10 Disgusting Horror Movies You Watch And Then NEVER Forget
1. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Tobe Hooper’s film is a bit of an outlier in this list in that there’s not much actual brutal violence on screen. That’s not to say that the other films on this list don’t use the power of suggestion to great effect (the last film discussed definitely does), but the upset feeling in the viewer’s stomach doesn’t really come from viscerally depicted blood and gore for this film.
However, the film is often still seen as a disgusting, bloodsoaked horror. That’s for a few reasons, not the least of which is the fact that the setting of the film, an apparently abandoned house in Texas summer, just seems like an awful place to be. It grapples with a more familiar kind of disgusting: the sticky, fly-buzzing heat that most of us have experienced at some point. Cannibals aside, it’s just a gross place to be in.
And then the cannibals come in.
From the beginning of the film, where a group of friends try to reach the aforementioned house to spend a vacation together, the main characters have a sword hanging over their heads. This lurking danger is palpable such that one character being stuck to a meat hook alive (rendered with little to no blood) is a surprising but natural extension of an atmosphere that promises punishment to the viewer.
As the cannibalistic family that stalks these characters gets closer and closer to achieving their goal, the atmosphere becomes more oppressive. Certain aspects of the film, like the cannibal family’s unique sense of decor, were inspired by the killer Ed Gein who fashioned clothing and furniture from body parts, and feel horrifyingly authentic. And that’s the crux of what makes this film feel gross. Even if we don’t actually see much violence, it feels real - probably another offshoot of the real world violence people had greater access to since the Vietnam War was beamed to televisions daily.
Tobe Hooper grounds his violence in a kind of realism that adds an extra layer of sweat and grime to the proceedings, making The Texas Chainsaw Massacre a masterclass in disgusting, but brilliant cinema.