CHAINSAW NEWS TEXT
 
 
 
                        The film which you are about to see is an
                   account of the tragedy which befell a group of five
                   youth, in particular Sally Hardesty and her invalid
                   brother, Franklin.  It is all the more tragic in
                   that they were youth.  But, had they lived very,
                   very long lives, they could not have expected nor
                   would they have wished to see as much of the mad and
                   macabre as they were to see that day.  For them an
                   idyllic summer afternoon drive became a nightmare.
                        The events of that day were to lead to the
                   discovery of one of the most bizarre crimes in the
                   annals of American history.  The Texas Chainsaw
                   Massacre.
 
              FADE IN:
 
              EXTERIOR DAY
 
              There is no sound.  The sun is larger than the frame and
              white hot.  A long, golden arc sweeps across the upper right
              hand corner; it is the explosive, gaseous profile of the sun.
              There is a burst of light and a liquid rope of molten gases
              arcs into space and then slowly, heavily falls back to the
              sun.
 
              The yellow-white sun nearly fills the frame.  There is a low,
              crackling noise.  The sun begins to dissolve and to become an
              eye, the purple glazed eye of a dead dog.  Flies swarm the
              staring eye and the crackling noise becomes the buzzing of
              the flies.
 
              In the extreme foreground and to the right of center is the
              long dead and putrid carcass of a dog.  The lower jaw, nearly
              ripped from the head, hangs wildly askew.  The belly is a
              living, writhing mass of grey maggots; flies swarm the
              purple, glazed eyes.  The carcass lies some feet from the
              shoulder of a narrow, chuckholed two lane highway.  It is
              midday and midsummer and the brutal southwestern sun blasts
              the dusty, chocking landscape.  The air is still and heavy.
 
              In the background is the out of focus image of a van.
 
              BEGIN CREDITS AND TITLES OVER
 
              Background noise is the sound of a radio being tuned.
              Tidbits of a variety of news programs, music and commercials
              are heard.  The news programs detail an unusual number of
              natural disasters.
 
                                  FRANKLIN (V.O.)
                        Did you feel my ribs?

                                  SALLY (V.O.)
                        Yes.  I couldn't feel anything.
 
                                  PAM (V.O.)
                        We're all just victims of the
                        times.
 
              The focus of the camera begins to change and as it changes a
              white van parked on the road shoulder in the background
              becomes distinct.
 
                                  FRANKLIN (V.O.)
                        Here.... Put your fingers here.
 
              Before the camera has completed its change of focus the side
              door of the van open and Kirk, a handsome, well built young
              man leaps out, turns to face the interior of the van and
              begins struggling to remove two long boards.  He is assisted
              by an auburn haired girl, Pam, who remains inside the van.
              The thin silvery tinckling of tiny bells comes from the
              interior of the van.
 
                                  KIRK (V.O.)
                        Your old chair could use a band-
                        aid too.
 
                                  FRANKLIN (V.O.)
                        There you feel that space.
 
                                  JERRY (V.O.)
                        What's that supposed to mean?  The
                        gods are against us.
 
                                  PAM (V.O.)
                        No.  It's because Satan's in
                        retrograde.
 
                                  JERRY (V.O.)
                        We're star crossed.  Is that it?
 
                                  FRANKLIN (V.O.)
                        OWwwwww.  There.  You feel that
                        space?
 
              A young man, Jerry, can be seen behind the wheel of the van
              and opposite him and nearer the camera is seated a beautiful
              blond girl, Sally.
 
              Kirk has made a makeshift ramp of the two boards.
 
              Franklin, a young man in a wheelchair, appears at the door of
              the van.  He is assisted by the auburn haired girl, Pam who
              wears a bracelet from which dangle tiny silvery bells.

              Kirk also assists and together they manuever Franklin down
              the sagging ramp to the ground.  Kirk wheels Franklin around
              the corner of the van and away from the highway.  Pam sits in
              the doorway of the van.
 
                                                       CUT TO:
 
              The far side of the van; Franklin and Kirk walk into frame
              from the highway side of the van.
 
                                  SALLY (V.O.)
                        No.... It feels O.K. to me.