The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a 1974 American horror film produced and directed by Tobe Hooper from a story and screenplay by Hooper and Kim Henkel. It stars Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow and Gunnar Hansen, who respectively portray Sally Hardesty, Franklin Hardesty, the hitchhiker, the proprietor, and Leatherface. The film follows a group of friends who fall victim to a family of cannibals while on their way to visit an old homestead. The film was marketed as being based on true events to attract a wider audience and to act as a subtle commentary on the era's political climate; although the character of Leatherface and minor story details were inspired by the crimes of murderer Ed Gein, its plot is largely fictional.
A slasher film is a genre of horror films involving a killer stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed tools. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as a generic term for any horror film involving murder, film analysts cite an established set of characteristics which set slasher films apart from other horror subgenres, such as splatter films and psychological horror films.
A Nightmare on Elm Street is an American supernatural slasher-horror media franchise consisting of nine films, a television series, novels, comic books, and various other media. The franchise began with the film A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), written and directed by Wes Craven. The overall plot of the franchise centers around the fictional character Fred "Freddy" Krueger, the apparition of a former-child killer who was burned alive by the vengeful parents of his victims, who returns from the grave to terrorize and kill the teenage residents of Springwood, Ohio in their dreams. Craven returned to the franchise to co-script the second sequel, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), and to write/direct New Nightmare (1994). The films collectively grossed $472 million at the box office worldwide.
Erica Lei Leerhsen is an American actress. She first gained recognition for her leading part in the moderately successful horror sequel Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000). Her work led her to take on a recurring role in the first season of The Guardian and star in the horror hit The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003). She has since appeared in numerous films of that genre, including Wrong Turn 2: Dead End (2007), Lonely Joe (2009) and The Butterfly Room (2012). She has also acted in the Woody Allen films Hollywood Ending (2002), Anything Else (2003) and Magic in the Moonlight (2014) as well as in Allen's play A Second-Hand Memory (2004).
Brad Anderson is an American film director, producer and writer. A director of thriller and horror films and television projects, he is best known for having directed The Machinist (2004), starring Christian Bale, psychological horror film Session 9 (2001) and The Call (2013), starring Halle Berry. He also produced and directed several installments of the Fox science fiction television series Fringe.
The Amityville Horror is a 2005 American supernatural horror film directed by Andrew Douglas and starring Ryan Reynolds, Melissa George, and Philip Baker Hall. It also featured the debut of actress Chloe Grace Moretz. Written by Scott Kosar, it is based on the novel The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson, which was previously adapted into the 1979 film of the same name, while also serving as the ninth film in the Amityville Horror film series, which documents the experiences of the Lutz family after they move into a house at 112 Ocean Avenue, Long Island. In 1974, real-life mass murderer Ronald DeFeo Jr. killed six members of his family at the same house in Amityville, New York.
Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III is a 1990 American slasher film directed by Jeff Burr and is the third installment of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series. The film stars Kate Hodge, William Butler, Ken Foree, Tom Hudson, Viggo Mortensen, Joe Unger, and R.A. Mihailoff as Leatherface. The film follows Leatherface and his cannibalistic family stalking a motorist couple in the backroads of Texas.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation is a 1995 American slasher film written and directed by Kim Henkel, and starring Renée Zellweger, Matthew McConaughey, and Robert Jacks as Leatherface. The plot follows four teenagers who encounter Leatherface and his murderous family in backwoods Texas on the night of their prom. It is the fourth installment in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series, and also features cameo appearances from Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, and John Dugan, all stars of the original film. Marilyn Burns, who portrays "Patient on Gurney", is credited as "Anonymous" in the film.
Michael James Vogel is an American actor and former model. Vogel began acting in 2001 and has appeared in several films and series, including The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Grind, Poseidon, Blue Valentine, The Help, Bates Motel, Cloverfield, Under the Dome and The Case for Christ. He starred as the lead in the NBC military drama series The Brave for the 2017–18 season.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a 2003 American slasher film directed by Marcus Nispel, written by Scott Kosar, and starring Jessica Biel, Jonathan Tucker, Erica Leerhsen, Mike Vogel, Eric Balfour, and R. Lee Ermey. Its plot follows a group of young adults traveling through rural Texas who encounter Leatherface and his murderous family. It is a remake of Tobe Hooper's 1974 film of the same name, and the fifth installment in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise. Several crew members of the original film were involved with the project: Hooper and writer Kim Henkel served as co-producers, Daniel Pearl returned as cinematographer, and John Larroquette reprised his voice narration for the opening intertitles.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning is a 2006 American slasher film and a prequel to the 2003 film. The sixth installment in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, it was written by Sheldon Turner from a story by Turner and David J. Schow, directed by Jonathan Liebesman and co-produced by Kim Henkel and Tobe Hooper. The film's story takes place four years before its predecessor. It stars Jordana Brewster, Diora Baird, Taylor Handley, Matt Bomer and R. Lee Ermey.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is an American horror franchise consisting of nine slasher films, comics, and a video game adaptation of the original film. The franchise focuses on the cannibalistic spree killer Leatherface and his family, who terrorize unsuspecting visitors to their territories in the desolate Texas countryside, typically killing and subsequently cooking them. The original film was released in 1974, directed by Tobe Hooper and written by Hooper and Kim Henkel. Hooper and Henkel were involved in three of the later films.
