Leatherface; a Curry Barker reboot is rumored

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:25:33Read transcript
  • Eight films followed as sequels, prequels or remakes, including The Next Generation with Renee Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey, seen once and called entertaining; Two, also directed by Toby Hooper, is liked a lot, and Kim Henkel, who wrote the original, was involved with The Next Generation.
  • There was a Jessica Biel reboot, a Netflix film about influencers killed by Leatherface that one participant enjoyed, and the 2017 DirecTV prequel Leatherface starring Stephen Dorff; Curry Barker is rumored to be rebooting it with Glenn Powell possibly involved, coming to Skydance.
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1:26:47

Is This Movie Better With…?

Doug McRae (as transcribed); Stephen A. Smith

Doug McRae (as transcribed); Stephen A. Smith

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:26:47Read transcript
  • After watching a lot of Affleck that week, a participant performs a character, Doug McRae (as transcribed), taunting Leatherface as the only guy in Texas with a chainsaw who will not make head cheese out of him, and living in a van by the old Franklin place.
  • As new blood, Stephen A. Smith does a somber Straight Shooter the day after the murders: he does not care about the five young people, only that Leatherface, his brother and the best slaughterhouse chef in the country, may not be able to do his thing.
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1:28:43

Just One Oscar

Editing; Tobe Hooper; Daniel Pearl's cinematography

Editing; Tobe Hooper; Daniel Pearl's cinematography

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:28:43Read transcript
  • Three options are floated without a choice: editing, Toby Hooper, or the cinematographer Daniel Perle (as transcribed).
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1:28:43

The Andy and Red – Zihuatanejo Award for What Happens the Next Day?

Sally in a coma from trauma while her uncle goes looking for the family

Sally in a coma from trauma while her uncle goes looking for the family

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:28:43Read transcript
  • Canonically Sally is basically in a coma from trauma, which is the setup of Texas 2, where her uncle, played by Dennis Hopper, goes looking for the family.
  • A joke has Sally dead of a cocaine overdose by 1976 after doing cocaine with Jenny Gump in San Francisco.
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1:29:18

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Where did the truck driver go? What were Leatherface's next couple of days like? Did this movie end hitchhiking? What...

Where did the truck driver go? What were Leatherface's next couple of days like? Did this movie end hitchhiking? What happened to Marilyn Burns? Whose death would you want? Were the kids marked for death?

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:29:18Read transcript
  • Where did the truck driver go: he just runs off away from his truck, the next 15 minutes with him could be its own movie, and he probably runs to the gas station, the worst possible place.
  • Leatherface's next couple of days after losing his brother are imagined as tape study with Sean Payton: thicker windows, a second chainsaw, maybe going electric.
  • The impact on hitchhiking: according to Ed Neal, Texas State Troopers thanked him because there were no more hitchhikers, though statistically it lasted a couple more years.
  • Read verbatim from the internet: on August 5th, 2014, at 65, Marilyn Burns was found dead by her brother at her home in Houston with no cause of death specified; the question of what happened is handed to Concepcion and Tyler for a deep dive.
  • Whose death would you want: Kirk's, because he does not see it coming and is dead before the sawing; the wheelchair guy's chainsaw death would be tough.
  • The least wanted is Pam's: a slow death on the meat hook with a gaping hole in her back, watching somebody else get killed and knowing she is next.
  • Earlier, one participant's unanswerable question is whether this movie ended hitchhiking.
  • Were the kids cursed or marked for death by the burning photo and the blood on the van and pushed toward the house, or was it random; one sees some voodoo in the burned picture, another finds it scarier if random.
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1:32:37

The Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson

Don't pick up hitchhikers; keep a full tank

Don't pick up hitchhikers; keep a full tank

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:32:37Read transcript
  • The gas station guy's line that there are things you do even if you don't have to like it is cited, but the real lesson is not to pick up hitchhikers and to always have a full tank.
  • Earlier, the big ultimate lesson is to get gas when you need it, stop at the right station and never drop below a half tank, called the Miyagi.
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1:32:37

What Piece of Memorabilia Would You Want From This Movie?

The original chainsaw; the hitchhiker's pouch; the We Slaughter Barbecue sign; the Polaroid photo

The original chainsaw; the hitchhiker's pouch; the We Slaughter Barbecue sign; the Polaroid photo

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:32:37Read transcript
  • Definitely not the mask or the clothes; the original chainsaw would be amazing at auction, and the hitchhiker's little pouch with the pictures, the We Slaughter Barbecue sign and the Polaroid photo are also wanted.
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1:32:37

Best Double Feature

Last House on the Left; Halloween; Deliverance

Last House on the Left; Halloween; Deliverance

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:32:37Read transcript
  • Last House on the Left is equally disturbing, not a good night but an interesting snapshot in movie history; The Help is offered as a joke before Halloween, chosen to compare how much it drew from this film; Deliverance, a road trip gone wrong, is the third pick.
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1:34:06

Who Won the Movie?

