For over fifty years The Texas Chain Saw Massacre has been traumatising audiences. Originally banned in some countries upon its initial release, the film garnered a reputation as one of the original ‘video nasties’. This accolade meant that the film gained cult-like status and it became the mission of many youngsters to track down the forbidden feature. Now, the film is commonly available, and yet it still holds sway over horror fans new and old. The popularity of the film is explored by Alexandre O. Philippe’s documentary, Chain Reactions.
Rather than look at The Texas Chain Saw Massacre itself, and chronicle the film’s journey from script to screen and beyond, Philippe opts for a different approach. With countless making-of style documentaries already tackling this subject matter, Philippe has instead chosen five familiar faces of film to discuss their own relationship with the movie. These interview subjects are actor Patton Oswalt, film critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, author Stephen King, and directors Takashi Miike and Karyn Kusama. Each talking head takes a turn to speak with the camera, and audience watching, about their experience and history with the 1974 film.
Anecdotes range from their first exposure to the film, to the impact it had on their own film viewing habits, as well as sharing their own interpretation of the film. These different points of view are fascinating, with each of them latching onto their own specific element from the classic movie. The readings of the group are all compelling and well argued, giving Chain Reactions the feel of watching five separate personal video essay analyses one after the other. These theories are diverse and are likely to stir up a fresh perspective for some viewers. Another interesting element to the arguments presented are the films that each of them use to draw comparisons to Tobe Hopper’s text. Whilst some are obvious, others come out of nowhere and will have the audience reassessing those films alongside The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
In addition to the readings of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, each subject shares a lot of themselves too, making this an intimate, as well as informative, documentary. The personal touches really help to keep Chain Reactions flowing and the little asides and diversions serve to stop the delivery from becoming dry. A highlight is hearing how Charlie Chaplin relates to Takashi Miike’s discovery of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
That each of the subjects chosen are from either a different field or country is another strength to Chain Reaction. In opening the scope up to include actors as well as critics, authors, and directors, broadens the range of appeal in terms of fans, with the inclusion of voices from both Japan and Australia allowing the more far reaching cultural impact of the film to be explored. The only slight disappointment is that a voice from the UK would have perhaps been appreciated, so that wider video nasty issues could have been addressed more fully, but this topic has been the subject of other documentaries and so the decision to move away from that is valid.
Each subject interviewed wears their heart on their sleeves whilst also delivering some thought-provoking analysis of the film. That each is sat talking to camera creates the sensation of them being in a confessional booth and that intimacy draws the audience into their stories and perspectives. The result is a documentary that may have the viewer revisiting The Texas Chain Saw Massacre through five sets of new eyes.
Chain Reactions
Summary
Informative and intimate, Chain Reactions is a fascinating look at the impact of a seminal horror text.
Chain Reactions was reviewed at Panic Fest 2025.
