Set against a backdrop of economic crisis and fuel shortages, Tobe Hooper’s most iconic film follows a group of privileged youths as they come face to face with a family of out-of-work slaughterhouse workers, leading to a violent night of murder and mayhem. This apocalyptic confrontation is captured in moments of sudden violence, macabre detail, and an unrelenting soundtrack that mixes the roar of the chainsaw with the hysterical screams of the film’s heroine. Hooper’s film embodies the anger and alienation that defined the decade.