Leatherface Mask
When The Texas Chainsaw Massacre came out in theaters in 1974 there was much speculation among the many viewers as to whether it was in fact based upon true events. Leatherface mask started popping up on people’s doorsteps on Halloween.
In fact the movie was based on incidents that occurred in the fifties in Plainfield Wisconsin by the infamous Edward “ED” Gein.
It was also the genius behind a few other horror movies of that day.
Leatherface and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was filmed on a less than 300,000 dollar budget in Texas.
Upon its release it was banned outright in several different countries. However it’s Oct 1974 release quickly spawned many Leatherface mask wearing people that Halloween and for many Halloweens after.
The gruesomeness and out and out violence of the movie that was billed as being based on true events was too much for the time that it was released in. It wasn’t until 1978 when John Carpenters “Halloween” was released that these “types” of films really became popular.
So the question still remains did it happen? Is Leatherface real? Is he still out there attacking weary and lost travelers every chance he gets. First let’s examine the story to search for facts before you refuse to let your child wear a Leatherface mask on Halloween. Because let’s face it, truth is much more apt to make us shudder and turn away that fiction is.
The story itself is based on a group of teenagers (when aren’t they) who are heading out to Texas to see an old homestead. They pick up a hitchhiker along the way and then once into the country they run into a family of cannibals who pick them off one by one.
The most gruesome scene in the movie has to be when one of the travelers Sally has to sit and watch the grandfather of the family eat sausage that was made out of her friends. He then proceeds to try and kill her with a hammer to the head but is too weak to do the job. The extreme violence in the movie is what put many people off although it has since become a classic.
The man in the Leatherface mask was the star of the movie so to speak and set the bar for larger than life, faceless killers in horror movies. He also appeared in the movies that were made after the original. He was the thing that nightmares were made of in the early 1970’s.
Still all and all with the violence and the hype surrounding the movie it still was not based on true events. The idea for the movie actually came to director Toby Harper in a crowded department store while looking at a bunch of chainsaws. He was wondering if he could get out easier if he picked up one and fought his way out. That is where the inspiration for the movie with the villain in the Leatherface mask truly came from. But hey! Its fun to watch…for some of us anyway.
