Slasher is hands down the best subgenre of horror. Nothing is better than watching a final girl outsmart the killer or anticipating the next jump scare. Some of the most iconic movies in American history are slasher films and what is the best franchise of them all, you ask? The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Original Director Tobe Hooper’s Inspirations Are Truly Horrifying
Unsurprisingly, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s beginnings are just as disturbing as the movie itself. Tobe Hooper drew his inspiration from three places. In 1972, he had a troubling thought when he got stuck in a big Christmas shopping crowd: “What if I took a chainsaw and cut through this crowd?”
The other ideas that appeared in the original 1974 film, like furniture made of human skin, Hooper took from the Ed Gein case. Gein was a serial killer who operated out of Plainfield, Wisconsin from 1947 to 1957. He had a terrifying obsession with body parts.
Hooper also drew inspiration for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre from another killer: Elmer Wayne Henley, an accomplice to the criminal Dean Corll. The true stories behind the movie are unthinkable. And the original director turned them into a horror movie classic that is still popular today.
You Never Know How Each ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ Will End
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By the third movie, franchises can get predictable. That is not the case with Chainsaw Massacre. The main idea is always similar: a group of young adults lose their way in rural Texas and run for their lives. They are getting away from a chainsaw-wielding maniac. Still, you don’t know who will make it to the end. Sometimes, there are even twists.
For example, in the 2003 version, Jessica Biel doesn’t get killed by Leatherface like you might think. She escapes in a car with a new friend: a baby she kidnaps from Leatherface’s accomplices. His accomplices, a woman oddly named The Tea Lady and her family, are a surprise, too.
The movies all have a different combination of people. You don’t know if there will be a grandpa like in the original. Or maybe there’ll be someone like Uncle Charlie, who controls Leatherface like in the 2006 version.
Leatherface Is the Scariest Antagonist
Freddy Krueger can get his victims in their dreams. Then, Michael Myers doesn’t even have to run to catch someone. The other guys are pretty scary, but nobody beats Leatherface.
Not only is he huge in stature, but he’s also pretty hard to outrun and knows how to use that chainsaw all too well. In 2013’s Texas Chainsaw, he even threw it at the main character in the middle of a carnival. He’s unpredictable and has proven that he’ll follow his victims anywhere.
Leatherface’s family also makes him the scariest antagonist. His crazed relatives help him capture his victims and, in some versions, even tell him what to do. The best example of this is in the original film. Leatherface’s brother, The Hitchhiker, tries to help their grandfather injure Sally with a hammer.
Even though Leatherface always gets the last victim, viewers wonder what part his disturbed family will play.
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