Everyone has heard the story of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and It's Terrifying Times.

In this recount, the author Joseph Lanza transports the reader back to the tumultuous era of the 1970s defined by political upheaval, cultural disillusionment, and the perceived decay of the nuclear family in the wake of Watergate, the onslaught of serial killers in the US, as well as mounting racial and sexual tensions. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Its Terrifying Times sets the themes of the film against the backdrop of the political and social American climate to understand why the brutal slasher flick connected with so many viewers. As much a book about the movie as the moment, Joseph Lanza has created an engaging and nuanced work that grapples with the complications of the American experience.

Great detailed research!

I was expecting this to be more about the movie. There was lots of great research that went into this book, but just wasn't what I was hoping for when I first looked into it.

When people ask, "What is the best horror movie of all time?" there are usually two answers. They are "Halloween" (1978) and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1974). I might be partial in reviewing this book because I am strongly in the corner of Texas Chainsaw Massacre being the best horror movie ever made. I might be partial in saying that without The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, there is no Halloween. Most of the reason for my love of Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is because the quality, the way that it is shot, and the way that it feels like a documentary exploitation film instead of a movie. There has been many book and films that delve into the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", the struggles during filming, and the culture impact of the distribution and reaction to the film. Joseph Lanza hits on these things but his exploration of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is a little different than any other I have read.

Joseph Lanza makes a strong case that "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is not so much a horror movie as it is a reflection of the things that are happening in the world at the time of filming. From American politics to Texas serial killers, Lanza argues that a film like the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" coming out in this time only made sense. This is a movie that gained traction because it is nothing more than a mirror to the way America was living and this terrified the audience the most. Honestly the horror of the movie starts with a hitchhiker. Lanza mentions that at this time, there is a fear of picking up hitchhikers, that something that was seen in the 60s as a culturally acceptable thing has turned into something dangerous. So the whole idea of picking up the man was something that was a new danger. This is just an example of the depths of the fear that the Texas Chainsaw Massacre explores. For the modern horror fanatic, this is a great history, showing that what we see as a great movie actually has so much cultural nuance and importance that it makes it even scarier. I might be partial because I love this film and will just about read anything about it. I can see where some people just might not be into it, but for anyone who loves horror movies, even if "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is not your favorite film, this is mandatory reading.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book didn't do it for me. Fair enough that it gave a lot of context in regards of what happened around the time the movie was made, but I wanted a book about the movie, not some random context.

Tobe Hooper’s slasher classic, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, premiered in 1974 and the horror genre has never been the same. The grotesque story about a group of unfortunate teens stumbling across a farmhouse of horrors immediately sparked praise and outrage from audiences and critics. Now, author Joseph Lanza peels back the celluloid cover and delves into the tumultuous early ‘70s, exploring the political and social climate that ultimately led to one of the most influential horror movies ever made.

Some might look at this book in hopes of discovering more behind the scenes details. While Lanza offers up some interesting tidbits from the film, his primary concern is with placing Hooper’s film in a historical and cultural context. The film itself is infamous for shocking audiences with its graphic violence and gore— and yet, as Lanza effectively suggests, the film is about much more than a chain saw wielding madman.

A slew of serial killers. Political chaos in the days after Watergate. An oil crisis. A changing urban legend landscape. These were the real horrors and tensions 1974 audiences were living with that, whether intentional or not, influenced the film.

Lanza spends most of his time bouncing from many of these points, offering up cultural explanations and how they tie back to the original film, with special emphasis on President Nixon’s downfall and various serial killers of the time. Some of these feel more thought out than others, particularly a section discussing the national movement to curb hitchhiking. Even if others feel like a bit of a stretch, it’s hard to argue with Lanza’s well-constructed logic.

Part of this is because of his meticulous research. Sourced with a wide array of endnotes, each chapter is packed to the brim with quotes and stories— so much so that occasionally sections diverge so far from the film Lanza has to drag everything back into focus. It’s sometimes frenetic, but even this is effective. After all, this short period of time was culturally frantic, and the reading experience simply matches that.

For a behind the scenes look at the film, there might be better options. However, for a look at the culture from which the movie evolved, Lanza provides a compelling read.

The author's painstaking research and attention to detail is obvious in the writing of this book. There were many facts that I only discovered after reading this!

Thank you so much to Skyhorse Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Anyone that knows me knows that I’ve been obsessed with horror movies since a very young age (thanks Mom and Dad). I love that this author wrote basically a tell-all about how the movie idea came to be and all of the history behind it.

When the movie first premiered in 1974 some viewers were engrossed while others were disgusted. Due to its violence and gore, it was actually banned from many countries and pulled from US theaters because of its extreme violence. Tobe Hooper didn’t let that stop him though and the movie ended up being called one of the most influential horror movies of all time.

