Misc
HORROR 101: The Texas Chain Saw Family Trees

Who’s up for a field trip to Texas?
Welcome BACK to Horror Press’s Horror 101, a series of articles where we explain horror movie legends and their lore. For beginners, the confused, or just those who need a refresher, these articles are for you.
Today, we’ll clear up the record on one of Texas’ bloodiest families, the Sawyers from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series (and their remake counterparts, the Hewitts). It’ll be a rough ride to get to the bottom of who they are, why they kill, and how they developed their…particularly peculiar diet.
We won’t be delving into the David Blue Garcia 2022 requel much this time or that reboot trilogy with Leatherface and Texas Chainsaw 3D. Instead, we’re focusing on the longest-running series, which we’ll call the mainline continuity (that’s the original, Part 2, 3, and The Next Generation), and the remake duology (the 2003 remake and Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning) which shares some similarities. See the handy dandy chart courtesy of Bloody Disgusting for a proper timeline breakdown.
So, get to the back of the pickup and ensure you got your chainsaw filled with gas. Or make sure the battery is charged if you’re one of those eco-conscious city types!
WHO ARE THE SAWYERS?
The people who make Leatherface who he is, the Sawyers (originally named the much less subtle “Slaughters” in the script), are a cannibalistic family with more quirky and colorful members than you can shake a stick at. Their M.O.? Luring victims on the land around their home so they can toy with, kill, and eat them.
Most of their rituals and behaviors are a perversion of the traditional nuclear family, with the most infamous being their prolonged and exhausting dinners in which they relentlessly mock their targets and relish their suffering through torture.
Possibly with or without literal relish.
In Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2, the immediate Sawyer family is comprised of:
- Standing patriarch, father, and award-winning chili cook Drayton Sawyer not-so-standing living fossil, Grandpa Sawyer
- Deranged hitchhiker, Nubbins Sawyer
- Nubbin’s twin brother, army veteran, and music lover with a skull plate, Chop Top
- And, of course, titular chainsaw wielder and mask maker Bubba “Leatherface” Sawyer
There’s also Grandma Sawyer, a chainsaw-holding corpse shrine in Part 2 with no living appearances. Though…this crew is all dead by the end of Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (except for Leatherface, depending on your interpretation). At the film’s end, Chop Top was supposed to have survived his scuffle with Stretch. However, this was a plan for the unmade short-film All-American Massacre and never came to fruition, so its canonicity is dubious at best.
Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 shows us a new family, which includes:
- Suave faux cowboy, Eddie “Tex” Sawyer
- Mechanical genius, Tinker Sawyer
- Peeping Tom, Alfredo Saywer
- Leatherface’s unnamed daughter, who is credited in some places as Babi Sawyer
- And Leatherface’s mother, Anne Sawyer
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation rounded us out with only three more official Sawyers: the pretty u nremarkable W.E. Slaughter, a brand-new impostor Grandpa, and extended family member with robot legs, Vilmer Slaughter.
WHO ARE THE HEWITTS IN THE TEXAS CHAINSAW REMAKE?
The remake duology introduced a new version of the family. The Hewitts are distinct from the original Sawyers, in that rather than being a campy bunch of freaks, they’re pseudo-religious nutjobs that don’t take much pleasure in what they do. That is, barring our Drayton analog and head of the family, Charlie Hewitt (using the disguise of Sheriff Hoyt), who commands the rest of them with an iron fist and enjoys abusing captives. Beyond him, there’s:
- Surrogate mother to Thomas, Luda-Mae Hewitt
- Her brother, wheelchair-bound creep Monty Hewitt
- The youngest son Jedidiah Hewitt
- Baby thief Henrietta Hewitt and her mysterious cohort, The Tea Lady
- And Thomas “Leatherface” Hewitt
HOW DID THE SAWYER FAMILY BECOME CANNIBALS?
We can lay the blame on one: Grandpa Sawyer.
At the time of the original film, Grandpa Sawyer is about 120, meaning he most likely was born in 1854. As a young man, he became a skilled hand in abattoirs and stood as a renowned butcher; Grandpa was deemed (by Drayton) as once having been the family’s best killer due to these skills. We only ever get to see them on display in Leatherface, the first time he wields his trusty hammer with some level of efficiency beyond flapping his wrist around.
