How ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ Inspired ‘Alien’
If you’ve seen two 1970s horror movies, they were probably The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Alien. Interestingly, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre inspired the director of Alien in a major way. In addition, the director said Alien was similar to The Exorcist.
The director of ‘Alien’ called ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ ‘horrendous’
Ridley Scott is the director of popular science fiction films like Blade Runner and The Martian. During a 2019 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he said, “It was so outrageous in its idea and story—possession of a body by a massive insect that will lay eggs in you and create other insects. “It was remarkable. While Scott acknowledged that the portrayal of reproduction in Alien bore some similarities to the possession in The Exorcist, he still felt that Alien‘s premise was original.
Scott discussed his approach to directing Alien. “I don’t know, when you’re doing a film like [Alien], if you can have too much blood,” he said. “It is very difficult to really scare me. I watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre when I was prepping for Alien one Saturday afternoon in the Fox studio in a small theater. It was horrendous, and it scared the s*** out of me.”
Why the ‘Alien’ director couldn’t eat after watching Leatherface
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre haunted Scott. “I think I started with a hamburger at lunchtime and never took a bite,” he said. “But that was into overdrive and overkill.
“There’s a lot of people eating people and there’s a lot of violence — it’s tantamount to blood, I think,” he added. “What’s the difference, frankly? But [Texas Chainsaw Massacre director] Tobe Hooper did a [great] job, and it was my challenge to say, ‘How do I get that scary?'”
In the eyes of many, Alien captured a lot of the sheer, raw terror of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, even if Alien is far more polished and tells a more conventional story. Interestingly, both films have food as a major theme. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is partly about cannibalism, while the Xenomorph in Alien is a fearsome, hungry predator.
‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ changed everything
While Alien will always be connected to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, only one reigned supreme financially. Box Office Mojo says The Texas Chainsaw Massacre earned over $30 million worldwide. It was huge for an independent horror movie, but it couldn’t hold a candle to a Hollywood blockbuster. Meanwhile, Box Office Mojo reports Alien grossed more than $108 million worldwide. Alien had the backing of a major studio, so it simply had more reach.
While Scott’s film made more money, Hooper’s sleeper hit was more influential in the long term. On top of inspiring Alien, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was a massive influence on the development of the slasher subgenre. We wouldn’t have Halloween, Friday the 13th, or A Nightmare on Elm Street without it. It also pioneered a grungy horror aesthetic that informed the Saw franchise, Rob Zombie’s movies, and the various iterations of The Hills Have Eyes. Leather face and company also made cannibalism a common horror trope.
Alien and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are both classics but The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is more culturally significant.
