Image: YouTube
About This Quiz
This was a disturbing, nasty, hard-to-watch film ... and yet one that's made many critics' "best" lists! How well do you remember this horror icon? Find out now with our quiz!
Where does "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" take place?
Texas, of course
Yup, the title says it all! Which reminds us: While in the present day, "chainsaw" has become one word, in 1974 it was still two words, as reflected in the movie's title. However, it's common to see people spell it "chainsaw" in both referring to the original and the 2003 remake.
Texas and Arkansas
Oklahoma
New Mexico
Who narrated the film's opening?
John Lithgow
John Larroquette
Larroquette, later to star on "Night Court," did the honors on both the 1974 and the 2003 films. He sonorously pronounced the film as being about a "an idyllic summer afternoon (that) became a nightmare."
John Malkovich
John Cusack
What was the name of the movie's main character and survivor?
Frankie Flowers
Laurie Strode
Mary Winchester
Sally Hardesty
Laurie Strode, of course, is the survivor played by Jamie Lee Curtis in "Halloween." Laurie and Sally are two of the most famous "final girls" in all of horror film.
Advertisement
Who played Sally Hardesty?
Marilyn Burns
Marilyn Burns also starred in Hooper's next effort, "Eaten Alive." Marilyn Chambers was famous for modeling on the Ivory Snow detergent box and then going into adult films.
Marilyn Chambers
Farrah Fawcett
Tatum O'Neal
What is the chain-saw-wielding villain of the movie named?
Freddy
Leatherface
Leatherface was played by Gunnar Hansen in the first film. The actor characterized Leatherface as being under the control of the saner, more competent members of his family, especially his brother, the "Cook."
Pumpkinhead
Mothman
What kind of skin is Leatherface's mask made of?
elk
ostrich
rattlesnake
human
This is one of the touches that came directly from Ed Gein's life. Gein made clothing out of skin from stolen bodies, and was reportedly trying to make a whole "woman suit" in order to better identify with his dead mother.
Advertisement
Including Sally, how many teenagers were out driving that day?
three
four
five
The movie's main cast is Sally Hardesty, her brother, Franklin, her friend, Pam, Pam's boyfriend, Kirk, and Sally's boyfriend, Jerry. Only Sally survived.
six
What differentiates Franklin Hardesty from the other teenagers?
he's a paraplegic
Franklin is definitely not a genius. He was foolish and petulant -- and since he stayed in character between takes, a fellow actor didn't realize Paul Partain was a genuinely nice guy until much later.
he is deaf
he is blind
he is a genius
What type of business do the young people drive past early on?
a boardinghouse
an organic farm
a meat-packing plant
One interpretation of "TCM" is that it's a commentary on the morality of meat-eating. Leatherface treats humans the way humans treat cows, and it frankly looks pretty ugly.
a winery
Advertisement
Why do the young people go to the cemetery?
to lay flowers on a friend's grave
because Kirk works there as a groundskeeper
to attend a funeral
to see if a Hardesty family grave has been vandalized
One of the deranged Sawyer family members has dug up graves and posed bodies in grotesque ways. At the graveyard, Sally gets out to check to see if her grandfather's was one of them.
"The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" was loosely based on whose real-life crimes?
Ted Bundy
Jeffrey Dahmer
Ed Gein
Ed Gein was a troubled man who lived in Wisconsin, who desecrated graves and the bodies he stole from them, and also confessed to murdering two women. Gein's crimes also inspired "Psycho" and "The Silence of the Lambs."
Albert Fish
What kind of business does the Sawyer family run?
a gas station
Some members of Leatherface's family used to work at the nearby slaughterhouse, but by the time of the film's events, they run a gas station. There's also some rather suspicious meat on offer in a barbecue case.
a hostel
a hardware store
a temp agency
Advertisement
From what kind of book does Pam read?
an astrology book
Because it was the 1970s, one of the young people had to be interested in astrology. They were also required by law to pick up a hitchhiker (who turns out to be part of the murderous family).
a vegetarian cookbook
a U.S. history book
a tourist guidebook
For what does the Hitchhiker want to be paid?
directions
food
a Polaroid of Franklin
The hitchhiker quickly starts to unsettle the kids with his behavior. He takes a picture of Franklin and demands money for it.
sexual services
What does the Hitchhiker do when the kids won't pay him?
cuts himself
cuts Franklin
tears up Pam's book
both #1 and #2
At this point, the kids get fed up and toss him out on the road. The Hitchhiker smears blood on their van, though -- as if putting a curse on them.
Advertisement
Where do the young people go after the gas station?
a lake
a county fair
the old Hardesty house
The "Cook" (Jim Siedow), warns them against going, saying that people who live in the area don't like strangers. This warning (which they ignore) goes with the name of the gas station, "Last Chance Gas." Get it?
back to their homes
What do Kirk and Pam find on the front porch of the neighbor's (Sawyer) house?
a Bible
a fishing pole
a human tooth
Kirk, in the way of all college-age boyfriends everywhere, uses the tooth to freak Pam out. Her anxiety will turn out to be well-deserved.
a wig
What is in the birdcage inside the house?
a Barbie doll
a live chicken
While looking for Kirk, Pam stumbles into a room full of bones and feathers. The finishing touch is the bizarre chicken in a birdcage.
a cat
a skull
Advertisement
Which character is the first to die?