At the turn of the 19th century, Grandpa Sawyer would see the Texan meatpacking industry slowly begin to replace smaller butcher businesses. Due to the speed of the industrialized process, Grandpa lost his job, and soon the family became more insular. The fear of starvation from poverty and general isolation in rural Texas pushed the family to begin the practice.
HOW DID THE HEWITT FAMILY BECOME CANNIBALS?
In the remake duology, the failure of industrialization sets into motion the Hewitt Family’s corruption; newspapers shown in the film mention a local meat packing plant, The Lee Bros. Meat Processing Plant had gone under and left hundreds in town jobless. It closed due to numerous health violations, most likely related to the mistreatment of workers like Leatherface’s mother who dies on the job after stress-induced labor kills her (though a deformed infant Thomas with a skin condition still survives).
Unlike Grandpa Sawyer, Charlie Hewitt introduces his family to cannibalism due to his time in the Korean War, where he picked up the habit as a means of survival. Taken captive in 1952, Charlie and other prisoners were forced to choose among themselves who would be sacrificed to feed the rest. Though they were eventually rescued, this practice awakened something in Hewitt that he would eventually spread to the rest of his kin. This also expands on the anti-war subtext of the original film, as much of The Beginning does.
WHY IS THE SAWYER FAMILY DIFFERENT IN EVERY FILM?
While Part 2 mainly adds Chop Top, a trend pops up in 3 and The Next Generation, where a new version of the family exists to aid Leatherface.
There are a few explanations for this.
One could be that Sawyer progeny are just everywhere. After Sally escapes in the first film, Drayton and company relocate to the abandoned Texas Battleland Amusement Park. However, the Sawyer House in 3 and The Next Generation are also different homes, which may be inhabited by extended family members. By this logic, Leatherface somehow survives his wounds in Part 2 and simply moves from family to family whenever he needs assistance. This theory is backed by the fact that Stretch, the protagonist of Part 2, makes a cameo in 3, looking for Leatherface as a now fully-fledged T.V. reporter.
The more outlandish explanation? The Sawyer Family isn’t a real family.
In Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, it’s revealed that the Sawyers are funded and protected by a shadowy conspiracy, most likely the Illuminati of legend. Their representative even abducts the last survivor of that film to observe the effects of the Sawyer-induced trauma on her mind. It would make sense that whenever Sawyers are killed, the Illuminati simply funnels in new family members to replace them, and perhaps even creates and installs a new Leatherface should the current one suffers wounds too great to recover from (such as the ill-fated chainsaw duel with Lefty at the end of Part 2).
HOW DID BUBBA SAWYER BECOME LEATHERFACE?
The primary explanation for Bubba Sawyer, and Thomas Hewitt for that matter, becoming Leatherface is that their families simply brainwashed them into serving as a grunting, violent attack dog. Abused by their respective father figures, the mentally stunted Leatherfaces came to mimic their violent parentage and ended up as a distortion of the breadwinner by hunting down and butchering innocents for the family.
Hurt people hurt people, you know?
WHY DOES LEATHERFACE WEAR THE MASKS?
Contrary to popular belief, the grisly masks Bubba sports in the mainline continuity are meant to reveal more than they conceal. While human consumption is a matter of sport and sustenance for the rest of the family, Leatherface’s masks are mostly separate from this as a sign of care and craft. They’re used as a reflection of his emotional state.
Gunnar Hansen has mentioned many times that Tobe Hooper’s original intent for the varying masks we see is to reflect how Leatherface feels on any given day. They’re used to make him feel pretty or powerful, and he takes great care in fashioning them. The masks can even function as gifts: in Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2, he shares a makeshift mask with Stretch in an attempt to save her. Their feminine connotation also directly opposes Drayton’s very masculine, very aggressive energy.
In the remake duology, however, the answer is much more straightforward: Thomas Hewitt suffers from a mysterious congenital skin disease that ate away at his nose and mouth and uses the mask to cover it up. It’s never outright stated but implied to be caused by the sanitary conditions of the meat packing plant harming his mother while pregnant.
WHY DOES LEATHERFACE USE A CHAINSAW?
