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The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a film released in 1974; with a remake released in 2003.

It is often considered the prototype of the slasher film sub-genre. Despite its grisly subject matter, the film — like John Carpenter's original Halloween — does not rely so much on explicit gore to generate terror in the audience, as it does pacing, suspense, and dramatic tension. The many sequels and imitators the original film spawned have been much bloodier and more graphic.

The Original

The original was directed by Tobe Hooper and starred Marilyn Burns, Gunnar Hansen, Edwin Neal, Allen Danzinger, Paul A. Partain, and Jim Siedow.

It was a low-budget horror film production about a family of cannibals in Texas, who abducted people stopping at their gas station. One of the main characters — Leatherface — kills his victims by assaulting them with a chainsaw. The film was inspired, like the films Psycho and The Silence of the Lambs, by serial killer Ed Gein.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was directed by Tobe Hooper; the film was banned in the United Kingdom (for a while, but has since been issued on video and DVD), Germany, and India.

The film spawned three sequels:

• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 (1986)
• Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)
• Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1997)

and a 2003 remake directed by Marcus Nispel and produced by Michael Bay.