Franklin
Jerry
Kirk
Kirk's death is surprisingly quick. Just when it seems like the five young people are going to be wandering harmlessly around the Texas countryside for the entire movie, Leatherface appears with a hammer, hits Kirk on the head, and drags him out of sight. The whole thing takes less than 30 seconds.
Pam
Which of the characters is found still alive in a freezer?
Jerry
Kirk
Pam
Though all three of the guys die, you could argue that the girls have it worse in this movie, suffering extended periods of brutality. Pam is first hung from a meat hook, then placed alive in a freezer.
Franklin
Which of the characters is actually killed by a chainsaw?
Jerry
Kirk
Franklin
Sally and Franklin are still alive at nightfall, and looking for the other three. Leatherface ambushes them with his chainsaw, and Franklin, of course, cannot run.
the Hitchhiker
Advertisement
Who in the family is meant to kill Sally?
the Cook
Grandpa
The Sawyer family, despite being cannibals, display traditional family values here. They want their grandfather, though old and feeble, to make the kill.
the Hitchhiker
Leatherface
Who directed "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre"?
Wes Craven
Tobe Hooper
Hooper said he got the idea when walking through a crowded department store; he imagined cutting through the crowd with a chain saw. We're lucky he had an outlet in filmmaking!
Mario Bava
Max Schreck
How does the Hitchhiker die?
Sally stabs him
Grandpa accidentally hits him over the head
he's run over by a truck
The movie ends on the open road near the Hardesty and Sawyer houses, with both the Hitchhiker and Leatherface chasing Sally. The Hitchhiker forgets an important childhood rule: Look both ways before crossing the street.
he doesn't; he survives
Advertisement
How does Leatherface die?
he's hit by a car
Sally kills him with his chainsaw
he falls over a cliff
he doesn't; he survives
Leatherface doing his crazy, frustrated "chainsaw dance" at the end of the movie, in the first light of dawn, is one of the more famous scenes in all of horror film.
After Franklin is killed, where does Sally first go for help?
the Sawyer house
Like Kirk and Pam before her, Sally doesn't recognize the evil the house holds. It really would help if the Sayer house had glowing "evil eyes" windows like the house in "The Amityville Horror."
the highway
a police station
a firehouse
How many old people are in the upstairs bedroom?
one
two
The Sawyer family's Grandpa and Grandma are upstairs. They are so old that they look like preserved corpses.
three
at least six
Advertisement
Where does Sally go for help after the Sawyer house?
a phone booth
the gas station
Bad idea, Sally. The Cook is still there, and promptly ties Sally up to take her back to the house ... for dinner!
the police station
a bar
With what does the Cook attack Sally?
a broom
The cook calms Sally at first, claiming that he'll help her. Of course, he has no intention of doing so.
a barbecue fork
a horse whip
a kitchen knife
Who else does the Cook meet up with on the way home?
the Hitchhiker
The Hitchhiker has been out a long time -- he was desecrating graves in the cemetery before dawn, and got thrown out of the kids's van around midday. Fortunately, his older brother gives him a ride home.
Pam
Franklin
a deputy sheriff
Advertisement
How does the Cook die?
he chokes to death on barbecue
Leatherface accidentally kills him with the saw
he falls out a second-story window
he doesn't; he survives
The only member of the Sawyer family to die is the Hitchhiker. When a sequel was greenlighted, the script had to provide him an equally crazy twin brother as an indirect way of resurrecting the character.
How does Sally escape Leatherface?
she gets away in the semi-truck that hit the Hitchhiker
she dives into the back of a pickup truck
Sally escapes in the back of a pickup. She laughs hysterically in triumph at Leatherface as the truck speeds off.
she hides in the woods
the police arrive
What rating did Tobe Hooper want to get for "Massacre"?
PG
Hooper actually thought because virtually no blood and gore was shown onscreen, he could get a PG rating. The MPAA originally gave it an X. (The "NC-17" rating didn't exist yet.)
R
NC-17
X
Advertisement
Finish the tagline: "Who will survive and what _________."
"will they do to live?"
"will be left of them?"
This was the movie's famous tagline. It was coupled with an image of Pam on the meat hook.
"really happened out there?"
"will they do with the rest of their lives?"
In what decade was "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" released?
the 1960s
the 1970s
The movie was released in 1974. It was a time of "grindhouse" or "kitchen-sink" horror. Other brutally unsentimental horror offerings included Wes Craven's "The Last House on the Left" and "I Spit on Your Grave."
the 1980s
the 1990s
You Got:
/35
YouTube