when did the original texas chainsaw massacre movie come out
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre The Texas Chain Saw Massacre premiered in Austin, Texas on October 1, 1974, almost a year after filming concluded. It screened nationally in the United States as a Saturday afternoon matinÃ©e and its false marketing as a "true story" helped it attract a broad audience.[44][45] For eight years after 1976, it was annually reissued to first-run theaters, promoted by full-page ads.[46] The film eventually grossed more than $30 million in the United States and Canada[47] ($14.4 million in rentals), making it the 12th highest-grossing film initially released in 1974, despite its minuscule budget.[48] Among independent films, it was overtaken in 1978 by John Carpenter's Halloween, which grossed $47 million.[49]
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre The concept for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre arose in the early 1970s while Tobe Hooper was working as an assistant film director at the University of Texas at Austin and as a documentary cameraman.[3] He had already developed a story involving the elements of isolation, the woods, and darkness.[4] He credited the graphic coverage of violence by San Antonio news outlets as one inspiration for the film[5] and based elements of the plot on serial killer Ed Gein in 1950s Wisconsin;[6] Gein inspired other horror films such as Psycho (1960) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991).[7][8][9][10] During development, Hooper used the working titles of Headcheese and Leatherface.[11][12]