Jonathan Liebesman is a South African film director and writer.
The Amityville haunting is a modern folk story based on the true crimes of Ronald DeFeo Jr. On November 13, 1974, DeFeo shot and killed six members of his family at 112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville, on the south shore of Long Island. He was convicted of second-degree murder in November 1975. In December 1975, George and Kathy Lutz and their three children moved into the house. After 28 days, the Lutzes left the house, claiming to have been terrorized by paranormal phenomena while living there. These events served as the historical basis for Jay Anson's 1977 novel The Amityville Horror, which was followed by a number of sequels and was adapted into a film of the same name in 1979. Since then, many films have been produced that draw explicitly, to a greater or lesser extent, from these historical and literary sources. As Amityville is a real town and the stories of DeFeo and the Lutzes are historical, there can be no proprietary relationship to the underlying story elements associated with the Amityville haunting. As a result of this, there has been no restriction on the exploitation of the story by film producers, which is the reason that most of these films share no continuity, were produced by different companies, and tell widely varying stories.
Friday the 13th is a 2009 American slasher film directed by Marcus Nispel, written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift from a screen story by Shannon, Swift and Mark Wheaton. It is a reboot of the Friday the 13th franchise, which began in 1980, and is the twelfth installment. Nispel also directed the 2003 remake of Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), while Shannon and Swift wrote the screenplay for the 2003 crossover Freddy vs. Jason. The film was produced by Platinum Dunes and Crystal Lake Entertainment and distributed by New Line Cinema and Paramount Pictures. It stars Jared Padalecki, Danielle Panabaker, Aaron Yoo, Amanda Righetti, Travis Van Winkle, and Derek Mears and follows Clay Miller (Padalecki) as he searches for his missing sister, Whitney (Righetti), who is captured by Jason Voorhees (Mears) while camping in woodland at Crystal Lake.
A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 2010 American supernatural slasher film directed by Samuel Bayer, and written by Wesley Strick and Eric Heisserer. The film stars Jackie Earle Haley, Kyle Gallner, Rooney Mara, Katie Cassidy, Thomas Dekker, and Kellan Lutz. Produced by Michael Bay and Platinum Dunes, it is a remake of Wes Craven's 1984 film of the same name, as well as the ninth overall installment of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. The film is set in a fictitious town in Ohio and centers around a group of teenagers living on one street who are stalked and murdered in their dreams by a disfigured man named Freddy Krueger. The teenagers discover that they all share a common link from their childhood that makes them targets for Krueger.
Richard Walter is an American author, educator, screenwriter, commentator, consultant, and chairman of the University of California, Los Angeles graduate program in screenwriting.
Bradley Fuller is an American film and television producer. He co-owns Platinum Dunes, partnering with both Michael Bay and Andrew Form.
Texas Chainsaw 3D is a 2013 American slasher film directed by John Luessenhop, with a screenplay by Adam Marcus, Debra Sullivan and Kirsten Elms. It is the seventh installment in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise and was presented in 3D. The film serves as a direct sequel to the 1974 film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and was originally intended as the final chapter of the franchise. The film stars Alexandra Daddario, Dan Yeager, Tremaine 'Trey Songz' Neverson, Tania Raymonde, Thom Barry, Paul Rae, Bill Moseley, and Gunnar Hansen in a "special appearance". The story centers on a woman who, upon discovering she's adopted, goes on a road trip with her friends to collect her inheritance, and ends up encountering the serial killer, Leatherface.
Leatherface is a 2017 American horror film directed by Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, written by Seth M. Sherwood, and starring Stephen Dorff, Vanessa Grasse, Sam Strike, and Lili Taylor. It is the eighth installment in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (TCM) franchise, and works as a prequel to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013), explaining the origin of the series' lead character.
