The Evolution of Leatherface

What you are about to see is the result of multiple production companies milking a long dormant franchise: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Specifically, it's about Leatherface. In 1974 he slashed his way on to the silver-screen, and he's since appeared in 7 more films. This is his evolution… animated!

Leatherface first appears in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) sporting an apron and face mask with large misformed ears and dark brown hair. He switches into a more grandmotherly attire to meal prep, before putting on his Sunday best and a makeup-covered mask just in time for family dinner.

In the sequel – The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) – which takes place 13 years later, Leatherface is thinner and wears a heavily stitched mask with messy hair and a fancy tuxedo. He falls in love with a radio DJ, but the romance is interrupted when he faces off against a vengeful Lieutenant, resulting in an explosion no man could survive.

But he's back – somehow - in Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990), wearing an orange dress shirt, brown pants, and a leg brace. His mask features an angrier expression, with shaggy hair. This time, Leatherface has a young daughter he's raising, but he gets hit with a rock, then drowns in a swamp...

But his death is short lived, and in Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1995), Leatherface is now chunkier and has longer, curlier hair poking through a darker mask. He wears a long white tee, a camo jacket and an orange apron. Later, he briefly steps into another grandma-esque apron and mask, and eventually settles on a younger female look with a sleek black dress to show off his new curvy figure. Finally, it’s revealed that Leatherface is being paid by an Illuminati type organization to scare unsuspecting victims… or, uhhh, something like that. But it doesn't matter, because this time-line would be forgotten for a reboot series.

Starting with the reboot-prequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006), we see a baby Leatherface, apparently born with a skin disorder, get tossed into a dumpster. He's saved from the garbage, and grows into a muscular man wearing a leather-muzzle to cover his face. After getting fired from his slaughterhouse job, he fashions a young male mask with curly hair.

In the original reboot – The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) – Leatherface's hair is shorter, his clothes darker and ragged, and he's wearing arm protectors. His mask is creepily lopsided and smiling, and for a short while, he also dons a mustachioed mask. Despite losing an arm, he manages to leave a video behind before disappearing forever.

The reboots would be dropped in order to make a direct sequel to the original, Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013). Picking up where the first movie left off, Leatherface is shown once again in a slightly altered Sunday best ensemble. When his house is set on fire, he’s assumed to be dead, only to reappear 40 years later. He starts by wearing a red shirt, brown pants, and a dark uneven mask, then upgrades to a pale unshapely mask. He meets his long-lost oddly attractive cousin, who eventually helps him face off against the people who burned down his house.

The origin film, Leatherface (2017), depicts a young child Leatherface wearing a cow head. He's tossed into an institution and grows into a large young man built exactly how we remember him – oops, nevermind that's the wrong character, he’s actually the skinny handsome boy. He falls for an attractive nurse and breaks out of the institution. When his face becomes disfigured, he decides to, shall we say, act out, and start wearing skin masks... because, well, he's angry I guess. I don't know, I'm just waiting for the prequel-sequel where he grows six inches and gains 200 pounds to become the Leatherface we actually care about.