Get ready for a deep dive into horror history. Alexandre O. Philippe, the director behind acclaimed documentaries like 78/52 (about Psycho) and MEMORY: The Origins of Alien, is back with his latest film, Chain Reactions. This documentary takes a cinematic deep dive into the lasting impact of Tobe Hooper’s slasher masterpiece, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
It’s been 50 years since the original film shocked the world and changed cinema forever. Chain Reactions examines the profound influence of the movie on five remarkable artists: Stephen King, Patton Oswalt, Takashi Miike, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, and Karyn Kusama. They share their earliest memories and sensory experiences of the film, as well as their childhood traumas related to it.
The documentary mixes new interviews with never-before-seen outtakes from the original film. It also examines how various formats, ranging from 16mm to VHS and digital, impacted the viewing experience. The goal is to get to the heart of how this low-budget independent film was able to worm its way into our collective nightmares and permanently alter pop culture.
Chain Reactions won the Venice Classics Award for Best Documentary on Cinema. It was an Official Selection at major festivals, including Telluride and BFI London Film Festival, proving it’s a film you don’t want to miss.
The film opens in New York and Los Angeles on September 19 at Regal Union Square and Laemmle NoHo, respectively, before expanding nationwide on September 26.
