The list of members of the Hewitt/Sawyer family
Contents |
The Sawyers (renamed the Hewitts in the remake and its prequel) are a large, Southern white-American family of inbred butchers, cannibals and serial killers in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, who live in the Texas backwoods, where they abduct, torture, murder, and eat stranded motorists. The family uses booby traps and man-traps, such as bear traps and spike traps, to capture or kill victims, as the family engages in human hunting also. The family also owns a gas station, where they sell the meat from the victims as barbecue and chili. It has been confirmed in the crossover comic book series Jason vs. Leatherface, and in various interviews and commentaries on the original films, that the Sawyer family did engage in inbreeding, something that was heavily implied in the third film, though in the recent remake continuation of the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre comics and the film Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, the Hewitt family were only implied at having engaged in the act of inbreeding, first in the Wildstorm comics and again in the movie, when a captive named Chrissie confronts the Hewitts about it. As seen in Texas Chainsaw Massacres 2, 3, the remake & the prequel, the family (both Sawyer and Hewitt) are fond of leaving bodies in mass body pits or mass graves in various parts of Texas. The inspiration for the family was real killer Ed Gein, whom the film makers also based Leatherface on. This being confirmed on the audio commentary for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre by director Tobe Hooper.
Chop Top Sawyer is one of Leatherface's many brothers. Chop Top's real name is never revealed. Chop Top also has the same bizarre birth mark as his twin brother the hitchhiker, except Chop Top's is on the other side of his face. He appears in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 as one of the film's villains and is portrayed by Bill Moseley.[1] Chop Top is also in the habit of scratching around his metal plate with a heated clothes hanger, he then eats the dead skin he has picked off. Both director Tobe Hooper and actor Bill Moseley state that if he scratches in the right spot, Chop Top will instantly "get off". It is explained by Tobe Hooper that Chop Top was in Vietnam at the time of the first film. It is in Vietnam where Chop Top receives his head wound by a "lucky gook with a machete". Chop Top has pale skin, like an albino. Tobe Hooper stated on the audio commentary for Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, that Chop Top's character was originally that of the Hitchhiker, who had a metal plate grafted onto his skull after the events of the 1974 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and was referred to as "Plate-Head", but the character later evolved into his twin, Chop Top.
Chop Top is a deranged and sadistic individual who gleefully murders people when given the chance. He possesses a "hippie"-like mentality and view on life, stating that "music is his life" and revealing that he is a fan of the bands Iron Butterfly and Humble Pie. Chop Top often remarks about Ho Chi Minh and napalm, as he is a Vietnam veteran, and he also talks about having flashbacks from the war. Chop Top adorns himself in a variety of tattered, multi-color clothing.[2] In The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Chop Top first appears alongside Leatherface (Bill Johnson) in a pick up truck. Together they attack a pair of drunk motorists who are in a smaller car on a bridge. Chop Top and Leatherface kill the two men, not realizing that their attack on the drivers was being recorded at a radio station the two drunken men had called using a car phone prior to the attack. When DJ Vanita "Stretch" Brock (Caroline Williams) plays the recording of Chop Top and Leatherface's attack on the drivers over the radio, the two brothers break into the radio station with the intention of killing Vanita, but the brothers' plan is not carried out. Leatherface, having become infatuated with Vanita, tricks Chop Top into believing he has killed her. When the two leave the station they take an injured co-worker of Vanita's with them.
When Chop Top and brother Drayton (Jim Siedow) discover that Vanita is still alive after finding her in the Sawyer family's home in an abandoned amusement park called the Texas Battle Land, which Chop Top bought using government checks,[1] the brothers hold her captive and decide to let the decrepit patriarch of the Sawyer family, Grandpa (Ken Evert), kill her with Chop Top's help. Vanita is saved when protagonist Lieutenant "Lefty" Enright (Dennis Hopper) arrives and engages Leatherface in a chainsaw duel. The battle between the Sawyers and Lefty reaches a climax when a hand grenade, accidentally set off by Drayton, explodes and kills Grandpa, Lefty, Drayton and possibly Leatherface, as well as presumably destroying the puppet-like corpse of Nubbins Sawyer.
Narrowly escaping the grenade explosion, Chop Top follows Vanita to the top of the Matterhorn attraction in the Texas Battle Land, which the Sawyers converted into a shrine known as "Chainsaw Heaven".[1] Slashing Vanita and himself several times with a straight razor, Chop Top apparently meets his end when Vanita stumbles upon the mummified corpse of Great-Grandma Sawyer and tears a chainsaw out of the corpse's abdomen. In the ensuing struggle, Chop Top is sent plummeting into the ruins of Texas Battle Land.[2]
Though Chop Top does not appear in the 1991 Leatherface by Northstar Comics, a reference to him is made through the use of his catchphrase "Lick my plate!", seen spray-painted on the side of Alfredo Sawyer's Last Chance Gas Station.[3] In Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, the original script had the character of Alfredo as his brother Chop Top, but due to copyrights he evolved into the character of Alfredo. This was revealed on the film's audio commentary. In this film he also has another brother named Tech/Tinker, who is a fellow hippy and music lover (as seen in the comics based on the film). Tech has an unnatural metallic body piece like his brother, though in his case it is a hook hand instead of a head plate & he also drives a large pick up truck, which is similar to the truck owned by Chop Top has in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, although Tech seems to have suped his truck up, basically making it into a monster truck.
All American Massacre is an unreleased film directed by William Hooper, son of Tobe Hooper. The film was to serve as a prequel to the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre series. The film was to feature Chop Top who had been captured and placed into a psychiatric prison. Memories of how his family became killers and cannibals were to feature in the film, as he was interviewed by a tabloid television journalist. Bill Moseley portrays Chop Top in the film's trailer.
Drayton "The Cook" Sawyer,[4] portrayed by Jim Siedow, appears in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.
