In Memoriam: Tobe Hooper 1943-2017
Another childhood hero bites the dust. Aren’t we all getting old when one by one of you childhood heroes dies? It sure seems that way. I’ve seen a few film by Tobe Hooper over the years but now I realize that there weren’t that many of them. If you look at the filmography there is a handful few that really stick out, the rest are TV episodes and stuff like that. Some movie are awesome of course but other just leaves you with a bitter “what?!” taste in your mouth.
The first I saw was probably Poltergeist and I loved it at the time. It wasn’t until later that I learned that Steven Spielberg supposedly did most of the directorial work. Well, it was a great movie anyway. But Tone Hooper made som other great stuff. Invaders from Mars, The Funhouse, Eaten Alive with a young Robert Englund and Salem’s Lot. Maybe these films are not great in the public’s eye but I really like them. Among “the other” movies was spontaneous Combustion (which I really liked) and Night terrors. Even the Mangler, again with Robert Englund. These were not as big of a hit for me. But they were interesting.
And there’s of course The Texas Chain Saw Massacre! The one film that put Tobe Hooper on any map for cult film makers and forever granted him a place among the greats! It is a great film to say the least. Of course Everyone won’t like it but that’s nothing new. You can never please everyone. That’s a fact. Tobe Hooper will most certainly be remembered by a group of Texas Chain Saw Massacre fanatics. But I think he deserves more than that.
Tobe Hooper was 74. Rest in Peace.
