The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) [R]

The scariest horror movie ever made! I first saw it in a movie theater in New York City with my best friend. We spent the last 30 minutes of the movie on our feet, holding hands, and screaming. And no one told us to shut up and sit down!! Although many of the production values are now primitive given today's technology, it is still a very scary movie.

Horrible, but not really as gory as reputed to be, this was a first in horror movies. It is well-made, well-acted, and very effective. Every horror movie made since pays homage to this one.

In an effort to get it seen, Tobe Hooper, the director and co-writer, promoted it as a true story. It is not, although there was a Texas family that indulged in cannibalism, and there had been some disturbances in a cemetery.

Pretty simply, a group of five friends, among them Sally Hardesty, and her invalid brother Franklin,   stumble on a house and disturb the murderous family there.

There was nothing like this before. Shot on a skimpy budget of $300,000, this movie is guaranteed to give you nightmares and make all other horror movies pale in comparison! Don't waste your time on any of the other movies in this franchise. Take the R-rating to heart and don't let the little ones near this one.

DIRECTOR: Tobe Hooper. CAST: Marilyn Burns, Gunnar Hansen, Edwin Neal, Allen Danzinger, Paul A. Partain, William Vail.

AWARDS: One win