Morin's Textual Analysis of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Trailer

Tobe Hooper’s ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre-1974: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=285ImXTYdsg

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF ‘THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE’ TRAILER

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a 1974 classic horror film directed by Tobe Hooper and has been turned into a popular franchise consisting of 6 films which are sequels and remakes. The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a fictional horror; although portrayed as a true story, about an isolated family of cannibals who prey on a group of youngsters travelling through rural Texas. My textual analysis is based on the trailer of the original 1974 Texas Chainsaw Massacre which was a very controversial film at the time of release because of the graphic and violent content, causing it to be banned in several countries including the U.K. However it is critically acclaimed and known to be one of the first films to start off the ‘slasher’ genre in horror films. Also, it gained commercial success especially in America taking in $30.8 million at the box office.

The manner in which the trailer begins is that the audience is thrown straight into the action of the film unlike common conventions used in modern horror trailers, where the first few scenes are peaceful and calm in order to deceive the audience. The trailer starts with the title of the film ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ in big, bold and yellow serif fonts on a black background with the image of a chainsaw in the top left corner. The font suggests that the film is quite old because it is a very traditional and basic type of font with nothing fancy. The lack of any special effects with the beginning implies the use of old technology and we the audience can note the difference between a 1974 trailer and a more modern trailer. The first sound we hear is the diegetic sound of the voice-over narrating. The narrator stating firstly “What happened was true” gives a chilling and eerie effect because it resonates with the audience as we begin to take in the terrifying scenes that the trailer will show.

We hear the voice over on three occasions in the trailer and the style is quite different to that of a modern day film narration. In the trailer the voice over is authoritative but a lot less dramatic than those of today. This perhaps highlights the time and age the trailer was produced.

The scene transits with a high key ‘flash light’ effect briefly and shows an extreme close up of a decomposed hand. A very similar type of shot is used each time there is a scene change and it has an unsettling effect for the audience. Majority of lighting seen throughout the trailer is a high key, sepia tone and it connotes an ageing, traditional effect.

The next scene shows a long shot of a young man stumbling through a worn out, deteriorated corridor and immediately we see the setting of the trailer and ‘Leatherface’ the main villain of the film. There is a very brief high angle, over the shoulder shot which we see the young man’s face before he is killed. His non verbal communication is full of horror and just 8 seconds into the trailer, the audience experience the ruthlessness and terror that Leatherface inflicts on the group of friends. As he raises his arm up to strike the young man with a hammer, there is a tilt up to a close up on Leatherface and we see clearly the vile villain. His costume is a butcher’s apron and his face is terribly disfigured and ‘latexy’ hence the name ‘Leatherface’. His costume plays on what he does which should mean he specialises in butchering animals, but rather he chops up humans. It also has a hint of irony because his actions portray animalistic behaviours.

After another ‘flashing’ scene transition, we see a female character stumbling and falling into a filthy room full of fluff, ceramics and bones; using a floor level, low angle shot. This type of shot connotes the female has been defeated and has hit rock bottom. The Foley sounds of the props banging together as she falls also connotes an image of chaos and confusion which is consistent throughout the trailer and is evident in her non-verbal communication.

The shot cuts to a slow pan of the room which shows an array of skeleton bones, used as furniture and the diegetic sound of machinery and chickens clucking. The slow pan gives the audience a brief insight into the strange things that occur in the farmhouse. We then see a high angle shot of the female character coming to terms with her environment and her screaming and hyperventilating suggests that she is extremely afraid and vulnerable. This is a common stereotype that features in a lot of old horror movies where the female character is often presented as weak and helpless.

After that, the scene changes to where the female encounters Leatherface in the worn out corridor. The constant screaming as she is chased outside and then captured by Leatherface makes uncomfortable viewing as it denotes the fear and terror the character is facing.

Although the pace of the scenes is steady, the whole trailer has a feeling of speed because there are no pauses between each scene. This gives the audience no room to have a full reaction because the trailer is pieced shot after shot.

The next shot that follows is a zoom in to an extreme close up of another female character in a deep freezer. As she suddenly awakens, her non vocal communication suggests that she is deranged and in complete shock. The gruesome idea of her being put in the freezer shows the insanity of Leatherface who probably put her in there.

Insanity is a common theme that runs throughout the trailer. The acts of Leatherface and his family signify that they suffer from a mental derangement as they brutally kill the group of friends without an apparent motive. The trailer features a lot of screaming, mostly by the female characters, which again connotes the idea of madness, caused by the dreadful acts of Leatherface. Later on in the trailer when a female character is held hostage in the dining area with the cannibal family, we clearly see signs of insanity as they mock and look to her hungrily. As she pleads desperately for her life, this theme is also reiterated when she screams “Crazy! You’ve got to make it stop!” The audience is forced to feel sympathetic towards her as we can tell that she is physically and mentally worn out.

The trailer then moves to a scene outside where it is pitch black at night with the only source of light being a torchlight a male character in a wheelchair is holding. Putting a disabled man with a woman guiding him in the darkness has connotations of immense vulnerability. The darkness portrays the fear of the unknown as a killer could be lurking around without the other characters knowing.

As the two characters move through what appears to be a bushy area, the male character’s instincts kick in as he states “…I hear something. Stop! Stop! ” Unfortunately he is left vulnerable and defenceless as we hear the diegetic roar of Leatherface’s chainsaw and the camera quickly tracks in to an extreme close up of him. The camera now cross cuts between the merciless murder and the female screaming in horror. The use of the torchlight, as a prop, as the only visible source of light is effective because it is the only thing that illuminates the murder ever so slightly. The audience might not be able to see full on the gory detail, but the extreme long shot of Leatherface descending on the man and the ferocious sound of the chainsaw is sickening enough for the audience to watch. It also makes us feel as if we are the female character who has been forced to witness this brutality.

The trailer ends with a chase between Leatherface and the female through the bushes at night where it is extremely dark. We can suggest that she is the 'Final Girl' of the film; a common convention in horror films, and we see that she is left by herself to deal with Leatherface. As he closes in on her in a medium close up, the shot freezes and the title sequence appears on the frozen shot. We also hear the non diegetic sound of the voice-over stating, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. After you stop screaming, you won’t stop talking about it.” With the crashing of what sounds like pots and pans at the very end.

To conclude, after analysing this trailer, I can see the glaring difference between a trailer of the 1970s and one of today. What is most obvious is the quality of technology and special effects used and this is reflected in the editing. However, given the time of production, the trailer is still effective in enticing the audience to see what people won’t stop talking, as the narrator hinted. The trailer was produced to create a buzz around a film that would turn out to be controversial for its time as it was presented as a real life story.