In all of his appearances, Drayton is an antagonist. A mentally unstable and murderous cannibal, Drayton, along with his family of fellow cannibals and serial killers, lives in the backwoods of Texas, preying upon travelers, whom he and his relatives capture and devour, selling some of their meat to unwary people in chili at his restaurant/gas station. He also gets mad at Leatherface for ruining the house. Drayton's name wasn't mentioned until the second film, the first simply referred to him as Cook and Old Man.[4] Like his brother Nubbins, Drayton seems to be suffering from a mental disorder, probably schizophrenia or multiple personalities, as he is seen enjoying the torture of his family's victims, but at one point he flips personalities and is disgusted by the torment as his more empathic side surfaces. His personality disorder has been discussed by Tobe Hooper several times, like on the audio commentary for Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. Drayton often bickers with the rest of his brothers and is abusive towards them, and though he appears to be the head of the household, his brothers often mock and antagonize him and his authority.
Drayton Sawyer makes his debut appearance in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, in which he first appears as the proprietor of the Last Chance Gas Station, a gas station and barbecue (with an unnamed car door window washer as an employee), where a group of teenagers stop while passing through the area. Drayton's malevolent nature is revealed later in the film, when he beats Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns) unconscious and captures her after she approaches him seeking help when her friends disappear and her brother Franklin (Paul A. Partain) gets killed by Leatherface. Having been chased by Leatherface previously, she is highly hysterical after her shocking experience. Taking Sally to his home, Drayton torments her alongside his siblings, Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen) and Nubbins the Hitchhiker (Edwin Neal), before deciding to let the family patriarch, Grandpa (John Dugan), kill her. When Grandpa proves too decrepit to kill Sally with a hammer, Drayton, the Hitchhiker and Leatherface attempt to aid him, but only succeed in losing grasp on Sally, who flees out a window, he is the only one of the three brothers who does not pursue her choosing instead to stay behind with grandpa. The more humane side of Drayton is revealed when he states "I just can't take no pleasure in killing" after Hitchhiker accuses him of doing nothing but cooking while he and Leatherface do all the killing.[4]
In The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Drayton reappears, now he and his family are living in an abandoned amusement park in Dallas (called Texas Battle Land), due to the intense police investigation sparked by the events of the first film, with what remains of his family, Leatherface (Bill Johnson), Chop Top (Bill Moseley) and Grandpa (Ken Evert). Now a two time award-winning chili cook selling his meat at a Chilli Cook-off (dismissing the bones and teeth as peppercorns), Drayton appears far more unhinged than in the previous film, happily joining in on his family's murderous frenzies, which previously disturbed him somewhat. In public, Drayton displays a very happy people person personality he did the same in the first film to lure the young adults to their deaths and most likely others but his mental disease shows up once he's back with his family as an angry man. Drayton dies, off-screen, at the end of the film, when, during the fight between Leatherface and Lieutenant "Lefty" Enright (Dennis Hopper), he is accidentally struck by Leatherface and the hand grenade he is holding (planning to commit suicide and destroy the hideout with) explodes prematurely.[2] In this film, Drayton also rambles about the plight of the small business man and how crooks, politicians and movie stars don't pay taxes, yet he and his poor family have to. The only reference of Drayton made in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 was when Sawyer brother Tinker gives a large chromed chainsaw he crafted to Leatherface as a gift, on the saw's blade he engraved a quote of Drayton's from the second film ("The saw is family"). Drayton was originally set to be the grandfather in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 4, but when Jim Siedow turned down the role, director Kim Henkel replaced Drayton as the grandfather and turned the character into Grandpa from the earlier films, though the character is still referred to as "Grandfather".
In Topps Comics' 1995 comic miniseries Jason vs. Leatherface, Drayton, only identified by the name Cook Slaughter, appears as a main character. After Leatherface and the Hitchhiker bring Jason Voorhees, the main antagonist of the Friday the 13th franchise home, Drayton befriends him and inducts him in as an unofficial member of the Sawyer family.[5]
The comics expand on Drayton's back story, revealing that, though he aspires to gain fame and fortune using his culinary skills in the city, he stays in the Texan backwoods due to a vow he made to his younger sister Velma on her deathbed, promising he would always look after her children, the Hitchhiker and Leatherface. The comics imply that he is both their father and uncle and they were merely adopted and treated by him as brothers: they suggest that Leatherface and Hitchhiker were born of incest between Drayton and Velma Sawyer as they refer to Velma as having been both their sister and mother. The comics also portray Drayton as much more apathetic and lax towards his relatives murdering of people, with him, at one point, stating that he wishes the Hitchhiker and Jason, who had just delivered to him a freshly killed couple, had brought him some children as well ("their meat's so much more tender...").[6] At one point in the comics Drayton even attacks Jason with a meat cleaver and helps dispose of his body, which the Sawyer brothers dump into a lake. Drayton is also seen wearing an apron which reads "Kiss the Cook" throughout the series.
A character very similar to Drayton, in both appearance and mannerisms, appears in the Wildstorm comics continuation of the remake series, though his specialty is not chili, but ribs. He is referred to as The Cook (real name unknown), and is one of the modern members of the Hewitt family. He lives in the Hewitt household in Travis County with Leatherface and an unnamed butcher. As his title suggests, he specializes in food preparation and often attends the annual "Meatfest" event. At Meatfest, the Cook offers guests a sampling of his "Texas beef ribs", which are presumably made from people, not cattle. In the comic "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Cut!", which took place in 2007, the Cook met an amateur film maker named Mike who wanted to make a movie based on the famous Hewitt murders of 1974. The Cook invited Mike and his three colleagues to the Hewitt house though they were unaware that he was actually one of the cannibal family members. The Cook's family members, the Butcher and Leatherface killed the four film enthusiasts whereupon they were taken into the family slaughter room. The Cook was last seen attending Meatfest '08, once again serving up his special ribs.