I loved how this book touched on what all went on in the 1970s that inspired certain aspects of the movie. It incorporated so many political views, other serial killers in the US, and racism and sexism. It was more than just a horror movie, it included a lot that was going on at the time.

Tobe Hooper touched on such a violent decade and made this book so much more than just about the horror film. Even though the budget for the movie was slim, he made it work and now there have been numerous sequels to the movie that seems to have made horror movies.

His writing style and details about the history of the 70s were so enjoyable to read and I learned many new things that I didn’t know about then. This was a great book if you’re into The Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies and want to hear more about the backstory.

I got an ARC of this book.

I wanted to love this book. I really did. It was a mess and not in that fun way that kept me entertained. Instead it was just a constant "what does this have to do with anything?" mess. There wasn't all that much about the movie itself. Instead it was just retellings of things that happened around the time the movie was being filmed. Very few of the things were even connected back to the movie.

I stopped about 30% through to watch five of the eight movies in the franchise. The first 30% connected to the movie more than the last 70% did, so I was convinced I needed to watch everything I could to really get everything from this book. I didn't. If you want random stories of killings then this book is for you. If you want long descriptions of other movies, perfect. If you want to learn anything new about the franchise, go to wikipedia. I learned more from wikipedia than I did this book. 

There were a few interesting points that really did give an insight into the movie, but if I had been alive when the movie was coming out, then none of it would have been news. It was interesting to learn about the efforts around stopping hitchhiking. It was something I wasn't aware of and added this extra element of stupidity to the main characters, but gave them so much more depth. It was interesting. 

The language choices the author used were clearly dated for the entire discussion of one of the characters. Yes, the movie made in the 70's used certain terms. If I check my calendar, I am not surprised to see that this is forty-five years later and language has changed. It was disappointing that an editor did not catch the ableist language. Language that even my grandmother who still says super awful things all the time knew was wrong. 

In the last few chapters that really dealt with the movie and how it was received, there were interesting quotes from the actors and actresses. Though, again, wikipedia was a better resource as wikipedia was able to stay on topic. 

Overall, I am a fan of the franchise, but this book didn't really add anything of value. There were a few points here and there that I really found interesting. I just don't see what this book was trying to do. I have read other social critiques and they were more cohesive and in-depth. I am just disappointed. I hope I am just someone who didn't get it and that this book is amazing. The franchise is such an important part of horror history that I want a book like this to exist to give it context, but I think this one fell short of what it set out to do.

Reading the intro and the author basically states he's going to speculate on certain aspects about TCM - which normally isn't a big deal, except for quite a few points, Hooper has already come out and made statements about the meanings he intended when making the film. Of course there can be more interpretations and meanings that a person's own experience will bring to their viewings of the film, but those are not the definitive meanings and themes - they're an individual's take away and should be presented as such instead of trying to overwrite what the director himself has stated about the meanings and themes behind the film.

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Skyhorse Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

On the surface, I guess this was a weird request for me. I have not actually seen the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and have no intention to. Why did I request this? Because I have a strong love of horror movies and am very much interested in how culture influences horror and vice versa. This book seemed right up my street as it promised to provide cultural context to a very iconic horror movie. Sadly it didn't quite deliver.

The best way I can describe this book is poor execution of some great ideas and content. My main issue was that the organisation is all over the place. Rather than linking together the context and the film, you instead get long paragraphs about the politics at the time followed by some vaguely related statement about the movie. Sometimes it's not even vaguely related. For example, there is tons of information about real-life serial killers from around the same time period but this is very loosely linked to the content of the film. It just makes for a confusing time and I found the book very hard to engage with because of this.

I also found that not much background was given to the cultural context in itself. This might sound weird as the context should be the background but I didn't feel enough detail was given so that someone unfamiliar with America's culture from the 70s could fully understand what the author was talking about. This is linked to the overall problems with cohesion but I also found the cultural aspects jumped around a lot. One minute it would focus on serial killers, then move onto something else, then go back to serial killers. The chapters did kind of group things but they also could have done with a little subheading under the chapter title to actually explain what that chapter was focusing on (all the chapters were titled with quotes/references).

Overall, this book did have some neat information in it and some interesting facts about the film. However, I just found the lack of structure and detail too much of an obstacle to enjoying the content. I will say, this is definitely not related to me not having seen the film. I know the plot very well and that wasn't what I was having issues with as the film sections were detailed enough. I just wish the cultural context had been linked better to the movie as this could have been a really great book.

Overall Rating: 3/5

Context, context, context. It helps enrich lots of things: For instance, a seminal horror film.

