Expert: Popcorn Guy - 9/21/2003

Question
Hi there. This is driving me absolutley nuts and I hope you can help. Every version of the movie(Texas Chainsaw Masacre) I have seen, it says that is inspired on a true story. WHAT STORY?!

I have been told it was Ed Gein, however, in researching the man himself, there is no mention of a family or the horrors they did. I know he liked to wear human skin, but I never read anything about him running around with a chainsaw.

Do you know if there is a book I can check out or what other sources I can look at?

Thank you for your time. =)
Nikita

Answer
Hi, Nikita...

You guessed right... TCM is "loosely" based on Ed Gein, the "Fiend of Plainfield," or wherever it was he was from... he was known to wear clothing made of human skins, and, yes, he did a little barbecuing on the side, selling "homemade sausage" to local stores. He didn't, however, have the full family of crazies like Leatherface and his kinfolk. Tobe Hooper, the director of the original TCM, has said in interviews that the family members were added just for the claustrophobic effect of having that many people cramed into one small house of horrors.

Gein was also the inspiration for Norman Bates in "Psycho." I know there are some books out about Gein now, mainly for the shock value of the case. His legend became popular again during the "Silence of the Lambs" craze, because people swore he was the basis for Buffalo Bill, the psychopath Jodie Foster was after. The skinning of bodies, making suits of the skin, and such...

Go to Amazon.com and run Ed's name thru the search, and you'll find a few titles, if you are really wanting to know more about him. Take the titles and authors to the library and get them to find the books. I guarantee you they won't be readily available... and you'll get all sorts of odd looks when youask for them. I speak from experience here...

You do know they have remade the film, right? TCM is coming back to a theatre near you! Sometime in October, I think. There is also a DVD available with audio comentaries by hooper and Gunnar Hanson, who played "Leatherface." Very interesting to hear Hooper's opinions and thoughts...

Hope this helped,

Tony D