Loud and scary.
This is still my favorite jumpscare of all time.
Just kidding, the actual answer is it’s a phallic symbol.
From subtext to almost plain text, Part 2 lays it out on the table. Between Bubbas’ beer-spraying chainsaw malfunction and Drayton’s iconic quote about choosing between sex and the saw (see below) makes Leatherface’s chainsaw a representation of sexual repression as the family forces him into the role of being a deranged killer.
It also symbolizes how toxic masculinity has eaten at the whole family. It’s the ultimate tool of a boy being forced to become the Sawyers’ perception of a man: an aggressive predator who hurts women, built through the teachings of his almost entirely male family. Everybody must emulate Grandpa because he was a “strong” man through tough times, ignoring all the very clearly messed up things he did for and to his family.
Really, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies are some of the most heavily dissected horror films regarding sex and gender, so if you have the time, read some of the many wonderful scholarly works about the franchise. Do I even have to say it? I’m talking about Carol J. Clover. Read “Her Body, Himself” from the legendary Men, Women, and Chainsaws. It’s an excellent essay.
And that will be it for today’s Horror History 101 lesson. See you in the next class, and stay tuned for more content concerning horror movies, television, and everything in between.
Misc
8 Iconic Slasher Movie Final Girls Who Have Sex And Survive
There is a plethora of final girls, even in iconic slasher movies, who do have sex and get to live. Some come from movies that are intentionally bucking this trope, and some star in movies that came out during the time when the trope was being firmly cemented. Here are nine of them. They are ranked, because it’s a list, but very loosely. I organized them mainly by how much them having sex figures into the story or feels like it “matters” in a historical context. Here are a list of eight final girls who have sex.

For “Fatal Attraction” month at Horror Press, I really felt that we needed to further investigate the “sex = death” trope in modern horror cinema, particularly slasher movies. The connection between sex and death in slashers, and virginity and survival, has been discussed by some of our leading academics, from Carol J. Clover to Randy Meeks. And it’s true that many slasher movie final girls are virgins. Or at least, that their survival is linked to them not being distracted by indulging in the same base desires for hooking up, smoking dope, etc. as everyone else around them. Frankly, I think that an ability to pay attention is really their strongest attribute on average, but that’s not fun enough to write essays about, I guess.
Anyhoo, there is a plethora of final girls, even in iconic slasher movies, who do have sex and get to live. Some come from movies that are intentionally bucking this trope, and some star in movies that came out during the time when the trope was being firmly cemented. Here are nine of them. They are ranked, because it’s a list, but very loosely. I organized them mainly by how much them having sex figures into the story or feels like it “matters” in a historical context.
8 Horror Movies Where the Final Girl Has Sex
#8 Jade Kincaid in Bride of Chucky (1998)
I’ve tried to limit this list to characters who have explicitly had sex that is either part of the narrative or directly addressed in the dialogue. To my recollection, neither of these things are true of Jade, but she gets married to her horny boyfriend then they wake up in bed together in the Niagara Falls hotel, and they seem mighty comfortable with the amount of closeness that they’ve been able to share on their deadly road trip, even with Chucky and Tiffany breathing down their necks. So I’m gonna count her.
#7 Jess in Black Christmas (1974)
Jess came into the picture a good half-decade before the slasher rules were really codified, which is why she’s ranked a little lower. And frankly, the implications of the final scene make it hard to claim that she “survived” the movie. But she’s still a final girl in an iconic proto-slasher, and her storyline (and one of the main reasons that her boyfriend is a suspect) involves her arguing about wanting to get an abortion. Zygotes don’t just come out of nowhere, y’all.
#6 Jessica Kimble in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)
Jessica Kimble’s situation is a double whammy. Not only does she have a baby with her ex, the total drip Steven, her horrible new boyfriend Robert later brags on the phone about having had sex with her after stealing her mother’s body from the morgue. She may not know how to pick ‘em, but she is sexually active and is one of the finalest final girls there is, considering she sends Jason Voorhees (and the entire Friday the 13th franchise) straight to hell.
