This is a gritty, raw, unrelenting movie which almost makes you feel like what you're watching is real. From the moment you first meet Leatherface there is a feeling of dread, which just grows and grows throughout the rest of the movie all the way up until the final scene. The acting is quite amateruish but that only helps to sell the realistic touch that the film is trying to portray. I also really enjoy the rural location as it is very similar to the farm location that I spent my entire childhood growing up on.

There are not many films out there similar to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and any that has tried to use the same formula has not been able to capture the same disturbing aura that this film contains.

Six years after the low budget hit Night of the Living Dead, and two years after Craven's gritty debut, The Last House on the Left, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre follows in it's predecessors footsteps as a gritty, violent, unforgettable experience.

My problem has always been, though, that I don't find the experience enjoyable.

So many things about this movie are amazing: Leatherface's screen presence is off the charts - all his kills are memorable. And his first on-screen appearance still scares the shit out of me. The room with the bones, feathers, and nightmarish furniture was truly horrifying. The chase scenes are tense, and feel quite real (as virtue to the lower-budget, in my opinion). Marilyn Burns does an absolutely amazing job as a woman who has been thrown off the cliff of sanity. And those final ten minutes? Still stands up amazingly to today's standards.

So given all of those positives, what's my problem? It stems basically to the fact that while memorable, I just couldn't enjoy this. It's gritty, dark, occasionally uncomfortable, and dreary as hell. And sure, while the first thirty minutes are slow (I've never been a fan of the hitchhiker scene), my main issue is that I just don't find this all that enjoying.

A masterpiece in it's own right, I recognize the contributions Hooper made to the genre with this flick. But as good as many of the portions are, and as great an actress as Burns was, this isn't a movie I find myself willingly re-watching all that often. I'd take Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, hell, even Leprechaun, any time over this. A solid movie that stands out a gritty piece of history, but still, I have to give it just below average, which is what I've consistently given this flick every time I've seen it. 6.5/10 (rounded up to 7/10 to fit site's format).