In 2014, William Friedkin and Tobe Hooper took to the stage for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’s 40th anniversary. It’s essential viewing.
There are some recordings that only become more fascinating and even poignant with time. In 2014, audiences at the Vista Theatre in Los Angeles were treated to the rare sight of two filmmaking titans, William Friedkin and Tobe Hooper, providing a lengthy talk ahead of a screening of Hooper’s 1974 horror staple The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Ostensibly, Friedkin was the host, but the years of camaraderie between the two makes it as much of an informal discussion between friends as a rigid Q&A, as you can see from the video below.
The pair’s discussion provides some fascinating anecdotes about the film’s making, some of which you may have heard. There’s Hooper’s oft-told story of coming up with the idea for the film when seeing a chainsaw hanging in a packed department store, and thinking that starting it up could help him make a quick exit through the crowd. But then there are other smaller details, such as sitting down to actually write the story down and doing so while Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road played on his stereo.
Friedkin and Hooper also make for a strangely effective double act, with the former’s natural skill as a showman and forthright raconteur contrasting with Hooper’s shyness and wry southern humour. Hooper rambles at times, but still comes out with some absolute gems, such as the matter-of-fact way he talks about the delivery of a horrifying pile of dead animals, none of which were used in the finished film, or the revelation that the house in which much of Texas Chain Saw's third act take place being borrowed from an old hippy who was ‘camping’ in one of the back rooms.
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Meanwhile, Hooper and his team, in the sweltering heat and with a minimal budget of $60,000, were making an unhinged horror film that required elaborate sculptures made from real human and animal bones.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre marks its 50th anniversary this month (it made its premiere on the 1st October before its wider release 10 days later) and it’s sad to think that both Friedkin and Hooper have since passed. Hooper died in 2017 at the age of 74, while Friedkin passed away in 2023, aged 87. Thankfully, their talk was captured for posterity, and was uploaded by YouTuber Texanology a few months ago.

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It’s essential viewing if you’re interested in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre or filmmaking in general.