#5 Laurie Strode in Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later (1998)
Now, this is notable because Laurie Strode is one of the characters who first cemented the “virginal final girl” trope, whether rightly or wrongly. There’s something of a question as to whether she’s actually a virgin or if she’s just better at babysitting than her terrible friends. But her triumphant return in Halloween H20 proves once and for all that she has had sex with, well, somebody, because she spit out a teenage kid with terrible bangs in the meantime. I secretly hope the father is Jimmy from Halloween II, but if wishes were fishes, every Halloween fan could open a sushi restaurant.
#4 Maxine Minx in X (2022)
Maxine Minx stars in a porno movie and survives Pearl’s murderous onslaught so hard that the sequel is named after her. Now that’s power!
#3 Alice Johnson in A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)
In addition to the Dream Master’s unborn child being central to the storyline of the sequel, the conception of said child is depicted in the opening credits, which is mainly just shots of writhing flesh that are so close up you have no idea what body part you’re actually looking at. But if that’s not sex, I couldn’t possibly begin to tell you what it is.
#2 Ginny Field in Friday the 13th Part 2 (1980)
Ginny Field hooking up with her boyfriend Paul (while the peeping Crazy Ralph gets garroted with barbed wire, natch) in the early going of the movie is important in a variety of ways. First of all, Friday the 13th was the franchise that most dominated the pantheon of 1980s slasher filmmaking, cementing the rules of the slasher formula more than any other group of movies. The fact that one of their earliest final girls more or less explicitly had sex just goes to show that the trope already had cracks in its foundation from the beginning. And OK, technically, she just makes out super hard with Paul, and then it cuts to the next morning, but she’s surprised when she wakes up, and he’s not still in bed with her. The fact that they had sex is simple cinematic language, babyyyyyyy!
The second is that, not only is she a final girl who has sex, she is one of the best final girls out there, using every tool at her disposal to protect herself from Jason: her intellect, her strength, her skill with tools, and so much more.
#1 Sidney Prescott in Scream (1996)
Scream is the movie that helped fully cement the “virginal final girl” trope with Randy’s big speech in front of a paused Halloween, but it simultaneously turns that trope on its head by having iconic final girl Sidney not only have sex, but (spoiler) have sex with one of the killers! And not only did she survive Scream, she survived Scream 2, Scream 3, Scream 4, the other Scream, and… I guess we’ll have to see about Scream 7, but the gal has a hell of a track record.
Misc
10 Romantic, Dread-Inducing Movies You Can Watch On Shudder This Valentine’s Day
Love is in the air, and all the romantic horror movies you could want are online. More specifically, they’re on Shudder! As a fanatic for the streaming platform who has had quite a few movie nights saved by its catalog serving up something wild and weird to delight the senses (shoutout the boatloads of weird old Italian horror on there), Shudder can also be your hero when spending time with the person you fancy. No matter how deep into a relationship or how new it is, there are quite a few films to suit you and your significant other this Valentine’s Day. So I’ve compiled a short list of the best horror movies on Shudder for that special date night. These are the 10 best horror movies for you date night!

Love is in the air, and all the romantic horror movies you could want are online. More specifically, they’re on Shudder! As a fanatic for the streaming platform who has had quite a few movie nights saved by its catalog serving up something wild and weird to delight the senses (shoutout the boatloads of weird old Italian horror on there), Shudder can also be your hero when spending time with the person you fancy.
No matter how deep into a relationship or how new it is, there are quite a few films to suit you and your significant other this Valentine’s Day. So I’ve compiled a short list of the best horror movies on Shudder for that special date night.
10 Best Horror Movies for Your Next Date Night
Audition (1999)
Ah, here we have a lighthearted comedy about a man who auditions for a woman to be his wife but realizes he’s looking for love in all the wrong places!
If you know what Audition is actually like, that was funny. But if you aren’t aware, please don’t take that opening line seriously. Directed by Takashi Miike, a man whose name is branded on Japanese cinema’s back with a hot iron because of his transgressive filmmaking, Audition was one of those films I would see regularly included on “Disturbing Horror” lists back in the late 2010s, and it certainly lives up to that reputation with some of the absolutely nauseating visuals it has on offer. But its cinematography is very well-rounded and garners some pretty interesting shots with its camera work when it isn’t showing you its more spine-tingling content.
