Other Pictures and Information

The Chainsaw

The chainsaw used in the film was made by a company called McCulloch.   Bob Burns, the production designer and art director, said that there were several "modes" of the chainsaw.  Some shots had the chain belt, some didn't.   Other settings were changed for the saw to meet the scene requirements.  The chainsaw was borrowed to Tobe by one of the film's investors.  It is said that the original saw now rests under glass in one of Tobe Hooper's homes.

The Sound Effects and Editing

The eerie sound effect you hear in the movie (where Sally finds Grandpa and dead Grandma in the second story of the house for instance) was done with a pitch fork.  Tobe struck the pitch fork and ran it along a hard edge, like a table.  Pretty creative!

The sound editing was done in Tobe's living room.

An Idea Gone Bad

You'll sometimes hear stories from the cast and crew about the dinner scene.  How hot it was, the stench from burning plastic skeletons and rotting meat.   In addition to this, Tobe told a story how he went to the local Austin pound for dead animals for the film.  His idea was to put them on sticks and stick them in the ground all around the outside of the house.  Tobe retracted this idea and they piled all the dead animals in a pile behind the house, dowsed them with gasoline and tried to burn them all.  The wind was in the direction toward the house which made the people inside (and outside for that matter) ill.

How did they find the family house and who was staying there?

I asked this question to Bob Burns, the production designer and art director.

Bob had a friend who lived in the family house.  I found out who the original owners were, but I cannot use their names on my web site until I've contacted them and asked for permission to use their name on my web site.  For shooting, they put the occupant in a motel.  Tobe and Bob could not remember how much the hotel cost - $50.00 a day or a week.  In 1973, that was probably for a week depending where he stayed.

Tobe and Kim originally did not script in the Grandparents house for the film.  It wasn't until they arrived at the site that they decided to add it to the story.  At the time, a company called White Lime owned the abandoned structure.  They made arrangements with White Lime for the shooting in the building.  If you have seen the layout of the family house and the grandparents house, you'll see how close they are to eachother.  Just across the street of Old County Road 172.  As it's been told to me by the company that owns the property where the family house way, White Lime still ownes the property.  The company that owns most of the rest of the hill would really like to purchase this part (the rest) of the hill from White Lime, but an agreement has not been reached as of yet.

This is an abandoned car on the left side of the driveway.

There's nothing in it, including the trunk.  I admit that there was a side that was afraid to look in there!  The license tags on the plates were dated to expire in 1986.

There is a tree root sitting on top of the roof.

The barb wire behind the car is the same fence you see running beside the front driveway in the movie.

I thought this was a pretty scenic shot of the rest of the hilltop.

This is the very rear of the site.  This is facing the north east.

This has to be the starting place where Kirk, Pam and Jerry started walking from when they went down the alley to the front of the family house.  If this far back...

This is a topographical image taken from the Microsoft Terra Server.  The direct link to view this picture is here.  Unfortunately, they do not have a photographic image of Quick Hill.  Only topographical.

Download the MP3 for The Ramone's song, "Chainsaw".

Here are the lyrics to the song, courtesy of Wade Hilt of Kansas City, KS.

Classy!  Eh?

Back | Home

© 2004 Tim Harden timh@texaschainsawmassacre.net