As many of you might be aware by now, I am a massive fan of horror films. I’ve recently written some articles about some of my first experiences with anime and manga and I thought it would be interesting to provide the same type of anecdote about horror. Therefore, I’ve decided to share my story about how I discovered the wonderful world of horror films.
Around the time that I was in secondary school, I had begun to develop an increased interest in films with the intention to not only experience and enjoy but to also help develop more conversation topics for when I talked to people. I bought a book, now quite outdated, called “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die”. As I perused the book, looking at all of the films that I had never heard of, I came across a particular image that instantly grabbed my attention.
Upon seeing this image, I instantly recognised that I’d seen this figure across popular culture in the form of the man with a chainsaw and hockey mask. Of course, this character is an amalgam of Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th and Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre but it was the chainsaw that always stood out to me more than the mask. To give some quick examples of where I’d seen this figure referenced, the second episode of season five of The Simpsons has Homer terrify Bart when he shows off his new hockey mask and chainsaw, the third form of Vincent Valentine’s limit break in Final Fantasy VII is a hockey mask wearing, chainsaw wielding man named Hellmasker and Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation features a hitchhiker who ultimately ends up chasing a character while wearing a hockey mask and wielding a chainsaw.
As so often happens, seeing this character and knowing that he had permeated so much of popular culture made me instantly want to see the film. At the same time, I found a list from Empire magazine of the top 500 movies of all time and was pleased to see that The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was 199 on the list. Besides picking up several other movies, I also purchased a Blu-ray copy of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre although I later had to rebuy it when I learned that I’d purchased a Region A Blu-ray accidentally.
By today’s standards, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a relatively tame film with little to no gore but it manages to remain a brilliant horror film with an intense atmosphere and one of the best chase scenes I’ve ever seen in a film. Being the first horror film I’d seen, you can imagine that it had quite the impact on me. Over the years I continued to watch more and more horror films but I eventually slowed down my consumption of them as other hobbies such as anime, manga, video games etc. took priority. It wasn’t until 2020 that I once more began to seek out and watch many more horror films.
I’m curious to hear what you think of how I discovered the wonderful world of horror films, your own story of discovering horror films, what was the first horror film to really impact you, what you think about the trope of the man with the hockey mask and chainsaw and any additional information you might have on the topic.
Hopefully you have found this article interesting and informative and, if you wish to seek any of the works I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs!