Morin's Textual Analysis Poster - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Textual Analysis of ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ Poster

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a horror film by Tobe Hooper released around Halloween season on 1^st October 1974. It was distributed by New Line Cinema who also distributed A Nightmare on Elm Street, a hit horror film of the same era.

Film posters are produced to primarily advertise the film visually and to create a buzz without any audio or acting e.g. watching a trailer.

The lighting used for the poster is quite high key and bright on the foreground. The main image looks like it has been hit by yellow sunlight which is quite unusual for horror movies. However, for a film shot at that time, bright, ‘cartoony’ images were common for horror movies e.g. John Carpenter’s Halloween. This is because of the limited visual effects technology with CGI being only about a year old. The poster has a white background which makes the main image and texts stand out.

The lighting emphasises the image of the female character who appears to have her hands tied and her non-verbal communication; which is important because her face and hands is all that we see, suggests she is being tortured and in horrific pain. It also looks as if the high key lighting is the cause of her pain as it is so direct to her and this I think is a clever play by the director.

The other main image is a long shot of Leatherface, the main villain who we see wielding his chainsaw. Although his costume is a normal attire of shirt and trouser, it contrasts his disfigured face and the prop he is holding. This creates a disturbing mood because for the time when the film was released, despite no blood is being spilt; it is still quite graphic and unsettling.

The trailer features quite a lot of text, some being big and conspicuous and some being very little in font size. The main text which is even more noticeable than the film title itself reads “Who will survive and what will be left of them?” The colour of the font is black and connotes death and darkness and the size of it which takes up almost half of the poster, jumps out as you and is the first thing you take in about the film. The tagline evokes fear in the reader as it immediately lets us know that there will be death and violence and already, a bit of the plot is revealed. This sparks a buzz with the audience. Another piece of text reads “America’s most bizarre and brutal crimes!” which refers to the notion that the film is presented as a true story. Although the characters such as Leatherface might be fictional, it is based on notorious killer Ed Gein. This shows to the audience who would have been more familiar of him at that time that a great tragedy was about to be re-lived on camera and would have everyone talking. This leads on to the other piece of text at the bottom of the film title which leads “What happened is true. Now the motion picture that’s just as real.” It has a very serious tone that connotes fear and terror because the audience know that there is some truth to the claim. The different texts used on the poster build up interest and controversy amongst people, so much that the film was banned in several countries. There are no clearly visible names of actors used on the poster because the cast were relatively unknown and also they are selling the film and content, not the cast.

In conclusion, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre poster follows basic conventions for a horror movie by trying to create a buzz and persuade their audience to go and watch it. This is achieved by the main image of a female expressing pain and anguish which is consistent to the main tagline “Who will survive…” Taking into consideration the year the film was released, a limitation is that not enough special effects were used and also because of the controversy surrounding the film, it would have been difficult to include positive critic’s comments.