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Ta l k i n g Po i n t s
‘THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE’ REBORN AT BASTROP GAS STATION By Rob Clark The Eagle
A small slice of movie history sits on a stretch of Texas 304 in Bastrop. It’s a quaint enough spot, well past the charred-tree graveyard from the 2011 wildfires that devastated the area, and nothing that would demand attention from the road.
For fans of the horror genre, however, the building on site will stand out as one of the principal locations of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” It has been restored to look as it did in the 1974 film, and it opened last month as a tourist attraction and lunch spot. Known simply as The Gas Station, the building houses a mountain of horror-flick merchandise. Out back sits a pavilion, along with picnic tables and four newly constructed cabins for Chainsaw fans whose appreciation reaches overnight-stay levels.
As in the movie, barbecue is served, though visitors won’t have to worry about the meat source this time around. A sign proudly states — just as it did on film — “We Slaughter Barbecue,” The Eagle of Bryan-College Station (http://bit.ly/2fd6Fqn) reported.
The restoration process was a labor of love for owners Roy and Lisa Rose, who moved from Cleveland to Bastrop to tackle the project. The Roses, as you might imagine, are big fans of Tobe Hooper’s film. Lisa Rose says that it’s been Roy’s favorite movie since he was 10 years old.
The Gas Station’s grand opening included a costume con-test and appearances by two actors from Chainsaw: Edwin Neal, who played the squirrely hitchhiker, and Ed Guinn, the wrench-wielding hero at the film’s end.
When I stopped by for a recent visit, Gas Station employee Ben Hughes explained what it was all about.
“Honestly, it’s just to keep it alive,” he says. “When it comes down to cult classics and iconic movies, ‘Texas Chainsaw Mas-sacre’ has always been one of them. To be able to share that with people, have everybody see it and go, ‘Wow, that movie scared me half to death.’ You want to have that shock in life, you want to be able to say you did it. How often are you able to do that? It’s kinda like meeting one of your favorite stars.”
“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” was a hard movie to ignore, starting with the title. Those words seemed to have a greater impact as a notorious Lone Star State incident. (“The Delaware Chainsaw Massacre” doesn’t have the same ring to it.)
The film still oozes with creepiness, starting with the idea that it was a true story, including narration by a pre-Night Court John Larroquette: “The film which you are about to
see is an account of the tragedy which befell a group of five youths .”
At 14 years old, watching the movie at a Halloween party, I was as scared of that ghostly voiceover and the “true story” notion as much as anything in the film. But it’s not quite true. Screenwriter Kim Henkel told Texas Monthly in 2004 that it was inspired by the acts of two serial killers, Ed Gein and Elmer Wayne Henley. That’s as far as the “truth” goes. The plot’s road trip is memorable nonetheless, following the teens to their unfortunate encounters with Leatherface and his family.
The film is loaded with bad ideas and “Don’t go in there!” moments. Take the first glimpse of a sweaty Neal on the side of the road, which inspires this well-thought-out conversation among the teens:
“Should we pick him up?”“Oh yeah, man, pick him up. He’ll asphyxiate out there.”We all know the proper answer is, “For the love of God, do
not pick him up.” But hey, man, it’s the ‘70s.The gas station pops up early in the film, as the teens pile
out of the lima-bean-green Ford van for a pit stop. That’s where they meet the old man who is later revealed to be the brother to Leatherface and the hitchhiker. The gas station has no gas, but there is barbecue to sell. From there, it’s on to a seemingly abandoned house, where the chainsaw chaos begins.
The film was naturally controversial, though the gore was more implied than splattered. Film critic Roger Ebert noted its gruesome nature in his review, and that its sole purpose seemed to be “the creation of disgust and fright.”
“And yet in its own way, the movie is some kind of weird, off-the-wall achievement,” he wrote. “I can’t imagine why anyone would want to make a movie like this, and yet it’s well-made, well-acted, and all too effective.”
The movie made $30 million, according to boxofficemojo.com, and became a horror classic, paving the way for Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger to slash up screens in the late ‘70s and ‘80s. Chainsaw sequels followed, largely of a sillier variety. The 1994 sequel does get points for its two young actors who would go on to Oscar-winning careers: Mat-thew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger. A remake starring Jessica Biel was released in 2003, then a prequel in 2006 and a 3-D film in 2013. But none were regarded with the same shock as the first.