Drayton is set to appear in the upcoming The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D this time portrayed by Bill Moseley, due to Jim Siedow's death in 2000
Grandpa Sawyer appears in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and its sequel The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, portrayed by John Dugan and Ken Evert, respectively.[2][4] and appears in more of the franchise than any other character besides Leatherface. He is a supercentenarian, former butcher/slaughterman and implied mass murderer. Director Tobe Hooper stated on the audio commentary for Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, that Grandpa is kept alive by drinking the blood of his family's victims.
Snippets of Grandpa's history prior to the events of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre films occur throughout the series; it is revealed that Grandpa was originally a worker at a slaughterhouse whose skills at killing and butchering cattle were unmatched. After new technology was implemented in abattoirs, Grandpa quit his job due to "the shame" (not being able to cope with the noises the machines are making). Grandpa later apparently settled down with the unnamed Grandma and began a family, the cannibalistic Sawyers (how they became cannibalistic is never revealed, though it is implied that they resorted to cannibalism in order to survive starvation, because the family was already poor when Grandpa and the rest of his family quit working).[4]
In The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, the 124 year old Grandpa (John Dugan) appears as a somewhat minor character, initially thought to be already dead; he is first seen briefly during Leatherface's chase scene, Sally approaches him seeking help but assumes he is dead when she sees how old he is. Later after heroine Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns) is captured by his grandchildren, Drayton (Jim Siedow), Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen) and the Hitchhiker (Edwin Neal), Grandpa is taken from the second floor of the house and brought to her by them. Leatherface proceeds to slash Sally's finger and forces it into Grandpa's mouth, so he can suck her blood (proving that he is, in fact, alive), an event that causes Sally to fall unconscious. Some time after Sally is awakened, Drayton, Leatherface and the Hitchhiker decide to allow Grandpa to end her life through the use of a hammer; due to his advanced age, Grandpa is largely incapable of using the hammer efficiently and continues to drop it. The hassle that ensues with Grandpa's continued dropping of the hammer and his grandchildren's over-eagerness to help him allows Sally to break free of the Sawyer family and jump out a window, though he and Drayton do not attempt to follow her.[4]
Grandpa (Ken Evert), now 137 years old, later appears in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, inhabiting an abandoned theme park named the "Texas Battle Land" with what remains of his family; when the film's heroine, Vanita "Stretch" Brock (Caroline Williams), is captured by his grandson Chop Top (Bill Moseley), Grandpa is brought forth to kill her (in the same way he tried to do to Sally) with help from Chop Top, unlike in the first film here he actually lands a hit though he succeeds in only causing a minor head wound to her with a sledgehammer (and a second wound caused by an impatient Drayton). When Lieutenant "Lefty" Enright (Dennis Hopper), the film's male protagonist, engages in a chainsaw duel with Leatherface (Bill Johnson), Grandpa attempts to aid his grandson by throwing a hammer at his opponent, only to hit Leatherface instead and subsequently fall to the floor (which alludes the first film's climax). Grandpa apparently meets his demise when a grenade, accidentally set off by an injured Drayton (Jim Siedow), Lefty and Leatherface, detonates in close proximity to him.[2]
In Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, which has connections to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Grandpa appears only as a decayed corpse kept and treated as if he were alive by Leatherface (R. A. Mihailoff) and his new extended family who regularly pour blood into his mouth to "feed" him; when one of the film's protagonists, Benny (Ken Foree), opens fire on the Sawyer house with an automatic rifle, Grandpa's body takes several shots to the chest and one to the face, but the body is left for the most part intact.[7] On the special documentary on Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, director Jeff Burr mentions that Grandpa is "on his way out" meaning that the corpse of Grandpa still might have some life in him. Also in this film, the character of Mama mentions that she castrated both herself and "Papa", referring to Grandpa, implying an incestous relationship between the two.
In the 1994 film Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, a minor character very similar to Grandpa, referred to as "Grandfather" (Grayson Victor Schirmacher), appears as a member of the Sawyer family.[8] The character might, in fact, be Grandpa, as the film possibly takes place in its own continunity. In Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Grandpa was also credited as "Grandfather".
In the 1991 Leatherface comics by Northstar Comics, which are based upon Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, Grandpa appears, though he is portrayed as extremely different in this appearance than in others; instead of the solitary and silent figure he is usually shown as, this version of Grandpa is depicted as a rambling old man with a habit of telling non-linear stories, he also seems to be much younger and more in shape than in the films (he still seems to be much more sane and harmless than the rest of the family though) and appears largely oblivious to his surroundings. It is also revealed by the character Mama that Grandpa isn't biologically related to the featured version of the Sawyer family and that he was abandoned as a child and subsequently adopted into it.[9]
Grandpa also appears throughout the 1995 Jason vs. Leatherface comic miniseries by Topps Comics; in the comics, Grandpa acts as essentially nothing more than a background character and has little interaction with any other characters, mostly appearing only in dinner scenes. Also of note, a picture depicting a much younger Grandpa is found by Jason Voorhees in the attic of the Sawyer house.[10]
John Dugan will reprise his role for the upcoming The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D after 37 years.
Luda May Hewitt (sometimes spelled Luda Mae) appeared in the 2003 remake and its prequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. She was portrayed by Marietta Marich.
Luda May Hewitt is the matriarch of the Hewitt family and the mother of Sheriff Hoyt. She found the young baby who would later become Leatherface abandoned in a dumpster, and took him in to raise him as her son, naming him Thomas Brown Hewitt.[11]
Luda May runs a local butcher shop in Texas, selling meat from the people her son Hoyt captures and her adoptive son Thomas kills and cuts up, and is the first member of Leatherface's family that the teenaged protagonists meet in the first film. Unlike in the original 1974 film, in which Leatherface's family was somewhat abusive to him, Luda May is fiercely protective of him. Part of her hatred towards the teenagers is due to the abuse that her deformed, mute, mentally retarded son suffered as a child at the hands of bullies.[12] On the commentary for the DVD release the writers revealed a cut plotline that, prior to the prequel's continuity, involved Leatherface's abusive father locking him in a woodshack for three years. Once her husband dies, Luda May vows that she had stood by long enough and decides to look after her son and take responsibility for his shortcomings.[13] Though Luda May states that she "never had a little girl", she appears very close to the character of Henrietta, leading to the possibility that she is her mother, or at the very least related. She also appears very close to the obese character of the Tea Lady. Like the other members of her clan, Luda May has a deranged sense of family pride.
