Crispin Glover Reflects on His Friday the 13th Movie, Praises Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Many fans consider Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter to be one of the best entries in the long-running saga, thanks in large part to Crispin Glover‘s performance, though the actor himself notes the project was little more than a paycheck. In a new interview with Yahoo Entertainment, the actor pointed out that he had little affinity for the horror genre as a whole, yet pointed out that he enjoyed the original 1974 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and feels that the entire slasher subgenre, including the Friday the 13th series, are merely attempting to copy the achievements of that seminal film.

“Just before I got Friday the 13th, I had moved out of my parents’ house, I only had a certain amount of money and I was getting low on funds,” Crispin revealed to the site. “And then I got Friday the 13th: Part 4. I needed a job. I needed to work. I needed to continue working.”

The film landed in theaters in 1984 and, despite being billed as “The Final Chapter,” became a tremendous success for the series, inspiring many more sequels. The following year, Glover starred in Back to the Future as George McFly, which is arguably his most successful film and opened a number of doors for him, only to return to the horror genre years later with films like Willard and The Wizard of Gore.

While Friday the 13th might have helped launch his career, the actor pointed out that he has only ever seen two entries in the series.

“I’ve only seen two of those films, I saw the original film and the one that I’m in,” Glover admitted. “I remember when I saw the original one, not too long before it I’d seen the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and when I saw the first Friday the 13th, I thought, ‘Well, this is extremely derivative.’”

Many genre fans consider 1974’s Black Christmas to be the originator of the slasher craze, while Halloween and Friday the 13th amplified the formula and helped slashers dominate all of the ’80s. The film’s title might conjure a number of terrifying images, but Texas Chain Saw Massacre contains shockingly little on-screen blood.

“I liked the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre very much,” the actor pointed out. “There’s a whole industry that’s basically what they call the slasher industry. I find it derivative of that particular original Texas Chain Saw Massacre.”

Due to legal complications, there are currently no plans for a new Friday the 13th film. Various reports claim that a new Texas Chainsaw Massacre is in the works, though there is no official confirmation.

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