Midnight Screenings 2014 / The Texas Chainsaw Massacre / USA 1974
Forty years on, Tobe Hooper’s classic slasher film has been newly restored and was even shown at the film festival in Cannes. This sentimental tale of family values, good food, and a sprightly dance with a chainsaw is being presented at Karlovy Vary by the Shockproof Film Festival.
Tobe Hooper’s classic turns 40 this year, but his humanist story about a clan in the Texas wasteland that uses the visit of a group of travelers to hold a truly one-of-a-kind feast is still capable of moving even the most hardened of hearts. Hooper’s film is a celebration of masterful craftsmanship, in particular thanks to the main antagonist’s breathtaking dance with the symbol of modern forestry, the chainsaw. No wonder, then, that this cinematic treat tickled the taste buds of the organizers of Prague’s Shockproof Film Festival, who nine years ago proudly presented the film’s Czech cinematic premiere. This year, Shockproof’s hard-boiled programmers are showing it again in their role as guest programmers at KVIFF. The newly restored print was shown at Cannes, where Nicolas Winding Refn hailed it as one of the most important films to shape his own screen work.
84 min / Color, DCP
Director Tobe Hooper
/ Screenplay Kim Henkel, Tobe Hooper
/ Dir. of Photography Daniel Pearl
/ Music Wayne Bell, Tobe Hooper
/ Editor J. Larry Carroll, Sallye Richardson
/ Producer Tobe Hooper
/ Production Vortex
/ Cast Marilyn Burns, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain, William Vail
/ Contact MPI Media Group
Tobe Hooper (b. 1943, Austin, Texas) got his first taste of filmmaking as a child when he made amateur movies with his father’s 8 mm camera. He further refined his skills at the University of Texas and through drama classes in Dallas. He debuted with the low-budget and now elusive Eggshells (1969), which he describes as a "hippie movie.” But his real breakthrough came with his second film, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which is considered a classic today. His next film, Eaten Alive (1976), about a disturbed hotel owner and his hungry pet, was made in the same vein. Hooper had another major hit with Poltergeist (1982), but we should not forget his comic Chainsaw sequel from 1986. Last year, the 70-year-old legend shot his most recent film, Djinn.
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