The Legacy of Leatherface

Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) is widely regarded as one of the most influential horror films ever made. It launched a multimedia franchise that included video games, novels, comics, and, most notably, an ongoing film series. While the original film has been the subject of extensive scholarship, its sequels, prequels, remakes and reboots have received comparatively little critical attention.

This collection is the first to examine the The Texas Chainsaw Massacre film series (the sequels spelled “Chainsaw” as one word) in its entirety, with separate essays devoted to each of the films. Contributors analyze narrative and stylistic evolutions across the franchise, exploring how each installment reflects changing cultural attitudes while also considering how it builds upon or diverges from the original. The volume offers new insights into the study of film franchises, demonstrating how The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’s cultural significance is inseparable from the sequels that followed.

Author Biography

Shane H Weathers is a doctoral candidate in American Culture Studies at Bowling Green State University. He specializes in film genre and franchise/series studies, has written on James Bond, Rocky, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and is the book review editor for the Journal of Film and Video.