Why is the chaisaw the weapon of choice of all badass movie (and videogame) heroes?
I mean, why not an angle grinder or a power drill?
Did this trend start with “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, or is it older than that?
You can’t take limbs off with a power drill, and you can’t take large appendages off with an angle grinder.
If you’re armed with a drill or an angle grinder, I don’t have to run very far. Just a little farther than your power cord can reach.
If you’ve got a chainsaw, I’ve got me some runnin’ to do…
Chainsaws are also louder. The low-pitched buzzing of a chainsaw running at full throttle sounds more intimidating than the sounds of most other power tools.
dwc1970: I see you haven’t used a router lately…
My power tool of choice for murderous rampaging is the “Cut-off saw” which is basicly a chain saw, but spinning a huge abrasive disc. Jams up less, cuts through bone much quicker, is safer (for me at least!) to operate and makes cool sounds.
If your technique is right, you can swing it like a sword and take a head clean off! 
So far, its highly under-appreciated in the horror movie genre.
Aren’t those a lot bulkier than a chainsaw? I think it’d be a lot easier chasing some half-dressed coed through the forest with a chainsaw than one of those. Plus, a chainsaw is someone native to a forest. If you’re chasing some cracked out drug dealer through a construction site while on a vigilante tear, maybe the cut-off saw would be a better choice.
The thing that needs to be considered is how easily the tool can be operated should one find that one has had to lop of a hand as a result of demonic possession. A chainsaw lends itself easily to such a task. A power drill requires a finger on the trigger, which could prove problematic (especially if one wishes to keep one’s remaining hand free for, say wielding a shotgun).
Many other power tools require two hands to operate. Chainsaws can be effectively wielded one- or two-handed (though, admittedly, accuracy suffers in the former case). Plus, they are handy at allowing you to get to your intended victim relatively quickly. A sander or power drill would have significantly more difficulty in getting through a door, for example.
Yes, the Texas Biscuit Jointer Massacre, while a scary notion indeed, might have been a bit of a stretch for most diehards.
Do not underestimate the “Weedwacker of Death”!
It is certain to find its place among movie WOMD.
My choice for carnage would be the drill press. Obviously it lacks the mobility for widespread mayhem, but all the best cringe-inducing shop stories involve a drill press at high RPM, long hair, and/or loose clothing.
Groovy.
Chainsaws also make nifty musical instruments.
Too bad there’s no sample of “I Will Always Love You.” Spiffy, and it drives the kitty beserk. Although so does Whitney Houston’s voice.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the cordless Sawzall.
You know how all those stupid teenagers hide themselves in little spaces? Look at this line from the ad:
“… the Hatchet is designed to get into those confined areas that no other saw can reach …”
(If you’ve ever done demo, a Sawzall is the tool of choice. A chainsaw would take too long and have a hard time going thru nails, wire, brick, etc.)
I like the way you think. I always say, “It’s not a real power tool if you can move it without a forklift.” Along those lines, I’m partial to the standard table saw. This is, after all, the tool that’s responsible for more guys being nicknamed “Lefty” than every other shop tool in the world combined.
Of course, when you get right down to it, nothing beats the guitar mounted power drill when it comes to inflicting greivous bodily harm on scantily clad hotties with no perceivable acting talent.
Ha!
My 4-8’ extending roller pole with sharpened 5-n-1s ducktaped to either end is the ULTIMATE construction/remodel weapon!
Awww!!! You beat me to it! And I actually have an 18-V Sawzall, albeit in DeWalt yellow, instead of Milwaukee red.
But, I nearly bust a gut lauginh at the Texas Biscuit Jointer Massacre.
You obviously refer to Army of Darkness. The hero’s hand got infested with evil, so he cut it off with a chainsaw before the evil could spread to the rest of his body!
Now that’s what I call an ass-kickin hero!
“Stand back! He’s got a magnetic stud finder!!”
… naw, doesn’t work. Well, not in this genre, anyhow.
Perhaps in a chick-flick.
Hrm. Taking a look back, through the mists of time, I seem to recall my Ag teacher lecturing us when it was time to do woodwork as HS freshmen (Ag, for those not in the know, is kinda-sorta like shop, except you ended up doing more horticulture by default. Oh, and building bale feeders out of square steel tubing. Offered at pretty much all high schools in South Dakota, it was the gateway to the FFA). Anyway, it’s time to do our woodworking segment (which is not easy to do in a shop set up for metalwork), and when it got to shop safety, we got the standard lectures (safetly glasses, when the principal or superintendent was coming, put the blade guards on, etc). He then spent a looonng time talking about the dangers of…the planer. Oooh, that bloodthirsty, finger-hungry machine, it stood there, looking innocent, lulling you into a false sense of security, until you ran that next board through, and…zip! Off went the tips of your fingers. He could even point to another school’s shop teacher (who most of us knew, who had stubby, deformed fingers on one hand) as a victim.
So dangerous was the planer that it was not even kept near the other woodworking tools. No, it was up in the storage area, where you weren’t supposed to go. If anything needed planing, you had to ask the instructor for permission, and he would go up with you and supervise, and everyone else had to stop using their tools, because they were not being supervised (that is usually when the lighter kids would start ridiing the power sanders). To this day, I fear the planer. It would be perfect as a horror movie weapon, but for two things. 1) The damn thing is too heavy to move, so you would have to take all the victims to it. 2) It would actually be pretty hard to actually KILL someone with it, since it it only would take off a little at a time. Oh, I suppose you could stand there and try to feed someones arm into it (I am thinking of a pencil sharpener, for some reason), but there would be too much chance they could get away.
However, if your greatest fear involves the loss of 1/8 inch of your fingertips, this could be just the movie for you.