Matt Konopka looks at Texas Chain Saw Day, August 18th, and why it matters to fans as a day to celebrate Tobe Hooper’s ‘Texas Chain Saw’.
The saw is family.
Every August 18th, that becomes truer than ever. Because on that day each year, when the summer sun reaches peak melting madness, and horror fans turn their eyes towards the Fall/Halloween season, we remember one of the greatest horror films in the annals of history…Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). On that date, we celebrate Texas Chain Saw Day, now officially registered and recognized across the nation (as it should be).
Thought up while Hooper was shopping in a hardware store and imagined cutting through the lines with a chainsaw— who doesn’t? —TCM tells a story that’s about as simple as it gets for the genre. Five friends, led by Sally (Marilyn Burns), trek through the smoldering Texas heat in their van on their way to property owned by her family. Once there, they encounter cannibalistic neighbors—including the iconic, chainsaw-wielding Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen)—who intend to slaughter the group like cattle and serve them up for dinner.
Talk about finger-licking good.
What results is the maddest fever dream of a horror movie to ever be captured on celluloid.
See, for as simple as the premise is, the film itself, as well as its legacy, is anything but.
We Celebrate the Day the Nightmare Began
Set on August 18th, 1973, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre sawed into the eyeballs of unsuspecting audiences unprepared for what they were about to witness.
Hooper’s film doesn’t begin like your average horror movie at the time. Yellow text—glowing like the hot sun—slowly crawls up the screen like another film we celebrate every year with its own special day, (happy late May the 4!). Like the beginning of a true crime series, the text declares, “The film which you are about to see is an account of the tragedy which befell a group of five youths,” before teasing, “one of the most bizarre crimes in the annals of American history”. Though the Grade A, one-hundred-percent fictional story was based around the crimes of serial killer Ed Gein, the events of never happened. We didn’t have the internet back then, though. And if you were sitting in that dark theater on opening day, maybe you thought Leatherface and his deranged family really roaming around somewhere in Texas, searching for their next victims.
Apparently, everything really is bigger in Texas, including the terror we feel driving through it thanks to TCM!
We Celebrate a Masterpiece of Horror
Seriously, though, back in 1974, no one had ever seen anything like Hooper’s macabre masterpiece. The first image we see is that of a corpse propped up in the cemetery and rotting in the sun, twisted artwork left behind by someone with too much time on their hands. Every moment, every second, from there on out, drips dread like sweat from a farmer’s brow. We see imagery of roadkill; A nest of spiders crawling in the corner of Sally’s family property; Flashes of gooey bodies, rotten teeth, and the slaughtered remains of cattle. And that’s all before we enter the home of Leatherface and co., filled with skeletons, skulls propped up on walls, and even a lampshade made from human skin. Probably not the sort of place you’d see featured in a glamorous homes catalog.
But that’s just the thing. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre gave viewers a look at a side of the country that they couldn’t see from their city streets or suburban homes. And it scared the hell out of them. One of TCM’s most iconic images—Sally riding in the back of that truck, covered in blood, laughing hysterically—that’s the true face of fear. That was all of us seeing the film for the first time. It’s the look of someone who just saw what can’t be unseen. The knowledge that you’ve witnessed something that’ll be seared into your mind forever like a cattle brand.
That’s the effect of watching Texas Chain Saw… a singular slice of madness that has never been matched, no matter how hard anyone else tries.
And at the center of that madness, Leatherface and his screeching chainsaw.
We Celebrate Leatherface and His Iconic Chainsaw
These days, you can find Leatherface in all his human-skin-wearing glory on just about anything. T-shirts, mugs, figures, comics, video games, backpacks, you name it. All that’s missing are skin care products, but give it time. He’s up there on the Mt. Rushmore of horror icons, along with Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers. But back then, he was something else. He was the new face of fear.
Unlike most other horror villains in their introductory films, we don’t even know of Leatherface’s existence until nearly forty minutes in. And what an introduction it is.
Kirk (William Vail) steps inside the creaky old house where the BBQ-loving maniacs reside. The sun’s shining bright outside, but the house is dark. Dirty. Decrepit. A passageway from the heat of Texas to the burning fires of Hell. From within a red-walled room decorated with animal skulls comes a frantic squealing. The genius that he is, Kirk investigates. And out steps Leatherface with a big ‘ole mallet, whopping the poor bastard in the head like a pig for the slaughter. Kirk’s body spasming, Leatherface drags him into the room and slams a sliding door shut.
Oh, to have been there with those first audience members laying eyes on Leatherface during opening weekend.
For as frightening as the character was and still is, fans have come to love him over the years. Like Jason Voorhees, Leatherface has a sympathetic side. Picked on by his family, he wears human masks to hide the scarred face he’s ashamed of. We even come to understand he’s less a menace of TCM than a scared homeowner himself. I adore the moment after he knocks off Jerry (Allen Danziger), then paces around the house, confused about where all these intruders keep coming from. He’s a character you want to hug about as much as you want to run away from him.
Not to mention, he has some moves. That chainsaw dance he does in the final moments as Sally escapes isn’t iconic for nothing. Leatherface can boogie.
We Celebrate the Beginning of the Fall/Halloween Season
I could go on and on about why we appreciate Texas Chain Saw. Whether it be the film’s capture of a nation in tatters from the Vietnam War, the unforgettable face of a horror icon, one of the very first “final girls” in Sally…the list goes on. I’d even throw in poor Franklin (Paul A. Partain), a symbol of the broken men who returned from war, only to be cast aside. He’ll always have my sword as a character who isn’t nearly as obnoxious as he’s made out to be.
The fact of the matter is there’s no single reason we celebrate the legacy of Hooper’s classic with Texas Chain Saw Day. We remember it because of what it represents: a mourning of the souls lost during Vietnam. We remember it for changing horror forever, a stepping-stone towards what would become the slasher genre. Hell, we remember it because who doesn’t want an excuse to fire up some BBQ, dress like Leatherface, dance with a chainsaw, and watch one of the finest horror films ever made?
Whatever your reason is, on August 18th, we horror fans come together to pay tribute to Hooper and an iconic piece of American cinema that can never be recreated. One of those perfect lightning-in-a-bottle movies that snatched the nation’s madness out of the air and bottled it up for all to see. Every Texas Chain Saw Day, we gather around to remember what the genre is capable of.
It’s always a good time for horror, but from now until Halloween, that’s especially true. And there’s no better way to start than with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre on Texas Chain Saw Day. So, grab your tickets for Fathom Entertainment and Dark Sky Films’ one-night-only screening when the classic roars back into theaters this August 18th, pick up some of the Cook’s famous chili, and get ready to scream.
And, for all you Texas Chain Saw Massacre fans planning to celebrate Texas Chain Saw Day by seeing the film back on the big screen this August, you’re in for an extra surprise. And you’re hearing it here first: Dread Central, its parent company Be Afraid Media, and Creepy Podcast have teamed up to produce an exclusive, four-minute theatrical-only audio experience that will play exclusively in theaters before the film. Narrated by Jon “Creepy” Grilz, the chilling prologue recounts the horrific events of August 18, 1974, taking audiences inside one of the most infamous murder sprees in horror history before the chainsaw ever revs. Texas Chain Saw Day is the annual nationwide celebration of Tobe Hooper’s landmark horror classic, with the film returning to theaters in a new 4K presentation for a one-night-only event on August 18, 2026. Fans can find participating theaters and purchase tickets through Fathom Entertainment: Buy Tickets
