The First of Many

In The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the classic horror film narrative was established. At this point in time, the horror film industry has produced (maybe reproduced is a better word) a similar plot line time and time again. There are a group of kids, or occasionally relatives, that all go on some sort of trip or vacation. This is vaguely the beginning to countless horror films, however, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was one of the first, which shows its true importance and effect on this industry. Before the real horror begins in these films, there is often a new character brought in that starts the victims on a cautious mindset. This can be observed as the hitchhiker in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or the roadkill driver in House of Wax, of the guy at the gas station in The Cabin in the Woods. Nonetheless, the group usually moves on and continues to try to have a good time on their trip. From there, the horror begins.
At this point, there are many stereotypes that most horror film buffs will already know: The blonde girl or dumb guy dies first, the manly man tries to fight the killer, the last girl will be the only survivor. While, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre doesn't follow all of these common scenes, it still is as predictable as many of the others. However, the question remains why do we continue to watch these films if they're all the same? And why does the industry keep producing them? It is often the predictable nature of the movies that draws us in. It has been proven that people generally enjoy movies more the second time that they watch them. This is because they already know what's going to happen in the movie, and therefore, are able to pay attention to the finer details and true art of the film better than the first time. This fact may feed into the reasoning for why this plot has been run into the ground. In addition, as each film is different than the last, a new twist lies in each one that keeps the viewer interested. This can easily be noted when looking at the killer in each film, as they all have their own techniques and secrets. However, there are other twists that also come up, such as the relation between Leatherface and the hitchhiker and the convenience store owner. These changes help to keep the audience watching so they can convince themselves that they haven't seen the same film many times before.
Although countless films have been made in the classic style, the horror film industry has begun to shy away from these films and has produced new stories and types of horror. The modern industry has also come out with films that are direct comments on this type of horror film. The Cabin in the Woods is the well known example as it shows how a company literally carries out this familiar plot line synthetically, solely for the entertainment of the viewer. The company here represents the film industry, and the viewers are still the viewers. Yet another film that makes a mockery of this concept is Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. This film takes the comedic approach as it shows a group of teenagers on a camping trip that run into two sketchy looking guys, and begin to fear for their lives, just as they would if it were a real horror film. Instead, Tucker and Dale mean no harm and the teenagers end up accidentally killing themselves while trying to stay alive from the two. This comments on the absurdity of the plot line and that it really is laughable at this point.
Overall, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was a film that helped bring a new wave of films to the viewers simply in its basic plot. While it was not the first, it was perhaps the first well known in this subgenre and it set a precedent of the rest to come after it. While we may not be able to escape this never-ending stream of slightly different films, at least we are able to escape from the killer with the girl who watched all her friends die.