This one is on the list as a staunch reminder for all our Horror Press readers who are as single as a pringle this Valentine’s Day: there are much worse things you can endure than being alone.
Frankenhooker (1990)
Between Nosferatu in 2024, and the forthcoming Guillermo Del Toro Frankenstein in 2025, gothic horror that is red with romantic blood is proudly making a comeback. There’s a warmth in their cold nature, a world-ending and monstrous expression of love that captures the grand emotions of the human experience.
Frankenhooker is not that. It is purely fun, goofy, slapstick horror about a guy giving a bunch of sex workers super-crack that makes them explode, and then rebuilding his girlfriend who died in a lawnmower accident with their body parts. Frank Henenlotter permanently put himself in my short list of best directors of all time with this film just because of how fluidly and perfectly he made this horror comedy work with such a small budget and the many constraints he, the cast, and the crew were working under. So, if there’s anything this film represents on this list, it’s the intimate bond between a creator and their creation, between artist and their art.
Which, again, is kind of hilarious given the premise of the film. But it still counts!
Tragedy Girls (2017)
If you’ve ever seen the meme about that gay ancient Egyptian couple who are dubbed “history’s first roommates”, that’s kind of how I feel a lot of people watched Tragedy Girls. There’s a clear implied romance here people! This horror comedy is about a pair of friends who frame a serial killer for their own series of murders, planning to capitalize on the deaths of their targets to grow a social media following.
It has some pretty heavy queer subtext in it, led by Brianna Hildebrand and Alexandra Shipp as the charismatic duo of Sadie and McKayla; they deliver a lot of the movie’s funniest lines, and deserve way more credit than they’ve gotten for this film. Supporting performances from Kevin Durand and Jack Quaid round out a phenomenal cast. All in all, it’s a fun little film that needs more acknowledgment.
She Is Conann (2023)
Queer subtext, meet queer fantasy horror that is so blatant it’s basically screaming that subtext is for cowards like Garth Marenghi. It’s hitting subtext with its muscle car and then plunging a bastard sword into its chest.
One of my personal favorites from Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, Bertrand Mandico’s take on the sword and sorcery protagonist who shall not be named for copyright reasons, is a trip of a ride through time and space. It’s about unrequited love between a swordswoman and the dog demon haunting her, traveling through Conann’s life (where several different actresses depict her, each bringing a unique flash to their roles). It backs up that weird premise with some very weird visuals, including a grotesque & gourmet finale you’ll need to sit down for and feast your eyes on.
Villains (2019)
This film had me smiling from the jump, and it’s not just because it’s a black comedy thriller about a pair of bumbling amateur thieves running into a nightmare situation they never could have seen coming. It’s mainly because Maika Monroe and Bill Skarsgård have perfect onscreen chemistry, which synthesizes with their already excellent comedic timing.
Jeffrey Donovan and Kyra Sedgwick, who play opposite them as the two child kidnapping antagonists of the film, also aren’t anything to scoff at since they bring their creepy couple a-game to the table. The movie has some twists on offer, and a bittersweet ending to counter all the boxed chocolates you’ll be snacking on while you watch.
Mayhem (2017)
Speaking of on-screen couples I love, Mayhem is here! Again! I feel like I’ve recommended this film 3 or 4 times across articles on this site. But I wouldn’t be doing that if I didn’t think this was absolutely positively Joe Lynch’s best work.
People get infected with a virus that removes all their inhibitions, usually resulting in bloody brawls as people succumb to their darkest whims and wants. But with this particular quarantine, a recently fired lawyer at a consulting firm and a woman out to get her loan extended become unlikely allies as they realize they can literally murder their way to the top of the building to get what they want without any legal consequences.
Samara Weaving and Steven Yeun are mind-meltingly great together in this, and they both pull it off as unwitting action horror protagonists who will fight and claw to get what they want. They’re also plain cute together and have a whole romcom subplot going throughout this, so that’s why I am also putting it here.
Perfect movie, no notes!
Possession (1981)
On the other end of the relationship spectrum is Possession, the most stressful breakup film you will ever watch, and it really doesn’t ever let up since I was still very anxious after the credits had rolled.
