Stephen King Reveals the One Horror Movie That Got Under His Skin

Stephen King does not scare easy. But Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? That one got under his skin — and he didn’t even catch it during the original run.

King vs. Chainsaw: first contact

In a new chat with Variety, King said he finally saw The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 1982, in Colorado. He was a young dad, hustling pages to stay ahead of the bills, and basically had the theater to himself. That lonely, late screening vibe did not help his nerves.

"That’s when a movie really has a tendency to work on you, to get its cold little fingers under your skin."

Why it still rattles

King calls Hooper’s film one of the greats, and his reasons are very much about texture and vibe, not plot twists. He remembers seeing a battered print with that bleached-out '70s look — the kind of wear and tear that makes everything feel too real. And the movie never tries to pretty it up.

• Grimy authenticity: The aged print and sun-faded palette made the whole thing feel brutally real.
• No safety rails: There’s no slick buildup, no soft landing, almost no character shading — it just drops you in.
• Faces that look lived-in: Those graveyard onlookers? Not Hollywood extras. They look like they were plucked right out of a small Texas town.

King’s take basically boils down to this: the lack of artifice is the point, and that’s why it still hits.

The messy legacy

Since 1974, Leatherface’s family tree has been... complicated. Sequels, reboots, legacyquels — some swing, some miss, none ever matching the original’s splinter-in-the-brain realism.

What might be next (and why King might care)

Here’s the interesting part. The Texas Chainsaw rights are in play, and multiple parties are reportedly circling. One whisper to keep an eye on: a potential TV series at A24 from J.T. Mollner — the screenwriter behind The Long Walk, a recent Stephen King project — with Glen Powell backing it. Powell has been eyeing the franchise for a bit, and, yes, the idea of someone with fresh King cred taking a run at Leatherface is some fun inside baseball.

If this chainsaw starts revving again, let’s hope it earns a nod from the guy who knows a thing or two about waking up your nightmares.