Our society is a gullible sort of folk when it comes to our horror movies. If you put in a search in Google for “Leatherface true story” you will actually find a number of articles and blog postings that will tell you all the various “truths” about the movie. The fact is, the movie has very little truth in it at all. Both the older version and the remake are full of made up details, and other assorted made for the big screen type details. Still, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is an iconic horror movie that capitalizes quite well on the “true crime story” genre.
For the record, here are a number of facts and trivia surrounding the movie:
1. Thomas Hewitt, otherwise known as Leatherface in the movie never existed. The character of Leatherface is, however, loosely based on Ed Gein. They both wore human skin masks, and they both may have been cannibals. (it is insinuated in the film, and thought to be true of Gein)
2. The widely discussed crime scene footage at the beginning and end of the films is completely fake. There was no Thomas Hewitt, and so their was no crime scene footage.
3. Tobe Hooper actually got the idea for the movie while standing in a hardware store looking at chainsaws.
4. The real “Leatherface” Ed Gein was far from a chainsaw killer. A chainsaw was never actually used. He did kill two people that were verified, and he was suspected of several others. Oddly enough, he was more of a grave robber than a killer. Ed Gein had many body parts throughout his house that he used as day to day items. Some of these included furniture, skin masks and vests, bowls, and even a fridge full of human organs.
5. The Family in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre were completely made up and were in no way part of any true story.
Though The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is mostly fabricated, they did a masterful job of creating the aura of reality in adding the crime scene footage at the beginning and ending. This added a realistic element to the film and set the stage for the scares to come.
The first movie was also shot on film that had a very grainy documentary type feel to it. This added to the growing belief that the footage was somehow true, and it certainly made the film a lot more scary than it would have been on slick film. Both editions of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre use the reality factor to scare people out of their seats, and both of them did it quite well…. Even if it was made up.
Image Credited to Flickr User Looking Glass
