Chain Reactions

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Robin C “Chain Reactions” Some say (I know because I live with a sayer) that “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)” is the greatest horror movie, ever. Five artists – Patton Oswalt, Takashi Miike, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Steven King and Karyn Kusama – speak their minds and express their opinions on the horror classic in “Chain Reactions.” Knowing, and living with, a fanatic who thinks that TCM is the best thing since sliced bread, I have seen the film many times – we even saw it at the Medford Twin Drive-in theater over four decades ago. And, we have multiple video formats, including a vintage laser disc the size and weight of a Greek throwing disk. With that said, I am an informed viewer of Toby Hooper’s seminal film. Going into “Chain Reactions,” a film that highlights others pontificating on the movie, I realized that I am married to someone who could have, should have, been one of the five commentators – surprisingly, Stephen King’s analysis is the least insightful and he could have been replaced – I know someone who can do the job. All that said, five die-hard fans of TCM show their knowledge and understanding of the film and, to varying degrees, do a decent job analyzing a well-analyzed movie. Of the five, horror film director Karyn Kusama showed the most insight into TCM, while Australian film critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas gives us a perspective from down under and its influence on Aussie horror films. Japanese director Takes Miike, who has directed his share of horror movies, gives a distinctly Japanese take on the phenomenon of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” saying the Japanese people familiar with TCM thought it meant Texas is a dangerous place – well, for a Democrat, anyway. Patton Oswalt, who leads off the analysis, lends his understanding of acting and compares the film to such other horror films as “Nosferatu (1922 – my favorite), “American Psycho (2000)” and in a bizarre connect, “The Quiet Man (1952),” directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. Stephen King gives his views of many other horror films, including those adapted from his stories, and TCM. I cannot imagine that anyone who has not seen “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” at least five times would even bother with “Chain Reactions.” It is for the movie’s fans, in particular, and horror fans, in general (who have seen TCM at least five times). I appreciate the way director/writer Alexandre O. Philippe incorporates copious footage from the movie with the narration. Part of the analyses of the classic brings up how we all saw the film way back when, on VHS tape rented from the video store that had been played a hundred times. We get to see how we saw it and how it really looks like in a pristine copy. I know it may be hard to fathom when talking about an old horror movie but “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and its horror predecessor, George Romero’s “The Night of the Living Dead (1968)” are seminal movies and, I think, deserve the praise many give. B+ Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 09/23/25 Full Review Read all reviews

Chain Reactions

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