Tobe Hooper, architect of the original 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre,' is dead at 74
Acclaimed horror filmmaker Tobe Hooper, who is perhaps best-known for his genre-defining 1974 classic, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, has died at the age of 74.
The Los Angeles County Coroner confirmed Hooper's death late on Saturday , according to Variety. The cause of death has not been revealed at present.
In many ways, Hooper's work on Texas Chainsaw wrote the playbook for future indie horror successes. Even with a small budget -- less than $300,000 -- and a lack of marquee names, Chainsaw's gritty vibe and unflinching violence helped propel a $30 million box office.
While both movies lean on somewhat different filmmaking techniques, the success of both The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity owe much of their success to Chainsaw. It doesn't matter how much money or how many stars you have; a horror movie needs to be scary before anything else. Hooper recognized that.
That's where the 1986 Chainsaw sequel -- which Hooper also directed -- went wrong. It's been elevated to cult status in more recent times, but the gritty, grimy vibe of the originally was ditched in favor of a schlock gross-out comedy.
Hooper was no one-hit-wonder, however. His 1982 horror flick, Poltergeist, a ghostly fairy tale that did for haunted house stories what Chainsaw did gruesome shock horror.
Hooper stuck to various flavors of horror for most of his career, though it wasn't just big screen features. He also contributed memorable episodes to the Tales from the Crypt and Amazing Stories TV series' (among others), as well as the 1979 TV miniseries based on Stephen King's vampire novel, Salem's Lot.
Hooper's final film, Djinn, is a supernatural thriller produce by Image Nation, an Arabian film company, in the United Arab Emirates. It debuted at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival in 2013 but has yet to see a theatrical release.
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Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
