
Many of the theories surround the existence of a real Leatherface and of a secret history behind The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and they are basically modern campfire tails that have been told so many times they’ve taken on a new life. In fact, in his book about the filming of the first Chainsaw movie, Chainsaw Confidential, he notes in the early 2000s, he and many horror historians had begun to receive emails from people who believed that Leatherface was a real person and that they knew actual victims of the Sawyer clan. While the film is loosely based off of the crimes of multiple killers (including Ed Gein), the movie's villain has little in common with any particular person.Īccording to Gunnar Hansen, the actor who portrayed Leatherface in two of the films in the series, some people weren’t able to wrap their heads around the fact that a work of fiction would be marketed as a true story. Everything about the film, especially the character Leatherface, is totally made up. And they’re hiding a horrifying secret.In 1974, Tobe Hooper’s horror masterpiece The Texas Chainsaw Massacre began its decades-long assault on filmgoers, and while this film was advertised to be based on a true story, it’s important to know it’s completely fictional. And it's home to a restaurant that serves a dessert that consists of "three deep fried pancake balls with mixed in treats." IT'S A HAPPY ENDING AFTER ALL YOU GUYS!!!Ī Cleaning Expert Explains the Best Way to Clean Cloth Face Masks After You Wear Them - Good Housekeepingģ5 Delicious Pantry Recipes That Use What's Already in Your Cabinets and Freezer - Good Housekeeping It's been relocated and refurbished but yeah, it's still standing. Yikes! That creepy house wasn't real then, right?Īctually, it is. So, uhhh, taking inspiration from normal activities like Christmas shopping that makes a lot of sense, actually. Business casual.Ī popular read of the dinner scene with the villainous Sawyer family is that it parodies a stereotypical suburban family the likes of which we see in American sitcoms. The hitchhiker, the older brother at the gas station, the girl escaping twice, the dinner sequence, people out in the country out of gas.”Īnd yeah, the ones used in the film are actual chainsaws. I did a rack focus to the saws, and I thought, ‘I know a way I could get through this crowd really quickly.’ I went home, sat down, all the channels just tuned in, the zeitgeist blew through, and the whole damn story came to me in what seemed like about thirty seconds. “There were these big Christmas crowds, I was frustrated, and I found myself near a display rack of chain saws. Director Tobe Hooper explained to Texas Monthly: Oh, that part is actually inspired by a very real, very relatable real-life horror: holiday shopping. On that note, have fun trying to sleep tonight.
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So, basically, the cannibal crew in Texas Chainsaw Massacre is actually an amalgamation of lots of creepy IRL men, which definitely makes the entire movie much more terrifying. So this kind of moral schizophrenia is something I tried to build into the characters. He wanted it known that, now that he was caught, he would do the right thing. I saw some news report where Elmer Wayne.said, 'I did these crimes, and I'm gonna stand up and take it like a man.' Well, that struck me as interesting, that he had this conventional morality at that point. He was a young man who recruited victims for an older homosexual man.

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I definitely studied Gein.but I also noticed a murder case in Houston at the time, a serial murderer you probably remember named Elmer Wayne Henley. But what is the truth!? Video: 15 of the best horror movies

Director Tobe Hooper was inspired by the graphic way the news covered the arrest of serial killer Elmer Wayne Henley in 1973-as well as the televised coverage of the Vietnam War. One of the things that's cool about the original film is that it opens with a crawl that resembles a documentary or news report, which frames it as if it were a true story.

One notable member of the cannibalistic fam is Leatherface, whose preferred method of killing is with a chainsaw. Delightful! If you've already seen the film-which you should if your interests include being emotionally traumatized-then you know it's about a group of friends who are preyed on by a family of cannibals in the middle of nowhere.

The bad news is that the movie is most definitely based on a real-life murderer. The good news is that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is technically fictional. With a new Texas Chainsaw Massacre film starring Elsie Fisher coming to Netflix literally today, Leatherface fans are looking back at the franchise that began in 1974.
