Texas Chainsaw Massacre Gave Leatherface A Michael Myers Moment (But Better)

Netflix’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre just gave Leatherface a better Michael Myers moment four years after Halloween. First released on February 18th, 2022, Texas Chainsaw Massacre represents the ninth entry in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise and is a direct sequel to the original 1974 movie The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2022 follows a group of contemporary influencers looking to breathe new life into a Texas ghost town before they encounter Leatherface, the legendary killer who wears a mask of human skin.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre is not the first iconic horror franchise to receive a shiny new entry in recent memory, with David Gordon Green’s Halloween 2018 and subsequent Halloween Kills picking up where John Carpenter’s original movie left off. Both Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the Halloween reboot also share additional symmetry beyond their genre, with each movie granting their respective serial killer a chance to re-don the masks they hide behind. Michael Myers recovers his William Shatner mask for the first time in 40 years from Aaron Korey’s (Jefferson Hall) trunk after killing the podcaster, while Leatherface (Mark Burnham) cuts off the face of a deceased Virginia McCumber (Alice Krige) before lifting the new mask to the sun to admire it before putting it on, seemingly for the first time in decades.

Yet while both scenes represent the chilling returns of two iconic horror characters, Texas Chainsaw Massacre‘s Michael Myers moment beats the Halloween 2018 scene it is based on. While Michael Myers’ (James Jude Courtney) donning of the mask acts as a prelude to the violence he enacts across Haddonfield, Leatherface’s new mask scene is steeped in terror as audiences are forced (alongside Nell Hudson’s Ruth) to watch the killer cut the mask from Virginia’s corpse. As a result, this makes Leatherface’s mask moment a far more chilling proposition that marks it as one of the most memorable Texas Chainsaw Massacre scenes – which is something Halloween 2018’s mask scene failed to deliver on.

Although both Michael Myers and Leatherface act as the epitome of the slasher villain archetype as large, hulking, faceless figures, Leatherface’s more emotional scene means his mask moment is a much better one. Green’s Halloween 2018 certainly leans into the mythos surrounding Michael’s mask, making him immortal while wearing it, yet the scene itself in which Michael recovers the source of his power and terror is rather understated. Michael killing his misguided tormentor in Aaron acts as a far more satisfying moment in the context of Halloween 2018, forcing Michael’s actual procurement of the mask to take a backseat.

In contrast, Leatherface seems to revel in making himself a new mask, holding Virginia’s horrific visage up to the sun to admire his handiwork. Leatherface’s emotional attachment to his masks, as established in the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, has become a franchise feature, with director David Blue Garcia leaning into this canonical fact as Leatherface savors his mask moment menacingly. The pleasure Leatherface derives from this act makes his mask scene far scarier than Michael Myers’ 2018 counterpart and delivers one of the most memorable moments from Netflix’s new Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie.

About The Author