It is not cute, it is not fun. It’s a film about a man whose wife suddenly leaves him and his son, the raw wounds of their separation are salted when he finds out his child’s teacher looks exactly like his wife. Things get more confusing from here as the characters enter a downward spiral of pure madness, involving bizarre creatures that turn out to be devious doppelgangers.
It’s through and through an angry film expressing the malcontent of its director, Andrzej Żuławski, who was grappling with feelings of his divorce from his own wife at the time. It’s the kind of raw and emotional filmmaking that you can only pull from a heavy time in your life and sculpt into something breathtakingly frightening. Get ready for a movie that will make you grateful your relationship isn’t that bad, and an ending shot that will punch you straight in the mouth.
Uh, lets maybe get a less depressing film up on the list to mellow things out huh?
Mother, May I? (2023)
This is quite literally the opposite of what I requested! This film almost made me cry! Which is why it’s on here. One of the less talked about Shudder offerings in general, this film is one of three Kyle Gallner releases from 2023, which sort of pre-emptively got my seal of approval before I even watched it. Because Kyle Gallner can do no wrong, he has the back-to-back-to-back streak of great performances to prove it. If you don’t agree, peep the opening to Smile 2, and if you still don’t agree, argue with the wall.
The premise made me think it was going to be a totally gonzo and off-the-wall horror movie, given it’s about a guy whose fiancé begins to act like his recently deceased mother, and may or may not be possessed by her. What I found was a slow-burn psychological horror with some deeply disquieting moments and an ending that had me hypnotized and leaning into the screen as it unfolded.
The character work Holland Roden does in this film is genuinely incredible, so if you want to see two actors at the top of their game engaging in a mind-bending and uncomfortable relationship, this is the film to look out for. It will keep you and your other half talking about it for hours.
Mandy (2018)
This might be one of the most romantic movies of all time, and I’m not just saying that because I really like how it looks and how vibrant and red its color palette becomes. After all, what better expression of love is there than forging a battleaxe, getting in your car, and going on a hunt to kill every last member of the demonic drug-dealing biker gang that took your lover from you? It’s a heavy, heavy metal kind of love.
Panos Cosmatos’ mastery of cinematic language here is profoundly affecting, and Nicholas Cage’s performance is the kind built to slap the taste out of the mouths who claim he is simply a “so bad he’s good” actor. He’s just outright incredible in this, and every rewatch of Mandy reaffirms how absolutely, jaw-droppingly good he is at portraying people going through severe emotional distress.
Also, if Cheddar Goblin doesn’t bring you and your partner together through hard times, I don’t know what will.
Jakob’s Wife (2021)
And finally, one more Horror Press staple to round out the list. If there are three character actors I just can’t wait to see in a movie, it’s Barbara Crampton, Larry Fessenden, and Bonnie Aarons. OH WAIT, WHAT’S THIS? A FILM WITH ALL OF THEM? (Also, AEW’s very own CM Punk is here, which scratches an itch in my brain that loves both horror and wrestling.)
Anne is listless and tired of being the small church mouse at her husband’s side. Jakob is violently complacent and domineering over Anne. But Anne’s attack by a vampire gives her a new lease on life, and their marriage a chance at being repaired after decades of degradation. Jakob’s determination to cure her of her vampirism, however, seems set to undo this new chance. And yes, they do earn that hype description with their performances together; they work off each other wonderfully.
The movie is surprisingly well-balanced, with many moments for introspection matching against the film’s sometimes absolutely absurdist humor. I’m a big fan of Jakob’s Wife, and if you watch it, you should also check out one of the earlier pieces on the website that the lovely Alex Warrick wrote back in 2022!
BONUS: Habit (1997)
The above entry also reminded me, if you’re looking for more Larry Fessenden and more vampire romance with a deeply rooted allegory for addiction in it, you should watch Habit. The awesome Brendan Jesus put me onto it after I missed its repertory screening last October, and has also written a cool companion piece talking about the experience of seeing it at BHFF, so check that out too!
And if you didn’t find any of these selections enticing, keep an eye peeled on our It Came From Shudder series! Every month there’s a new list of recommendations hot off the presses from the ever-vigilant Sharai Bohannon, sure to zap your brain meats with cool new cosmic and creepy signals pouring out of Shudder! Happy watching horror fans!