Tobe Hooper

Tobe Hooper

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:34:06Read transcript
  • Hooper is proposed and affirmed because he had the most career afterwards, a Hollywood hotshot for a while on the Universal lot with Spielberg, directing Poltergeist.
Podcast choices
Speaker not identified
Tobe Hooper
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More from the conversation

The cold open reads Tarantino calling the film one of the few perfect movies ever made; the host adds that it is not humane or fun and might not be a rewatchable for 90% of the audience, but it is perfect; another participant calls it a rewatchable despite tough five-minute stretches, and at roughly 83 to 87 minutes every cut serves one idea, that the guy waving a chainsaw on the highway is what this country is.
Approx. transcript time · 00:01:36Read transcript
The indie horror legacy runs through Halloween, Blair Witch and Paranormal Activity, but Chainsaw is ground zero; Toby Hooper (as transcribed) saw the line down the block for Night of the Living Dead and decided to make one, and it is called the first slasher, with the masked killer later in Halloween and Friday the 13th.
Approx. transcript time · 00:03:28Read transcript
One host watched it twice that week, once in an airplane pod seat and once with Ben and a wife who kept asking how this is a movie; Leatherface coming out of the metal door with the hammer is called one of the great scares of all time, with no music.
Approx. transcript time · 00:05:10Read transcript
The participant who had never seen the film had no relationship with horror until producing the show and is becoming a mini horror guy in 2026; horror, with Backrooms, Resident Evil and Obsession, is called the new singles and doubles of Hollywood.
Approx. transcript time · 00:06:42Read transcript
Sally is the prototype final girl, though her survival is a coin toss rather than morally earned as in later slashers; Marilyn Burns is called maybe the best screamer of all, screaming for a half hour straight across take after take.
Approx. transcript time · 00:07:37Read transcript
A Mount Rushmore of killer gimmicks includes Leatherface, Freddy Krueger, Chucky and Orphan, with Thanksgiving also praised; Leatherface is a favorite slasher because he is both the most realistic and least explicable, with no backstory like Myers or Jason, and his unintentional comedy is rated 98 next to Buffalo Bill's 100.
Approx. transcript time · 00:09:05Read transcript
Texas is in the running for creepiest horror state, hot, sprawling, with houses far from anything and no lights at night; Nocturnal Animals, Wrong Turn and the fear of stopping at the wrong gas station come up.
Approx. transcript time · 00:11:27Read transcript
John Bloom, who became Joe Bob Briggs, wrote in a 2004 Texas Monthly piece that Chainsaw was the first baby boomer horror film, pampered suburban children terrorized by the deformed adult world; the counterpoint is that Hooper may simply have imagined cutting through a hardware store line with a chainsaw and made it for $60,000; the budget ultimately came to $125,000 with promotion and the film made $31 million.
Approx. transcript time · 00:12:44Read transcript
The 1970s gave birth to the modern genres: Dirty Harry, Deep Throat, Chainsaw and Last House on the Left, Godfather Part 2, Jaws, Rocky, Star Wars and Superman, and those films feel true to life because of location shooting and real-looking actors.
Approx. transcript time · 00:14:34Read transcript
Marketing the film as based on true events was effective, like Blair Witch in 1999, making viewers wonder if they were watching a snuff film; Ed Gein was an influence, prompting a tangent on serial-killer stats, Bundy, the Zodiac and Netflix running out of serial killers.
Approx. transcript time · 00:17:40Read transcript
One host first saw it around 1980 at about 11 with their dad at a food-and-beer theater in Alston (as transcribed), a precursor to the Alamo Drafthouse, waiting 30 minutes for anything to happen before 50 minutes of chaos; little of the murder is shown, unlike the more graphic second film, Hooper reportedly wanted an R rather than an X, and the scariest moment is Pam on the meat hook watching Kirk get chainsawed.
Approx. transcript time · 00:21:38Read transcript
Hooper claimed the film responded to Watergate, the oil crisis, the recession and Vietnam; one host doubts it, another notes he had made commercials, docs and an experimental feature, and the opening radio reports of accidents, disasters and violence set up the world.
Approx. transcript time · 00:24:25Read transcript
Hitchhiking was common from the late 60s to the mid 70s, with one host's dad hitchhiking from Holy Cross to Boston on weekends; the TV movie Diary of a Teenage Hitchhiker is recalled, and 1975 to 1978 is called the glory era for serial killers before the internet replaced hitchhiking.
Approx. transcript time · 00:48:17Read transcript
The participant who never saw it expected to hate it but is starting to find humor in horror, calling the dinner scene a messed-up sitcom, praising the aesthetic, acting and editing, and preferring horror rooted in reality to supernatural films like Insidious or The Conjuring; a chicken-and-egg exchange about whether movies like this make the country messed up or the reverse leads to a film-school story about a Jaws scene and a defense of reading the text rather than the intention.
Approx. transcript time · 01:34:21Read transcript
More horror episodes are planned for the month; recent horror such as Resident Evil, Ari Aster's work and the streamer film Passengers comes up, and the show signs off noting it's October and still Halloween even at 100 degrees.
Approx. transcript time · 01:36:54Read transcript