The 2003 version of Texas
Chainsaw Massacre opens with a group of five young adults. They have just
come back from buying pot in Mexico, and are now headed to a Lynyrd Skynyrd
concert. As the friends reach the home stretch of their trip Erin, the motherly
figure and as we later learn, final girl, of the movie makes her boyfriend,
Kemper, stop their VW van to help the distressed hitchhiker. Erin gets her into
the van and they look for a nearby hospital, but before they find one the hitchhiking
girl pulls out a hand gun, places it between her lips, and blows her brains
out. Here is how all of the trouble begins. Obviously frightened and panicked, the
five friends go find the nearest phone to call a sheriff. As it turns out, they
stopped at the wrong little eatery. The woman, Luda Mae, sends them to the mill
to find the sheriff. They arrive at the mill and find no sheriff in sight,
however, they do find a grungy little boy name Jedidiah. This little boy leads them to find Leatherface’s
home in the woods where the sheriff live. Erin and Kemper talk to the amputee,
and these are how the killings begin. The friends are picked off one by one
through countless chase and torture scenes, leaving only Erin, who escapes
Leatherface’s chainsaw and the rest of his alliances, better called, family.
Let’s start with the most important character in the movie,
Leatherface. 
This cruel killer fulfills many, if not all of Clover’s description
of the killer. Leatherface was diagnosed with a skin disease during his childhood
which allowed him to be stuck in his childhood even as he aged. His family took
pity on the child, and his mother felt no one cared about the family besides themselves.
Isolated after a childhood full of bullying, the killer had no emotional
development as well as no sexual development, but found this in killing
strangers that were passing through. The joy he felt as he slowly penetrating the
limbs of his victims with his chainsaw was all the sexual desire this
child-like killer needed as he was propelled by psychosexual fury. During the murders of the characters the
audience saw satisfaction from the killer, like an orgasm.
Maybe we can blame this partly on Leatherface’s mother, and
not just his skin disease. The two appear to have had a rocky relationship in
Leatherface’s earlier years, but when the other kids picked on him, who was
there for protection but his mother. At some points in the movie, it seemed
like the two had a sort of sexual tension, or special relationship as she even
helped him finish off some of his victims and lure them closer into danger. The
entire family treats him as a spoiled child, and helps him get everything that
he wants or desires; human torture.
Once the killings started the audience saw an array of
weapons and methods of torture. The main weapon of pleasure for Leatherface was
his chainsaw. His chainsaw is indestructible just as he seems to be. The killer
penetrates not only through limbs, but through roofs of cars, doors, locks,
etc. You name it; Leatherface penetrated his saw right through it. Along with
his chainsaw, Leatherface like any good killer had his very own “terrible place”
located in the basement of the family’s home. The terrible place was dark, wet,
dripping with blood, and full of torture. His torture chamber is exactly that
of a vagina, womb, or vagina dentata. All of this and more about the killer
illustrate everything Clover’s article has laid out for us a description for a
killer in a slasher film.
Enough about Leatherface, let’s get to why everyone watches
the movie; to see the final girl prevail at the very end! The final girl in Texas Chainsaw was played by the
gorgeous, Jessica Biel. Clover’s article told us about the unisex name, and
Erin fits directly into this. The opening scene introduces us to the one and
only outfit she wars the entire movie: blue, skin-tight bell bottoms, a white wife
beater tied up above her navel and her hair down as she lets the wind blow
through her locks. She looks very sexy, but pure at the same time.
From the opening scene we also see Erin
fulfilling very feminine roles. She is the “mother” of the group with the
strongest sense of morality and responsibility that the audience needs in a
final girl. Along with these morals to turn down the joint, and save the
distraught young hitchhiker, Erin also illustrates a masculine, fierce fighter and
protector once danger comes their way. Erin’s refusal to give up shows this final
girl attitude. Toward the end of the movie there are only Morgan and herself
left. Morgan has already taken a brutal beating from the demented Sheriff Hoyt,
but Erin wraps her arms around him and drags him with her into the woods where
they barricade themselves in a shack. Leatherface finds them, kills Morgan, and
Erin is forced to run away. This time she hides in a meat locker with a cleaver
ready to attack!
As she runs from the
danger we see the sexualized role Biel must fulfill as the final girl. The
camera angles are focused mostly from her face to her waist line as she flees.
We are shown her sweaty, smoking hot physique, breasts bouncing as she runs, and
the visuals are all accompanied by her sounds which are exactly that of an
orgasm. Deep heavy breaths, followed by some swear words like “Shit”, “damn”,
etc. all lead the audience to easily fell aroused by her chase. Erin is chased all night long, but never gives
up. Fulfilling the last of the final girl roles, she narrowly escapes the
murderous family by hot-wiring a car, and managing to take their kid-napped
baby along with her. As she leaves, the indestructible Leatherface tries to
make one more attempt at killing her but she again escapes and prevails,
leaving the all genders able to relate to the fighter.
Both Leatherface and Erin illustrate exactly what a killer
and final girl should in a slasher film according to Clover’s article. I still
stand on the fact that I am not a scary movie buff, and I was indeed frightened
by the human skin-as-mask killer. I did however enjoy looking into the roles of
each of the characters, symbolisms, and I will admit it was a decent movie for
being a scary one. I do not see many more slasher film watching in my future
but if you’re looking for a good classic slasher, Texas Chainsaw Massacre is
it!
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