Marich has commented that "Luda Mae is the matriarch of what I like to call the 'killer brood'. I always make up a personal history of characters I play, so I suspect that Luda Mae was a homeless young woman who had to make her own way during the Depression. When she finds Thomas, she takes him home, even though he's disfigured and hideously ugly, and protects him as much as possible from the cruel people he encounters and the world at large. That's her main purpose, and the only reason Luda Mae sticks around".[14] In the prequel, she, with the rest of the Hewitt family, are discovered to be cannibals, something only implied in the first film.[11] Like the mother of real killer Ed Gein (whom Thomas is based on), Luda Mae appears to have religious fanatic beliefs, which are seen when the Hewitts inform a captive that their murders are redemption for the victims' sins, and when Luda Mae demands that Hoyt say grace before every meal. Luda Mae is also seen still wearing her wedding ring.
Luda May is a prominent character in Wildstorm Comics's continuation of the movies. With the family exposed after the events of the first film, the comics finds the Hewitt family living in a series of tunnels in the sewers of Travis County. In the comics Luda May has become, perhaps in light of Sheriff Hoyt's death, more of a leader figure to the family than she was in the films. She exhibits more depravity as well (at one point snapping a victim's neck to prepare dinner) but still believes what she does is necessary for her family's survival, and that outsiders don't understand what she's been through and have no right to judge her.
Luda May also appears in the one-shot The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: About a Boy. Taking place in Leatherface's teenage years, the story has a concerned teacher named Mr.Hanson meeting with Luda May. Hanson tells her about evidence of Thomas' various problems, such as disturbing drawings in his notebooks and skins made from animals he has caught and killed himself. Throughout the conversation, Luda May remains apathetic, stating that "There's nothing wrong with my boy". When the frustrated teacher threatens to contact the city about Thomas, Luda May retaliates, bashing in the teacher's head with a shovel and killing him, once again proclaiming that there was nothing wrong with her son.[15]
Nubbins Sawyer (called "the Hitchhiker" in the credits, real name revealed by Drayton Sawyer in the sequel) appears in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and in the first sequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. Edwin Neal portrays him as a mentally unstable and murderous cannibal and grave robber; he lives with his equally depraved family, the Sawyers, in the back roads of Texas, capturing, torturing and feasting on unwary travellers.[4][4] Though sadistic and violent, he is generally one of the least threatening characters in the movie, being not very intelligent, and behaving erratically. The character also has a bizarre speech impediment and a large birth mark on the side of his face. His speech impediment came from the actor who portrayed him, Edwin Neal, who played the hitchhiker as someone who suffered from schizophrenia.
The Hitchhiker first appears in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre walking along a road, where he is picked up by a group of friends traveling through the area, who feel sorry for him having to walk in the heat.The group ask him what he was doing out there and he tells them that he was "over at the slaughterhouse" where he and "his brother" and "his grandfather" used to work and shows them pictures of him and his family killing the cattle while telling them a story about how headcheese comes from the cows there when their heads are melted, all the while attempting to get them to drop him off at his home and even inviting them to dinner. The Hitchhiker soon begins acting erratically after being given back the photographs by the disgusted travelers, slashing his own hand with a pocket knife; after Franklin Hardesty (Paul A. Partain) refuses to buy a picture he took of him, the Hitchhiker sets the photo on fire and slashes Franklin's arm with a straight razor before being kicked out of the van. The Hitchhiker briefly chases after the van, kicking, yelling and smearing a bloody hand print on it, but soon relinquishes his attack on it.[4]
The film later identifies the Hitchhiker as the brother of the two other main villains of the film, Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen) and Drayton Sawyer (Jim Siedow), as well as the middle son of a family of mentally unstable and murderous cannibals. It's also revealed that he was the one responsible for the grave robbings mentioned at the beginning of the film. Together, they torment Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns), Franklin's sister whom Drayton had captured. Eventually deciding to kill Sally, the Hitchhiker, Drayton and Leatherface are at first content to allow their highly-regarded Grandpa (John Dugan) to do so, but when Grandpa proves unable to kill Sally with a hammer, the Hitchhiker and his brothers become impatient and over-eager in trying to help him, the Hitchhiker forgets to keep a hold on Sally, allowing her break free of their grasp and jump out a nearby window; as Sally flees, the Hitchhiker and Leatherface give chase to her, with the Hitchhiker catching up to her on a road. While slashing Sally with a knife, the Hitchhiker meets his demise when he is run over by an 18-wheeler.[4]
In The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, the Hitchhiker appears only as a macabre puppet-like corpse: his family has reassembled him after the events of the first film, and his twin brother, Chop Top (Bill Moseley) carries him around and treats him as if he were still alive. At one point, Drayton refers to him as Nubbins, indicating that that is his name. The Hitchhiker's corpse is presumably destroyed when a hand grenade, accidentally set off by Drayton and the film's secondary protagonist, Lieutenant "Lefty" Enright (Dennis Hopper), blows up the family's hideout with the Hitchhiker's body in it.[2] In the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3, another Sawyer brother, Alfredo, appears to be very similar to his brother Nubbins, like the hitchhiker, Alfredo has a speech impediment and he also uses an old polaroid camera to shock people. Also, in this movie Nubbins has another brother, Tex/Eddie, who hitchhikes. In the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 4, another Sawyer brother named Vilmer practices self mutilation like the Hitchhiker. In the original script for the Texas Chansaw Massacre 4, Vilmer's character was originally the Hitchhiker, but when Edwin Neal turned down the role, his character was replaced with Vilmer.
