The Texas Chainsaw Massacre soundtrack returns: Terrifying sound reborn
Glenn Cochrane
STACK Senior Editor
The original score to cinema's most iconic and influential horror film, 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre', has been unearthed and remastered for a mind-altering soundscape experience.
The opening of Tobe Hooper’s seminal 1974 classic, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, delivers some of the most disturbing and unsettling imagery ever captured on film. The chilling sound of a camera flashbulb flaring, accompanied by the nightmarish reveal of rotting corpses, immediately affirms the power of sound design in cinema.
From this moment, the audience is in the grip of a madman - a filmmaker so audacious that what he presents is unlike anything before it. Over the past 50 years, the film has solidified its status as a horror classic, unrivaled in its depiction of madness and depravity, and remains one of the most influential films of all time.
Yet, little credit is given to its innovative sound design and score. Without its grimy, clanking, and dissonant musical landscape, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre would never have had the same visceral impact.
The film’s production was helmed by an inexperienced team of young filmmakers, mostly students, unaware of the legacy they were creating. The same applied to the film’s music, composed by Hooper and his sound designer, Wayne Bell, who had previously worked with him on his experimental film Eggshells.
To match the film’s macabre tone, Hooper and Bell took an unconventional approach to sound design. Many of their instruments were sourced from hardware stores and toy shops - cheap cymbals, xylophones, shakers, and wildlife sounds - used to create jarring, unexpected noises that heightened the film’s unnerving atmosphere.
Unlike traditional film scores, which provide a melodic undercurrent to the visuals, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s soundtrack is sporadic and disjointed, more of a chaotic collection of sounds than a structured composition. The result remains a brilliantly unsettling body of work and one that, when listened to in isolation, conjures nightmares even more terrifying than the film itself.
After their recent discovery, the film’s original score master tapes were digitally transferred, reconstructed, and remixed by Bell to restore their original arrangement, creating a comprehensive and immersive listening experience. It is a soundtrack like no other, imitated but never rivalled.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Original Motion Picture Score) is out now via Waxwork.
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