It might be enough for some that TCM is just a landmark film in its respective genre, but it's always enlightening to get a better grasp on just what was going on leading up to and during the writing, production, and release of the movie. It's not big news that film draws from current/recent events, but somehow that's still often lost on people when you're talking about scary movies which, I'll admit, have near-innumerable titles with no subtext or theme to acknowledge.

Functioning more of a history book than a collection of production notes, those looking for behind-the-scenes pearls should probably look elsewhere to get the best bang for their buck; Lanza does deliver hefty amounts of information (mostly drawing from Gunnar Hansen's quotes), but, again, the point of this work is to get a feel for what the world was like, to give one a better idea of why it made the figurative splash that it did.

There's parts of the book that diverge from the movie that I sort of forgot what we were talking about or what the chapter was trying to achieve (chapters on Nixon and various serial killers spring to mind), and I can see the argument that some of the content here isn't as effective of a ground-layer for the film's success (or infamy) as the author would suggest, but it's incredibly interesting nonetheless. The categorization seems to be more along the lines of subject matter, and not time per se, so expect some jumping back and forth. It's a bit of a juggle at points to visualize what happens where in the lead-up to the movie, and I'd imagine especially so for those who don't have much insight into the film.

All in all, anyone seeking to appreciate The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to any greater degree can benefit here. Come for the contextualization, stay for the quickie lessons in the Watergate scandal and San Francisco's struggle with keeping their streets safe.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Skyhorse Publishing for the advance read.

Good book on one of my favorite movies. Very informative and easy to read. Good book for any fan of the movie. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the arc of this book in return for my honest review. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on this review.

I have to give a nod to the author for the sheer scope of the net cast in this book. It gives a very comprehensive, and for the most part, engaging, overview of the times in America and elsewhere. Covered are details not only of true crimes, drug culture, and the origins of urban legends, but weird psychology and politics. As a millennial (who, full disclosure, has never seen The Texas Chain Saw Massacre), I finished reading the book feeling like I knew a lot more about the 60s and 70s than I ever learned in school.

In addition to being packed with information, the writing style had enough bite and definition to it to feel right at home with its subject matter and make the read entertaining. I did feel that sometimes that same pursuit of style, however, got the narrative thread a little off track. There are lengthy comparisons between Nixon and movie characters that are a stretch at best, and complete non-sequiturs at worst. There were many passages that were confusing due to the fact that it was unclear whether the text was espousing the author's actual viewpoint, or merely reflecting the feelings of people who the subjects of the paragraph. A slightly stronger editorial hand might have been in order, not only to refine the narrative clarity but to weed out typos and formatting issues.

I also thought that the text could have taken a more critical view of the creative minds behind the film, where it instead seems to fall a little too willingly into the man-with-a-vision, whatever-it-takes-to-get-the-shot trope.

Overall I did enjoy the book though, and would recommend it to both film buffs and Americana history nerds. The final chapter is especially resonant as it cross-cuts analysis of No Country For Old Men with Texas Chain Saw Massacre's resurgence in the 80s and 90s.

Joseph Lanza transports the reader back to the tumultuous era of the 1970s defined by political upheaval, cultural disillusionment, and the perceived decay of the nuclear family in the wake of Watergate, the onslaught of serial killers in the US, as well as mounting racial and sexual tensions. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Its Terrifying Times sets the themes of the film against the backdrop of the political and social American climate to understand why the brutal slasher flick connected with so many viewers. As much a book about the movie as the moment, Joseph Lanza has created an engaging and nuanced work that grapples with the complications of the American experience.
Thank you to net galley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book it was a great experience

Great placement of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in the milieu that helped to create it. Well written with thought provoking insights.

*thank you to Netgalley and Skyhorse Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

2 stars.

Yeah so this wasn't for me. I was expecting something a but more interesting and more about the movie than facts about what may or may not have happened back in history when the massacre had taken place. I think this is one of those books that is for those fans who want all and every shread of information there is on this event. So for me, I'd give this a pass. I'm glad I got the chance to read it but I will pass it along in the hopes that it finds its way into those peoples hands who would love it.

While this was an interesting read on some darker times that were in the decade, or years after, the release of the film, I felt it wasn't as good as I was hoping. I was expecting more similarities between stories, something to show that the title was meant to be that way. I wasn't expecting gripping tales or mysteries, but just something that would keep my attention and say "wow that's crazy how that happened". Unfortunately, I was just really bored. There were some chapters that actually caught my attention, but most of them were just told in a very flat narrative format. Sounded too much like a history book you read in grade school. I felt that if the narrative took a different form, perhaps more engaging, then this would be so much better.