In the Jason vs. Leatherface Topps Comics' miniseries, Nubbins the Hitchhiker (bearing only a minor resemblance to his film counterpart and without his name mentioned) appears as a main character. Encountering Jason Voorhees (the main villain of the Friday the 13th franchise) in the woods near the Sawyer house, the Hitchhiker, after seeing Jason non-lethally disarm Leatherface after a brief skirmish and decapitate a man he and Leatherface were chasing, befriends him and takes him home, where Jason is inducted as an unofficial member of the family by Drayton. After a fight happens between Jason and the family, the Hitchhiker "kills" Jason by bashing him in the head with a hammer.[5]
The miniseries expands upon the Hitchhiker's character, revealing that he owns a pet dog named Sparky (whom he killed by shooting in the head and treats as if it were still alive) and that he creates furniture and sculptures out of corpses (another possible reference to Ed Gein, upon whom The Texas Chainsaw Massacre series is loosely based).[16] The miniseries also showed the extent of the Hitchhiker's abuse of Leatherface whom the Hitchhiker constantly bullies for little or no reason (although he apparently respects Leatherface's prowess at frightening and killing people, as he laments to Jason). The comics also hint that the Hitchhiker, as well as Leatherface, were born of incest, with Drayton's younger sister Velma being implicated as being their sister and mother.[6] The Hitchhiker is also seen driving a tow truck and working at the family gas station, where he sabotages motorists' automobiles. He then informs his family and they attack they newly stranded people. The Hitchhiker's bizarre birth mark also changes shape several times throughout the comics, at one point it takes the form of a swastika and a lightning bolt. After "killing" Jason, the Hitchhiker's brother Drayton (called Cook Slaughter in the comics) implicates that the Hitchhiker killed his own cousin named Emery with a two-by-four after a losing a game of checkers, to which the hitchhiker replies "He shouldn't have laughed at me".
An unnamed character (simply called "The Butcher") similar to the Hitchhiker in both mannerisms and appearance appears in the one-shot comic book The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Cut! by Wildstorm, which takes place in the remake continuity of the films. A member of the Hewitt family and brother to Leatherface and an unnamed, Drayton Sawyer-esque character (simply called "The Cook"), the Hitchhiker look-alike utilizes a sledge hammer and bolt stunner as his weapons. In the comic, the character terrorizes and murders two members of a group of teenagers seeking to make an amateur film about the Hewitt family murders, and near the end of it, aids his siblings in slaughtering the film project's director in a manner similar to livestock.[17]
Charles "Charlie" Hewitt, Jr., a.k.a Sheriff Winston Hoyt appears as Leatherface's adoptive brother/stepuncle in the 2003 remake of the 1974 film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and its prequel The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. He is portrayed by Golden Globe nominee R. Lee Ermey.
A POW during the Korean War, Charles Hewitt is forced into cannibalism to survive, as rations are extremely scarce. Each week, someone has to be killed and eaten. Charlie apparently grows to like the taste of human flesh and later introduces the grisly practice to his family, the Hewitts, who also start to like the taste of human meat.[11]
Charlie, armed with a shotgun, shoots and kills the local sheriff, Winston Hoyt at point-blank range during the sheriff's attempt to apprehend his adopted brother/nephew, Thomas for murdering his boss at the meat factory. Charlie then takes on the identity of the murdered sheriff, who was the last member of law enforcement left in Travis County. He uses this new identity to lure teenagers off the road where they meet Leatherface and his family to be killed and eaten.[11] As he guides his family's killing spree, Charlie/Hoyt himself becomes a serial killer and begins to use torture murder as he and his family capture victims they have hatred for. Hoyt is arguably one of the driving forces behind Leatherface's cannibalism and murders, assuring Thomas that the butchery of human beings is no different than the slaughterhouse: "Meat is meat, and bone is bone". Later, Hoyt is present during Leatherface's first chainsaw murder, urging him to go forward and cheering him on at the same time.[11] A gruff, perverse, foul mouthed, mean-spirited bully, who often uses false arrest and police brutality (usually with his police baton) on young adults, whom Hoyt hates and looks at as dope smoking, hippy protesters. Hoyt not only makes no effort to conceal his contempt for everyone around him, he seems to revel in it. For example, when he is called to investigate the suicide of a young girl in the first film, he leers at the corpse and cracks jokes about his predilection for "copping a feel" on dead female bodies.[4] He's killed in the remake when the only survivor, Erin runs him over repeatedly in his own police car while escaping from the Hewitts. Hoyt, like the rest of his relatives, has a sick sense of family pride and a strong hatred of outsiders. Apparently, either due to the large age gap between Hoyt and Leatherface, or the fact that Hoyt does not accept him as a "true" brother because of them not being biologically related, Hoyt views Leatherface as his nephew rather than his brother. In the Texas Chainsaw Massacre comics, Hoyt refers to himself as "Uncle Charlie" and encourages a young Leatherface's murderous impulses, "Uncle" Charlie even shoots and kills a bully who Leatherface recently attacked and was skinning/flaying alive, after the bully assaulted Leatherface earlier at a swimming hole. Uncle Charlie's only criticism being that Thomas needs to "learn how to fix 'em proper", Charlie then takes the body and dumps it in a lake. In the prequel, Hoyt refers to Leatherface as his nephew, as does the real sheriff, though both Hoyt and Leatherface view Luda May as their mother, and Monty as their uncle. Also, it is revealed in the deleted and additional scenes with audio commentary on the prequel, that Hoyt was supposed to be the father figure in Leatherface's life. Charlie/Hoyt is apparently named after his father, as his mother Luda May refers to him as "Junior", and his father, Charles Sr., is implied at being a farmer, as Hoyt quotes him as saying that "if you want to be a good farmer, you have to keep your livestock clean, a clean goat is a happy goat".
