20 Mind-Blowing Facts About The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
17. And That’s Because Tobe Hooper Was Gunning For A PG Rating
The reason for the lack of gore? As hard as it is to believe, Hooper
wanted his film awarded a PG rating so it could be seen by as wide an audience
as possible and accordingly kept the onscreen bloodshed to a minimum.
That plan backfired when The Texas Chain Saw Massacre managed to be utterly harrowing and horrifying despite the majority of its violence being implied rather than explicit and the Motion Picture Association of America gave it an X rating.
After Hooper made several cuts the MPAA decided the movie was worthy of an R rating at which point Hooper caved and released it, PG rating be damned.