“There’s nothing like the original,” Hughes says. “. You’ll
never make an original like that again.”The other building prominently featured in the original film
was the family’s house of horrors, which was located in Round Rock. It found a new life, however, after being taken apart and moved to Kingsland in Llano County. It is now a restaurant called Grand Central Cafe near the Antlers Hotel, and the cafe’s website briefly explains the house’s journey.
Back in Bastrop, the restoration idea began four years ago. Lisa Rose says that Roy had inquired about purchasing the building from its previous owners, who finally were ready to sell in 2014.
“We hopped on a plane from Cleveland, Ohio, we flew out here, we checked it out, we bought it,” she says.
The restoration included extensive wood and concrete work, she says, and the couple aimed to keep it as original as they could. A replica of the green van sits behind the building, and other ‘70s-era items are on site, including an antique gas pump and Coke machine.
“We just want it to be authentic, so when you go, you’re not disappointed,” Hughes says. “It’s the way it was. We want you to come out and go, ‘This is exactly like it was.’ . If you’re going to do it, do it right.”
Inside the building, it’s merch city, with loads of Chainsaw T-shirts and figures. (If you’ve ever wanted a string of holiday lights with Leatherface’s head as the bulbs, get thee to Bastrop.) A wild-eyed figure of Neal’s hitchhiker character can be found reclining on a rusty chair. Other franchises are also represented, including life-size figures of Krueger and Ghostface from Scream.
For fans in the area, The Gas Station may turn out to be a regular lunch spot. Plates of brisket, sausage, beans and potato salad are being served daily at the outdoor pavilion.
And for the diehard fans, the cabins are a pleasant shade of green on the outside, with red-and-black walls inside. The restroom stalls feature a hammer instead of a doorknob, for Leatherface’s initial weapon of choice in the original film.
After all the time and money spent on bringing The Gas Station back to life, Rose says of the long-awaited opening, “It’s awesome.”
“I love it,” she says. “When people come here, they’re so happy. I love sharing something that we love with other people who love the same thing.”
MARK CUBAN: DISPUTE WITH ESPN ROOTED IN AUTOMATED CONTENT Associated Press
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says his decision to revoke the credentials of two ESPN writers who cover his team was driven partly by concern that automated game reports could eventually replace human-generated content.
Cuban said Monday that he banned Marc Stein and Tim MacMahon from Mavericks home games to bring attention to the issue of companies using automation in sports coverage.
The Associated Press, in a partnership with Automated Insights, produces automated stories on minor league baseball but does not use the technology for most of its sports coverage. The AP has at least one reporter at all games in the four major professional sports and most major college football and basketball games.
“Maybe I will be wrong but I see a direct path from the trends in cover-age of games we are seeing over the last couple years to the automation of reporting on games and the curation of related content,” Cuban wrote in an email to the AP. “This isn’t a knock on wire services or their reporters. They are valued and valuable in sports coverage.”
The billionaire who made his fortune through internet technology said his action wasn’t prompted by ESPN’s plan to cover the Mavericks, which he said he wasn’t changing.
Cuban said he responded after learning that ESPN was relying on wire services for game coverage on 19 NBA teams. Barry Bedlan, AP’s sports product manager, said ESPN “has relied on us for years.”
“Nothing has changed from our perspective and there are no plans to change that,” Bedlan said.
Cuban said he was responding to what he considers a disturbing trend of reporters being replaced by machines.
“While it may seem counterintuitive to ban someone from covering us as a way of stopping automation, it really was my only option,” Cuban said. “As is evident by the AP partnership with Automated Insights, it’s not if but when.”
ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz declined to comment on Cuban’s claims, referring to a statement Sunday when the network said it was “committed to thoroughly covering the Mavs and the NBA.” A league spokesman didn’t return a message seeking comment Monday.
MacMahon has covered the Mavericks primarily for several years but has spent more time in other cities this season. Stein joined ESPN as a national NBA writer in 2000 after previously covering the Mavericks for the Dallas newspaper. Both reporters are based in Dallas.
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, right, questions a call during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Houston Rockets in Dallas, Friday, Oct. 28, 2016. (AP Photo/LM Otero) Copyright 2016, The Associated Press
This Oct. 19, 2016 photo shows the sign outside the gas station “We Slaughter Barbecue,” just as it did in the 1974 film “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”in Batrop, Texas. (Rob Clark/College Station Eagle via AP) Copyright 2016, The Associated Press
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