Hoyt also appears in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre comics and is the main character in the comic "Hoyt by himself" which reveals more about his time in the war revealing that during a mission he was captured by a man named Sergeant Chow (the main villain of the book) Chow locks Hewitt up in a POW camp and feeds him the remains of several dead prisoners there, causing his addiction to human meat, one day Hewitt kills Chow with the bone of one of the prisoners he ate before using his shotgun to escape the camp, he goes defunct and returns home to the Hewitt house where he convinces his family who are too poor to buy any food to commit to homicidal cannibalism. In Avatar Press' The Texas Chainsaw Massacre comics, set between the events of the first film and The Beginning, Hoyt regularly appeared, most often having unwary travellers venture to the Hewitt home where he and family would butcher them. Hoyt is depicted as exceedingly sadistic in the comics, regularly mocking and torturing victims to the point of mutilating them, justifying his actions under a "they got what they deserved"-esque pretense, as shown when he forces an escaped convict and drug dealer to snort cleaning chemicals. Of note, the Avatar Press comics have Hoyt referred to by the name Junior by his family. In the Wildstorm comics, a character very similar to Hoyt appears, he is named "Hank" and is a murderous slaughterhouse worker. When a cameraman and newswoman came to interview him and other butchers about the murderers, he gave them a graphic tour of the slaughterhouse, showing them various animals being killed and how the meat was rendered. Later, when one of their crew went missing, the two went back inside only for Hank to reappear and attack them. After knocking them both out with a cattleprod, Hank proceeded to torture and ultimately murder the cameraman in the same exact way that the animals were prepared (by slitting the throat and letting the blood drain, and then tossing him into a vat of scalding hot water before 'rendering' the meat) while the newswoman watched. The newswoman managed to escape, with Hank in hot pursuit. He was stopped dead in his tracks by FBI Agent Baines, the uncle of Pepper (one of Leatherface's victims from the remake film). Believing Hank to be responsible for his niece's death, Baines managed to find a stray chainsaw and engaged the slaughterman in a chainsaw duel. Although Baines was wounded by Hank's weapon, Baines gained the upper hand and managed to dismember and ultimately kill Hank. Although Hank is never identified as Hoyt, he did bear a strong resemblance to the character leading some to believe that he was in fact the sheriff from the remake films. When artist Wes Craig was asked, he responded by saying while he wouldn't confirm whether or not Hank was Hoyt, that the similarity between the two characters was indeed intentional. " I don't really want to say if that was Hoyt or not, it might have been him, might have been his twin, who knows (okay I know but I'm not telling). But yes it was supposed to look like Hoyt. " said Craig.
Leatherface, the main antagonist of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre films, appeared in every single one. He is a deformed, retarded, overweight, cross dressing, cannibal serial killer who uses a chainsaw to kill his victims. He was portrayed by Gunnar Hansen in the original 1974 film, Bill Johnson in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, R. A. Mihailoff in Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, Robert Jacks in Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation and Andrew Bryniarski in the 2003 remake and its prequel. Famous horror actor Kane Hodder also played the stunt double Leatherface in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3. Also famous stuntman himself and fellow horror icon Tom Morga played Leatherface in Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 during the opening car chase. Leatherface is portrayed as being "severely mentally retarded and mentally disturbed", and often uses butchering tools, like meat hooks, to slaughter his victims.[18] He lives with a family of fellow cannibals, who are often abusive and violent towards him. Despite their abuse of him, Leatherface does what ever his family orders him to do. The character was loosely inspired by serial killer Ed Gein, who also wore the skin of his victims, cross dressed and was possibly a cannibal.[16]
The character was originally played by Gunnar Hansen. His real name is unknown, although older brother Chop Top calls him "Bubba" in the second movie. While Chop Top is most likely using this colloquial word for "brother" affectionately, it is possible that "Bubba" is Leatherface's proper name. In the latter case, assuming that his surname is Sawyer the last name of his older brothers, his full name would be Bubba Sawyer. In the third film he is only called Junior by his family with his first name not being stated. In the fourth film Leatherface is called "Leather" by his relatives. In the original film, Leatherface is never seen without one of his human-flesh masks on. He differs from other movie killers so much sadistic or evil; he is in fact mentally retarded and most of the time he only does what his family tells him to do. Hansen has stated that Leatherface is "completely under the control of his family. He'll do whatever they tell him to do. He's a little bit afraid of them".[19] Tobe Hooper has argued on the documentary The Shocking Truth that Leatherface is a 'big baby' and kills in self-defense because he feels threatened, pointing out that in the first film Leatherface is actually frightened of all the new people entering his house.[20] Leatherface is also mute, besides from making bizarre, baby-like gibberish and screams, which his family somehow understands.
The people Leatherface kills are later processed and rendered by his oldest brother Drayton Sawyer, into barbecue and chili, which are sold by Drayton Sawyer at his gas station. Aside from Leatherface and Drayton, the Sawyer clan includes several more brothers, Nubbins, Chop Top, Eddie/Tex, Tech/Tinker, Alfredo, W.E. and Vilmer, as well as Grandpa, Grandma/Great-Grandma, Mama and Leatherface's daughter (real names unknown). The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is a direct sequel to the 1974 film, but is more campy and over the top than the original. Tobe Hooper said on The Shocking Truth that he wanted to expand on the dark comedy in the original film, an element that he felt no one truly picked up on. In this film, Leatherface develops a "crush" on one of his victims, and in one scene, skins off the face of her friend (while alive) and places it on her to hide her from the rest of his family. At the end of the film, he apparently dies in an explosion after being impaled with a chainsaw in a fight with the uncle of his previous victims from the first film, who also causes Sawyer brother Drayton to dentonate a hand grenade, which apparently kills off the rest of the Sawyer family. Though Leatherface appears to have survived, as he is later seen in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 and Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation. Leatherface's brother Chop Top also appears to have survived, as he was planned to be featured in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre prequel All American Massacre, which reveals that Chop Top was imprisoned after the events of part 2, though both Drayton and Grandpa appear to have died in the explosion, as Drayton is never seen again and Grandpa is shown to be a preserved corpse kept and treated by Leatherface and the remaining members of his family in part 3, although a living character very similar to Grandpa appears in part 4, he is a mute elderly man dressed in black referred to as "Grandfather", who sits at the family dinner table, though he is abel to move around much better than Grandpa, which is seen when his apparent grandson Vilmer snaps and attacks fellow Sawyer brother W.E. with a hammer, Grandfather awakes from his motionless state and walks away from the dinner table while holding a kitchen knife.
Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, is the second sequel in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre film series. The film was made as a reboot & a sequel, so it can be took either as a direct sequel or possibly taking place in its own continuity, though several references are made to the previous two films, including Leatherface having a knee brace from his chainsaw accident at the climax of part 1, brother Alfredo owning a gas station and truck labeled "Last Chance Gas" (the name of fellow brother Drayton's station in part 1), a Drayton Sawyer quote from part 2 "The saw is family", the family's last name remaining Sawyer from the previous film and several characters from both earlier films (Leatherface, Grandpa and Stretch, a former radio dj, now a reporter, who escaped the family in Part 2) were included. He is affectionately called "Junior" by the members of his family. The filmmakers attempted to make the series darker and grittier as with the original, but interventions from the MPAA quashed their vision and had them tone it down and change the ending. An uncut version was released in 2003. Leatherface has different, more extended family and a daughter in this film, possibly from a rape.[21] A four issue comic series based on the film, entitled Leatherface was also created; notably, portions of the comics are narrated by and shown from Leatherface's point of view. In a documentary on the special edition dvd of Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3, writer David J. Schow referred to the Sawyers as a homicidal SWAT team, with Leatherface as their enforcer. Leatherface's change in family was most likely because of his other family members' deaths in the previous film, as Grandpa is seen to be a preserved corpse in this film and it has been mentioned by director Jeff Burr on the audio commentary for part 3, that after Leatherface's previous family died, Leatherface moved in with distant relatives, possibly cousins, though in the film they are presented as his mother, Mama, and his brothers, Tinker, Tex and Alfredo, with Leatherface also having an unnamed daughter and an unseen relative named W.E. Sawyer who was executed for the crimes committed by Leatherface and the Sawyer family (The Hitchhiker, Drayton & Grandpa) back in 1973. Burr also offers the idea of an alternative universe as a possible explanation for the changes in the film, a universe which rewrites major events of the first two films, while at the same time retaining certain characters and events from the prior films. The character of Mama implies that she and Grandpa had an incestuous relationship, which in turn led to the murderous Sawyer family. Sawyer brother Alfredo's character was originally the character of Chop Top, but later evolved into the character of Alfredo, this also being revealed on the audio commentary. The film also features a line of Drayton Sawyer's from the previous film ("The saw is family"). In this film Leatherface appears much more aggressive and violent than in previous installments, a trait intentionally added, as it is explained on the audio commentary for this film that Leatherface was in a child-like mode in the first two films and now he has reached the rebellious teen mode.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation apparently takes place in its own continuity, although the original film is mentioned in the opening prologue, in the same prologue it also references the other sequel films, as "two minor, yet apparently related inncidents". The film features Leatherface as a yelping, pizza-eating transvestite involved in an Illuminati conspiracy to provide society a source of horror, and, again, with a different family, probably because in the first three movies, the rest of his family has been killed or imprisoned.[22][23] Leatherface (who is referred to as "Leather" in the whole film) is presented as a much more effeminate character than the previous two installments feature, which portrayed Leatherface as being attracted to women, as seen in part 2 with Stretch, and less child-like, as seen in part 3 with him having a daughter, being more rebellious teenager-like and having more anger in his actions. In part 4 Leatherface is reverted back to his original self, a screaming mentally ill killer with an identity problem, though he seems even more feminine than his character in the original film, as Leatherface not only wears a female face mask, he also wears a Gein-like female skin suit, a woman's dress, make-up, hair and even paints his fingernails in part 4.
In the remake series, Leatherface is named Thomas/Tommy and lives with his adoptive family, the murderous Hewitts. In this series his family never refers to him as Leatherface, but by his real name. He is also seen taking off his skin masks, which never happened in the original series. His face is revealed to be disfigured by a facial disease. His remake family, the Hewitts, includes his mother Luda May, his uncle Monty, his older brother/"uncle" Sheriff Hoyt, and three other members, whose roles have never been explained, like his apparent sister Henrietta, the Tea Lady, a morbidly obese, older woman obsessed with tea, who lives with Henrietta in a small trailer on the Hewitt property and a possible nephew named Jedidiah, a little boy who does not take part in his family's evil exploits. In this series, Leatherface is more of a sadistic serial killer who wants revenge on teenagers than a baby-like retard under his family's control, which the original series portrayed him as. Leatherface/Thomas and his family use torture murder and cannibalism as their modus operandi. The Hewitts also live in a different home than the Sawyers, who lived on a farm, whereas the Hewitts live on an old plantation. Also, the young children and babies taken from victims are kept by Henrietta and the Tea Lady, who raise them up as Hewitts. In the comics based on this series by Wildstorm, Leatherface has two more cousins, the demented Ezekial "Zeke" Hewitt and his simple minded, child-like brother Shiloh Hewitt. In The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, Leatherface's first known murder is that of his abusive boss, however this murder is different from others he will later commit, as this murder was a crime of passion, but it is Leatherface's psychotic brother/uncle Sheriff Hoyt who later introduces Leatherface and the rest of his family to the art of murder, which according to the end of Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, claims the lives of thirty-three people.
Old Monty Hewitt is Luda May Hewitt's brother and the uncle of Leatherface and Sheriff Hoyt. He is featured in the 2003 remake and its prequel. Monty is portrayed by Terrence Evans in both movies.
