Overlook Film Festival 2025 – More than fifty years on, what else could possibly be said about Tobe Hooper’s masterpiece The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Oceans of articles and countless commentaries exist. The film even topped Variety’s “The 100 Best Horror Movies of All Time” last fall. Yet, Alexandre O. Philippe‘s documentary, Chain Reactions, manages to offer fresh insight into the film by some of horror’s most well-known contemporaries. Beyond that, the documentary reminds us why the film has such staying power.

Broken into five chapters, the documentary features interviews with comedian/actor Patton Oswalt, Audition director Takashi Miike, film critic and scholar Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Stephen King, and Karyn Kusama, director of The Invitation. Each horror heavyweight comments on Hooper’s classic for about 20-30 minutes. Surprisingly, they all have something different to say.

Oswalt compares aspects of the film to F.W. Murnau’s 1922 Nosferatu. He drills deep with some frame-by-frame analysis, underscoring some of the parallels. Film buffs will love these sequences, for sure. He also offers some of his own theories about the film, including the role that the sun plays. Oswalt theorizes that the sun, and the countless shots of characters looking up at it, indicate that it’s causing a type of madness, hence the violent energy that permeates the film. I don’t think I’ve ever heard this take before, though maybe it exists.

Miike, the maestro of some truly violent films, recalls the first time he saw the movie in a beautiful theater in Japan. He then addresses the influence of Hooper’s work on his own filmography. There’s a fascinating distinction Miike makes between violence just for the sake of violence in film and violence that can have a poetic beauty and what Miike even calls love behind it. His interview is one of the most intriguing segments, even quite profound at times.

Heller-Nicholas’ also recalls the first time she encountered the movie and how washed out and yellow the VHS tape looked. She compares Hooper’s film to Australian works from the 1970s, focusing on depictions of the natural world, drawing parallels between Texas heat and the Australian outback. She even weaves in a personal narrative about horrific natural disasters she faced as a kid. The personal touch is quite nice and a contrast to some of the heavier film analysis.

King has maybe the longest segment, which may please a lot of horror fans. He recounts the few times he worked with Hooper on various film projects and theorizes quite a bit about what makes an effective horror story. Some of these ideas were printed first in his book on the horror genre, Danse Macabre, but it’s neat to hear them applied to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He even philosophizes about what makes good art, while defending art that may offend.

Kusama analyzes Hooper’s masterpiece quite a bit from a technical perspective, but she also addresses the very American aspects to the film. She has one of the most memorable lines. To paraphrase, she states that Hooper was looking into the future of America, including the divisions that are so prevalent now. They’re showcased between the rural displaced workers in Leatherface’s family and the urban hippie kids. The clash within the film is inevitable the moment the hippies pick up the hitchhiker. This analysis of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is pretty common, especially since 2016 and the era of Trumpism, but her comments, especially from a director’s perspective, are quite valuable.

Despite the five distinct chapters, it’s clear all of these commentators love the film. Some even express sympathy for Leatherface. As a whole, this documentary presents a compelling case that we should consider The Texas Chainsaw Massacre an American classic for its technical achievements on a shoestring budget and what it has to say about the country.

Overall, Chain Reactions reminds us why The Texas Chainsaw Massacre endures. It offers fresh perspectives and fascinating interviews by five contemporary masters of horror. This documentary is a must-see for genre fans.