Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Leatherface’s Violent Backstory Explained
Leatherface (2017) reveals a canonical origin story of the horror icon Leatherface from the 1974 film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
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After nearly fifty years of waiting, Leatherface showcases the canonical origin story of the slasher icon Leatherface. The film hit theaters in 2017 and exposed the deeply troubled and human backstory of the chainsaw-wielding Texan. Directors Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo (Inside) alongside screenplay writer Seth M. Sherwood (Hell Fest) chose to follow the canon of the original 1974 film. Based on true events, Kim Henkel and the late Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre made a killing at the box office when it released to theaters. The film sparked an onslaught of sequels, prequels, and even video games. Since the 1974 release, fans have long awaited an origin story for the beloved Leatherface.
While Leatherface is not the first prequel in the franchise, it is the only one that follows the original canon. In 2003, director Marcus Nispel (Friday the 13th) remade The Texas Chainsaw Massacre under the same name. It gained so much success that it spawned a follow-up film. Directed by Jonathan Liebesman (Darkness Falls), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning released in 2006 and was the first prequel in the entire franchise. The film received overwhelmingly negative reviews from audiences and critics, making it a film fans would rather forget. In 2017, Leatherface offers a new approach to Leatherface’s violent origins.
The film follows Jackson/Jedidiah Sawyer (Sam Strike), starting in childhood and ascending to the moment he becomes Leatherface. In 1955, the Sawyers are doing what they know best; trapping and killing people. His mother Verna Sawyer, played by Lili Taylor of The Conjuring (2013), pushes pre-teenage Jackson/Jedidiah to use a chainsaw to mutilate the sheriff’s daughter. He murders the girl. Rather than getting away with the bloodshed, the Sawyers experience repercussions for the first time. Jackson/Jedidiah Sawyer is taken from the family home and placed in a mental institution by sheriff Hal Hartman played by Stephen Dorff (Blade). Ten years later, he remains in the institution.
Leatherface’s Violent Origin Story Made Him A Killer
As Verna attempts to visit her son, she is turned away. Out of frustration, she starts a riot that results in Jackson/Jed, Bud (Sam Coleman), Clarice (Jessica Madsen), and Ike (James Bloor) escaping with a nurse named Elizabeth (Vanessa Grasse). What ensues is a bloody police hunt that escalates to Jackson/Jedidiah, along with the sheriff and Elizabeth, returning to the infamous Sawyer homestead. Verna urges Jackson/Jed to murder the sheriff with a chainsaw, to which obliges. Turning the weapon towards Elizabeth, she reminds him that there is good inside of him and he hesitates for a moment. Regardless, Verna’s pleas to kill her successfully push Jackson/Jed to decapitate Elizabeth.
Leatherface’s origin story is not unfamiliar. As is true with many slasher icons, it all comes back to their mother, such as Jason Voorhees of Friday the 13th. While it’s not entirely original, elements of the film set Leatherface a part from the rest. When Verna urges him to kill, he attempts to resist. Early in the film, he yells out “no” repeatedly when he kills the sheriff’s daughter and at the end he hesitates to kill Elizabeth. Verna’s manipulation of her son is what created a killer, alongside the idea that the Sawyer family destiny is to kill. In the last remaining minutes of the film, Jackson/Jed makes a mask out of human skin and breaks a mirror at the sight of himself. This moment reveals that Leatherface was born out of disgust towards himself, his mother’s influence, and feeling constrained to a life of evil even with the good inside of him.
This is the first time a prequel for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre delivers more an inexplicable drive to kill. It provides texture to a complex and iconic figure in the horror genre. Leatherface reveals the backstory of a deeply troubled boy who was manipulated into murder by his mother and a supposed birthright that transformed him into Leatherface.
Link Source : https://screenrant.com/texas-chainsaw-massacre-leatherfaces-violent-backstory-explained/