Hooper's 1974 classic "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" is considered one of America's greatest, most-influential horror films and a movie with far-reaching cultural impact, despite being banned in multiple countries when it was released.
Spielberg, Hooper And Nelson On 'Poltergeist' Set, 1982. L-R: Producer (and uncredited director) Steven Spielberg points as director Tobe Hooper, actors James Karen and Craig T. Nelson listen on the set of the film, 'Poltergeist,' 1982. (Photo by MGM/Getty Images)
Photo by MGM/Getty Images
Masters Of Horror Launch Party - Arrivals LOS ANGELES - MARCH 30: Directors (L to R) George Romero, Larry Cohen, John Landis, Tobe Hooper, Don Coscarelli, Mick Garris, Stuart Gordon and Joe Dante pose at a party to celebrate Showtime's series "Masters of Horror" at Element on March 30, 2005 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Masters Of Horror Launch Party - Inside LOS ANGELES - MARCH 30: Actor Robert Englund (L) and director Tobe Hooper pose at a party to celebrate Showtime's series "Masters of Horror" at Element on March 30, 2005 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Launch Party For "Masters Of Horror" - Arrivals HOLLYWOOD - APRIL 04: Director Tobe Hooper arrives at the Launch Party For Showtime's "Masters Of Horror" held at Ivar Club on April 5, 2006 in Hollywood, California (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — Tobe Hooper, the director behind legendary horror films such as “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” and “Poltergeist,” died Saturday in California at 74 from natural causes, his family said.
Austin, Texas-born Hooper’s 1974 classic “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” is considered one of America’s greatest, most-influential horror films and a movie with far-reaching cultural impact, despite being banned in multiple countries when it was released. It follows a hapless group of friends who stumble upon a family of cannibal creeps in rural Texas. As one might expect, things go downhill for the traveling teens.
One of the most enduring images from “Massacre” is the visage of the mad, chainsaw-wielding “Leatherface” — played by Gunnar Hansen — as he relentlessly pursues the young interlopers and helps move many of them to their unfortunate fates.
A “Texas Chain Saw Massacre” movie poster is seen Wednesday, April 29, 2004, in Northewest Harbor, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Hooper said that real-life serial killer Ed Gein helped influence the film and certain plot elements. (Gein was also a gruesome source of ideas for films like “Psycho” and “Silence of the Lambs.”)
Hooper returned to the family, so to speak, for 1986’s “Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2” as well, which added a more comedic flair to the nightmare scenarios covered in the movie — a tactic Sam Raimi followed when moving from cult classic splatter flicks “The Evil Dead” (1981) to “Evil Dead 2” (1987).
Beyond the iconic “Massacre” series, Hooper also directed 1982’s “Poltergeist,” which was written and produced by Steven Spielberg and starred Craig T. Nelson alongside JoBeth Williams. The film was a great success. It spawned two sequels and a less-than-stellar remake in 2015.
William Vitka is a Digital Writer/Editor for WTOP.com. He's been in the news industry for over a decade. Before joining WTOP, he worked for CBS News, Stuff Magazine, The New York Post and wrote a variety of books—about a dozen of them, with more to come.
