Who directed The Texas Chain Saw Massacre?

Tobe Hooper directed The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

The 1974 film was co-written by Hooper and Kim Henkel and follows a group of young travelers who encounter a murderous family in rural Texas. Despite its title and documentary-like presentation, the story is fictional.

The production used a low budget and emphasized unsettling sound design, handheld camerawork, and suggestion rather than elaborate special effects. Gunnar Hansen played Leatherface, the chainsaw-wielding killer who became one of horror cinema’s most recognizable figures.

A common mistake is to identify the film as a direct adaptation of serial killer Ed Gein’s crimes. Gein influenced elements of the film’s imagery, but Leatherface and the Sawyer family are fictional creations. The film’s title is also commonly written with “Chain Saw” as two words, matching its original release title.