The kids in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre had to head out of Austin to find horror, but by 1982 the terror had seeped back within city limits via Mongrel, an almost-forgotten entry in Austin’s film history from the team that created the look and sound of the Lone Star State horror classic. Mad genius Bob Burns – the prop master of Chain Saw and star of underrated true crime classic Confessions of a Serial Killer – made his sole movie as a director with this unhinged tale of a dead dog that seems to be menacing the guest house it once guarded. – Richard Whittaker
