[Review]: Chain Reactions

Stills from The Texas Chainsaw (1974)

With a festival run kicked off with its world premiere at last year’s Venice Film Festival, Chain Reactions directed by Alexandre O. Philippe is an in-depth exploration of one of the greatest and most influential horror films of all time – Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). 

When the cult classic hit the screens, the trajectory of horror changed forever, with the revelation that monsters are not always supernatural, sometimes they are in the backyard of America itself. Through the characters of a murderous and cannibalistic family, including the iconic Leatherface (played by Gunnar Hanson), audiences were shocked and reviled by the film that would go on to become the poster child for the impending Video Nasty panic. 

Takashi Miike

Chain Reactions is divided into five chapters, with each segment headed by a fan of  The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Patton Oswalt, Stephen King, Karyn Kusama, Takashi Miike and Alexandra Heller-Nicholas lead insightful dissections of the film, lending their voices to journalistic film criticism, as well as their own personal experiences with the horror megalith. 

The highlight of the documentary is the inclusion of Alexandre Heller-Nicholas and Takashi Miike and their discussions on the influential effect The Texas Chainsaw Massacre had and continues to have on the horror cinema of both Australia and Japan. Karyn Kusama also discusses how the film has inspired her as a filmmaker, and Patton Oswalt reflects on the film from the standpoint of a fan, documenting his journey from initial viewing to how the film has shaped his experience as a horror film fan. The only flat point of Chain Reactions is unfortunately author Stephen King’s inclusion, with points of view that feels neither fresh or particularly needed, his segment seems to go on for much longer than

necessary.

Director Karyn Kusama

Chain Reactions is a documentary unlike the majority of horror film documentaries in that it doesn’t treat its audience like novices, and instead provides individualistic dissections and film theory on one of the most infamous horror films in existence. 

Chain Reactions is available on Digital and Blu-ray now

4 Screams out of 5