The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

I actually was pleasantly surprised by this one. Not that that’s a ringing endorsement, however. I was really not looking forward to this one, nor am I looking forward to any of the slasher-style horror films on the list. First because I have a bit of a tender heart about blood and gore and jump-scares, and I always have. When I was very small I was known to run out of the room when scary stuff came up in TV shows – and I was scared by a lot of non-obvious stuff, like the salt vampires or the flying parasites or the Horta on Star Trek (even though that last one looked kind of like a cafeteria pizza). Even the opening credits of Tom-Baker-era Doctor Who terrified me to the point that I would race to turn the TV off as soon as Sesame Street ended. But secondly – and more importantly – I grew up during the “Golden Age” of slasher films, when it seemed Hollywood was churning them out constantly; they were easy moneymakers and were quick to produce, so they were coming fast and furious.…