The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Although 1974’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is now considered one of the most gruesome horror movies of all time, director Tobe Hopper had actually hoped to secure a PG rating for his film. He even deliberately cut back on the explicit gore in hopes of appeasing the MPAA. The MPAA was unconvinced and went with an R-ratingapparently they found chainsaw-yielding cannibals less family friendly than Hopper did. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, of course, became an instant horror classic, that much more horrifying for its emphasis on suspense over blood, and it established many of the conventions of slasher films, most notably “the final girl,” the unlikely teenager who out-survives her friends and emerges as the film’s hero.