Creating a storm of fear when it was first released in 1974,The Texas Chainsaw Massacrehas inspired endless sequels and prequels. While none ever quite lived up to the original,each film creates its own timelineand lore. This is while retaining the Ed Gein-inspired, chainsaw-wielding charcter of Leatherface. Two films in particular have attempted to construct his origin story. 2006’sThe Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginningkicks off the ‘Rebooted/Hewitt’ timeline where Leatherface is Thomas Hewitt: a man whose mother died during childbirth and was cast into a dumpster where his foster mother found him, leading him to later be employed at a slaughterhouse. However, it’s in the ‘Revised Sawyer’ timeline, specifically in 2017’sLeatherface, where we get a more comprehensive backstory for the human-skin-clad killer.
Leatherface
A teenage Leatherface escapes from a mental hospital with three other inmates, kidnapping a young nurse and taking her on a road trip from hell, while being pursued by a lawman out for revenge.
Leatherface Has a Sadistic Childhood and Family
Beginning 18 years beforeTobe Hooper’sclassic,Leatherfaceintroduces us to a diabolical family celebrating the birthday of a young Jedidiah Sawyer (Boris Kabakchiev). We quickly learn that Jed’s family has a horrific influence on him, fueling a culture of violence and apathy that he’s initially uncomfortable with. He refuses to rip apart his gift, a kidnapped neighbor, and the only capacity in which he contributes to his family’s murdering ways is through being bait. Interestingly enough, the first kill he helps with actually involves the girlfriend of Ted Hardesty (Julian Kostov), who’s actually the father offinal girl Sally(Marilyn Burns) and Franklin (Paul Partain) from the original movie. Interestingly, the scenes explaining this connection were cut due to budget reasons, according toSeth Sherwood, in an interview with Bloody Disgusting. The victim also happened to be the daughter of Texas Ranger Hal Hartman (Stephen Dorff), who later becomes the antagonist of the film and is also the father of Burt Hartman (Paul Rae) inTexas Chainsaw 3D (2017).
Meeting the family would have been a long-awaited treat for most fans, especially since this is the first time we officially meet Grandpa Sawyer (Eduard Parsehyan) and the elusive Verna Sawyer (Lili Taylor). Grandpa Sawyer is as manic and savage among the living as he was as a corpse in the original classic. Meanwhile, as the matriarch of the family, Verna has a fierce hold overthe Sawyer family tree, and it is clear where her boys get their bloodthirsty tendencies from. We also meet Jed’s older brothers, Drayton Sawyer (Dimo Alexiev), who is dubbed the “Cook” in the 1974 film, and Nubbins Sawyer (Dejan Angelov), the hitchhiker. Surrounded by these smarmy characters, it’s a wonder that Jed wasn’t immediately attuned to violence. So how did this reluctant child turn into the ruthless, single-minded killer we know?
How Leatherface Became ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ Killer
Leatherfaceemphasizes the more innocent and untainted side of Jed before revealing his devolution into a killer during the final scenes. After helping to kill Hartman’s daughter, Jed was abruptly separated from his family and left to rot in a Youth Reformatory. Filled with unwanted children and those from criminal families, the reformatory was helmed by a corrupt Dr Lang (Christopher Adamson) who would torture the inmates with electroshock therapy. The children are also stripped of their names and given new ones, so when upon the audience’s arrival at the reformatory in 1965, we have no idea who Jed is. ThroughoutLeatherface, we follow Jackson (Sam Strike) and Bud (Sam Coleman) as they escape the hellish prison alongside Nurse Lizzie (Vanessa Grasse) and two other inmates while Hartman is onto them. Although the narrative frames Bud as Jed, we discover that the lost Sawyer is in fact Jackson.
Despite the atrocious environment Jackson/Jed grows up in, he manages to create meaningful relationships with Bud and Lizzie. He even sustains his ideology of abstaining from violence, and it’s actually Bud that does most of the gruesome killing. In a cruel twist of fate, Bud is killed by a police officer and Jed blames Lizzie for it, destroying his trust in others. While they flee in the police car, a bullet from Hartman crudely tears the side of Jed’s face, deftly foreshadowing his future penchant for masks. But it’s in the final scenes, where Hartman and Lizzie are captured by the Sawyer family and Jed reunites with his mother, that his transformation occurs. Ripping a chainsaw through Hartman marks the point when Jed officially becomes a chainsaw-wielding killer, while effortlessly beheading Lizzy marks the end of Jed’s capacity for good. It’s the final scene, where Jed dons a crudely sewn mask, made of the skin from his victims' faces, that cements hisbirth and future legacy as Leatherface.
Leatherface’s Mother Is the Real Villain
Leatherface’s origin story is rooted in his upbringing and a truckload of neglect. The powerful presence of Verna Sawyer commands everyone’s attention each time she appears on-screen.The Conjuringstar, Taylor, gives a compelling performance that makes Verna’s hold on everyone in her household completely believable. Even when she grotesquely sews together Jed’s wound, there’s a sense of deadly manipulation in her maternal act. Jed’s transition into a killer was clearly a nurture over nature situation as his childhood destroyed his psyche, allowing his mother to gently nudge him into violence. However, he could arguably have a genetic predisposition to violence, considering who his family is, and was just returning to his natural instincts over the course of the film.
Either way, Verna was truly the instigator of the murderous tendencies inherent in her children. Although each of them are responsible for their own actions in bothLeatherfaceandThe Texas Chainsaw Massacre, you’re able to almost sense Verna’s ghostly hand guiding each of their later decisions. Thanks to Verna’s questionable methods of raising her children, the Texan town will forever be marked by the rampaging legacy of Leatherface.
Leatherfaceis available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S.
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