Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelMyers
There is a disclaimer at the beginning of TCM saying the story is based on true events. And, without revealing too much, I have encountered Leatherface personally.
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Haha. There are numerous circulated stories of how Leatherface was loosely based on the real life exploits of deranged American serial killer
Ed Gein, who made things out of body parts and even used them as ornaments or cooking ingredients.
But hey if you're using Ed Gein, you might as well think about the Holocaust, that weird family doctor, or even that weird guy from high school (maybe you're the weird guy!).
Incidentally, in terms of realism, in the original Hooper film, Leatherface uses two pronounced weapons --- obviously, his symbolic terrifying buzzing chainsaw but also a mighty and devastating mini-sledgehammer.
Leatherface wielding a sledgehammer highlights the ghoul's mastery over pure devastation (of the flesh), while the chainsaw represents his 'control' over anarchy and murder (since a chainsaw is both efficient and powerful).
In the Hooper film, Leatherface kills two young men with his sledgehammer but one young man (Franklin, in a wheelchair) with his chainsaw.
The brutal realism of murder and panic created by the sledgehammer and chainsaw signify Hooper's focus on the relentlessness of Leatherface's mania.
Other directors have reinterpreted this use of weapons-based realism. In
TCM 3 (1990), Leatherface's chainsaw is presented more as a mystical wand like
Excalibur.
