The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
A must-have guide to the classic horror film that has lost none of its power to astonish, upset, and terrify viewers
Description
The infamous low-budget horror film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) profoundly reshaped our understanding of the horror genre. Its influence looms large over the genre as the direct progenitor of the slasher and the enduring fascination for exploitation cinema as an allegory for brutal class warfare in a post-industrial society. By looking closely at the filmmakers’ individual choices in framing, editing, scoring, staging, lighting, and performance, Dan Hassler-Forest gives readers a fresh perspective on the familiar tropes of the Final Girl, Leatherface as prototype for countless psycho killers and the masterpiece that brought splatter cinema into the mainstream.
Volumes in the film|minutes series cut up films into segments of exactly one minute and transform each minute into an innovative tool for thinking with the film. Each volume works rigorously with the concept of “the minute” as a non-cinematic scale/quantity, a means to zoom in on (dis)orderly fragments that do not necessarily respect the confinements of cinematic form or meaning. As a critical practice, the focus on minutes causes disruptions and displacement that create novel connections and perspectives, and uncovers hidden traces, making it possible to watch each film anew.
Dan Hassler-Forest is a media studies scholar who teaches at Utrecht University’s Media and Culture Studies Department.
Reviews
“Hassler-Forest’s blow-by-blow account of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre makes it clear why this masterpiece continues to thrill, frighten and inspire viewers more than fifty years on. It shows how a sharp focus on affect and film form can shed new light on even the most well-studied horror classics.”
- Xavier Aldana Reyes, author of Body Horror: Biology, Biopower, Biotechnology
“In this delicious homage to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Dan Hassler-Forest shows us how the sausage is made, lovingly breaking the film down into bite-sized morsels. No detail escapes Hassler-Forest's keen eye and the result is a savory study that will enrich appreciation of the film even for those who know it well.”
- Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, Central Michigan University
“This reads like a descriptive audio track of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, with Hassler-Forest narrating what he's seeing and hearing on screen while documenting what makes it work. A film studies book that fans of the movie with find engaging and accessible."
- Terry Bosky
News, Reviews, Interviews
Read: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre reviewed in the Library Journal by Terry Bosky | November 1, 2026