Monty Hewitt (also known as Old Monty) appears as a bitter, lecherous old man with two amputated legs, who permanently uses a wheelchair. After Sheriff Hoyt kills a biker's girlfriend, the biker seeks revenge on the Hewitts and attacks Monty by shooting him in the leg with a .357 magnum. As a bit of impromptu "surgery", Hoyt orders Leatherface to remove the wounded leg with his chainsaw. Leatherface accidentally nicks Monty's second leg, so Hoyt tells him to remove that as well to lower the risk of infection, and for "balance".[11] Before his accident, Monty worked as a tow truck driver, which is seen in the prequel.
Old Monty has an unnamed pet dog and is the third member of Leatherface's family to meet the stranded teenagers in the first film who eventually become Leatherface's victims (the first being Luda May and the second being Jedidiah Hewitt) and he is the one to first summon the killer by repeatedly tapping his cane against the floor.[4] His exact role in the family is still unclear, with various people on the film speculating that he is either Luda May's husband or brother (or both), though Luda May and her children act like it is her brother. In The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006) Monty shows he has hardly any interest in killing innocent people and also claims he wants nothing to do with it. Yet later on Monty seems to have become a lot more bitter and hateful towards outsiders.[14] It is also implied in the films and comics, that over time Monty became more of a sexual predator/parahiliac as his family's killing spree began to increase. In the novelization of the 2003 remake, Old Monty is presented as Thomas Hewitt's father and Luda May's husband, the nature of his leg injury is also different from the one shown in the 2006 prequel, in the novel, a young Leatherface chops his abusive father's legs off with a cleaver, however it states in the novel that Monty sees his son's actions as the proudest moment of his raising of the boy.
In The Texas Chainsaw Massacre comics by Avatar Press, set between the events of the remake and prequel, Monty appears as a prominent character; the Avatar Press comics depict Monty as somewhat more depraved and vicious then the films, with the 2006 miniseries The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Grind having him strangle a girl to death and later attempt to rape the girl's foster sister, who escapes by punching Monty in the head repeatedly after freeing herself from the restraints he has her in.[24]
Vilmer Sawyer features as a fictional character in the 1994 film Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation: actor Matthew McConaughey portrays him.[8]
The series presents Vilmer as a rage-filled, psychopathic sadist and head of a family of serial killers, which includes two brothers: the excitable W. E. Sawyer and the chainsaw-wielding transvestite known only as Leather (who is never addressed as Leatherface in the film). Vilmer is accompanied by his lover Darla, a married woman who, while independently minded, often suffers abuse at Vilmer's discretion. Vilmer and his family live in an old dilapidated farmhouse. Vilmer drives around in an unidentified rural Texas town in his tow truck hunting down fresh victims to bring back to his house. He wears a custom-built mechanical leg brace made from a hodgepodge of hoses, metal rods and electrical devices. He operates the brace's locomotive controls with several television remote controls, which he keeps tucked away inside of his pants pocket. The nature of Vilmer's leg injury is never revealed, but according to W.E., he has been shot and run over several times throughout his life.[8] The leg brace itself can be used as a weapon, as it is very powerful, though his main weapon is a Buck knife. Vilmer is seen to share several common traits with his other crazed siblings, besides the general insanity that runs in his family. Vilmer practices self mutilation like his brothers the Hitchhiker and Chop Top, and Vilmer, like brother Tech/Tinker, and Chop Top for that matter, uses a truck to terrorize people and has an unnatural, man-made, metallic accessory on his body (in this case it's Vilmer's robotic leg, like Chop Top's metal plate and Tech's hook hand). Vilmer's mother Mama and his brother Leatherface also have unnatural accessories in the third film, Mama is a full-time wheelchair user and has an electrical voice box, Leatherface has a metal knee brace on, to presumably help his leg injury from the first film. Whether or not these traits were intentional or accidental has never truly been elaborated on, though they likely are somewhat intentional, as Vilmer was originally set to be the Hitchhiker, but when Edwin Neal turned down the role, the character became Vilmer. Vilmer also works for a shady powerful group called the Illuminati, which according to Darla, conducts numerous political assassinations, including the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Vilmer is killed by a low flying plane while he and Leatherface chase after a victim.
W. E. Sawyer appeared in Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, and the opening scrolling prologue text of Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III mentions him. He was portrayed by Joe Stevens.[8]
A character named W. E. Sawyer is first mentioned in the 1990 film Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III. In the films prologue, it is said that a man named W. E. Sawyer was arrested some unspecified time between 1973 and 1981 and charged with the murders of the various characters from the original film and the attempted murder of Sally Hardesty, the heroine of the aforementioned film. Deemed guilty for the murders, W. E. Sawyer is executed in a gas chamber in the fictional Huntsville State Penitentiary late in 1981.
Leatherface, the main antagonist of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, is concluded to be Sawyer's alternate personality which manifested when he wore a mask created from the skin of his victims (Leatherface's M.O.); this theory was assumed to be correct as none of Sally Hardesty's accounts about Leatherface contradicted it. The assumption is later proven false though, as the actual Leatherface appears.[25]
In the 1994 film Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, a character named W. E. Sawyer appears as a main antagonist. A relative of the Sawyer family, W. E., like them, is an agent for a powerful shady government organization who has the family forcibly employed for the purpose of terrorizing society. His fate in the film is left ambiguous, as his head is bashed with a hammer by the increasingly unstable Vilmer Sawyer and he does not appear again, leading to the possibility the attack could have killed him, or at least incapacitated him.[8]
Despite his somewhat stereotypical redneck appearance and general insanity, the W. E. Sawyer appearing in this film is depicted as being highly cultured, continually quoting famous historical figures and works of literature, even while torturing people. He often bickers with Vilmer's wife Darla, stating that before she entered the family, it was W.E. who "put things together", referring to the murders. Like his brothers Drayton and Alfredo, W.E. appears to own a gas station/country store and an old pickup truck. W.E. also favors a cattle prod while torturing people, and his brother Leatherface for that matter. During dinner, W.E. is seen talking to his mute Grandpa about the decline of family values.
It is also mentioned by the original film's art director Robert A. Burns, on the audio commentary for the film, that the brand name of the Old Man's bbq was "W.E. Slaughter's".
|
||||||||