By Maria Lewis

When you ask people what was the first movie that scared them shitless, for an overwhelming number of us that answer is Tobe Hooper’s 1974 classic The Texas Chain-Saw Massacre. For over four decades now, that film has been the bar for which one judges another’s level of hardcore-ness. Can you watch that movie, at all? Can you watch that movie without flinching at every loud noise for the next month? Can you watch that movie without having recurring nightmares? It’s thrilling, yes, yet it’s also a film that is deeply, deeply creepy not just in concept but in aesthetic. It’s a horrifying movie with horrifying villains and one of the most affecting final scenes of any cinematic masterpiece ever. And this week, sadly, we lost the mind who gave it to us.

Tobe Hooper passed away on Sunday at the age of 74. He left behind a horror movie legacy of which all horror movie legacies aspire to. Coming from a background as a documentary cameraman and sometimes college professor, he broke on to the scene in a big bad way with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Filmed on a tiny budget of US $300,000, it became one of the most financially successful movies at the time grossing over $40 million worldwide. Despite being banned in several countries due to the graphic violence and explicit content, Chain Saw Massacre gained the kind of word-of-mouth buzz most filmmakers dream of and developed into a cult classic as it played at drive-in movie theatres and found new life on home entertainment. Besides being deeply influential to the genre as a whole – it’s attributed with pioneering several integral elements of the slasher – it also kicked off one of the first horror movie franchises. The central villain Leatherface became iconic, appearing as a regular feature each Halloween but also living on for decades after the film debuted in sequels, spin-offs, prequels, comic books and merchandise.

Yet Hooper was not a one hit wonder who bounced into horror and then bounced out once he was a ‘name’. He had not one, but two horror classics after he went on to direct Poltergeist in 1982. A box-office hit, it did what Chain Saw Massacre had failed to do and crossed over to become a mainstream smash. It was a critical and commercial juggernaut – earning three Academy Award nominations – and has lived on long after the goosebumps one gets from hearing the phrase “they’re heeeere”. Hooper also directed the Salem’s Lot mini-series in the ’70s based on Stephen King’s novel, with the horror giant taking to Twitter to share his condolences after the news of Hooper’s death broke.

 

Going on to do The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’s first sequel in 1986, Hooper also jumped behind the camera for multiple horror films every decade from the ’70s onwards (notable mentions include The Funhouse (1981), Invaders From Mars (1986) and Toolbox Murders (2002) – steer well clear of Crocodile from 2000 though).

King, naturally, was just one of literally thousands of people who were touched by the news of Hooper’s passing. From film fans to cinema legends, the grief was profound and felt throughout the film community. It seems cruel that in a year where we already saw the death of George A. Romero, that we would have to cope with the loss of Tobe Hooper as well. It feels to many horror fans – especially after the death of Wes Craven – that our masters are dropping like flies and we need to clutch desperately to (and celebrate) the elements of their work that have connected with us. It’s bittersweet that Hooper, a kind and gentle soul so instrumental in helping the careers of others, will live on via something that’s absolutely terrifying. Yet with his chainsaw motor having spluttered to a stop, at least we’ll always have the nightmares.

Maria Lewis is a journalist and author previously seen on SBS Viceland’s The Feed. She’s the presenter and producer of the Eff Yeah Film & Feminism podcast. Her debut novel Who’s Afraid? was released in 2016 with the sequel – Who’s Afraid Too? – out now. You can find her on Twitter @MovieMazz

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