the texas chainsaw massacre (1972)

[mvuent]

don't think that anyone has mentioned the sheer amount of screaming

all I remember is screaming and dirt and heat and revving chainsaws.

totally, that's the after-impression i had of it too

after i watched the movie the sounds of screaming + chainsaw revving, near-constant throughout the third act, were imprinted in my mind.

 

[IdleRich]

Oh yeah you did say it

 

[mvuent]

i think you're probably right about newts being more associated with water than fire. but since the movie is so much about fire/heat i do wonder if that name choice adds to the picture in some way? there is a reference to them in one of the most famous shakespeare stanzas:

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,

and that does seem relevant to the mood of the film. boiling caldron, barbecue - similar deal, right?

as far as other "classical" references that pop up... just from a cursory look, people have compared the two siblings, franklin and sally, to hansel and grettel (more witchcraft?) and leatherface to the minotaur. can see how those stories are in this one's dna on some level.

as much as the movie stands out as this ugly, unenchanted, nose-to-the-dirt prosiac take on horror, there are hints of vast mystical undercurrents that enhance the feeling of doom without distracting from the literal threats. that's part of what makes the film's, um, "execution" so compelling.

 

[IdleRich]

Yeah I love that bit from Macbeth, when I was a kid mum used to read it as like a lullaby or something.