The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning

“
Witness the birth of fear.

”— Tagline
***The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning*** is a 2006 American slasher film and a prequel to 2003's, *The Texas Chainsaw Massacre*. The sixth installment of the *Texas Chainsaw* franchise was directed by Jonathan Liebesman and co-produced by Kim Henkel and Tobe Hooper (co-creators of the original 1974 film), the film went into release in North America on October 6, 2006. The film's story takes place four years before the timeline of the 2003 film. It stars Jordana Brewster, Diora Baird, Taylor Handley, Matt Bomer, and R. Lee Ermey.

Originally, the film had the subtitle *The Origin*. New Line Cinema had to pay $3.1 million more than expected in order to keep the rights to the franchise after Dimension Films made a large offer to buy it from the original rightholders. The film grossed less than half of what its predecessor had grossed.

## Plot

On August 7, 1939, a woman dies while giving birth in a meat-packing plant. The manager disposes of the baby, leaving him in a dumpster outside. A young woman, Luda Mae Hewitt, discovers the baby in the dumpster while searching for food. She names the infant Thomas and takes him to the Hewitt residence, raising him as her own son.

30 years later in 1969, Thomas (now known as Leatherface), works in the same slaughterhouse in which his mother died, working for the same boss that left him in the dumpster. Although the plant is closed by the health department, Leatherface refuses to leave. The boss forces his assistant to make him leave, which he does after the assistant insults him. Later that day Leatherface returns and brutally kills his boss with a sledgehammer in a fit of rage. Before leaving Leatherface finds a chainsaw, which he takes with him. Luda Mae's son Charlie Hewitt (R. Lee Ermey), learns from Sheriff Hoyt (Lew Temple) what Leatherface has done, and accompanies the Sheriff to arrest him. When they find Leatherface, Charlie kills the Sheriff, and assumes his identity. Charlie and Leatherface then take the Sheriff's body home and butcher him for stew meat. Charlie assures the rest of the family that they will not leave the poverty stricken town, and that with "good people like the sheriff here" they'll never go hungry again.

Two brothers, Eric (Matthew Bomer) and Dean (Taylor Handley), drive across the country with their girlfriends Chrissie (Jordana Brewster) and Bailey (Diora Baird), to enlist in the Vietnam War. They stop at a local eatery where they encounter a group of bikers. The group leaves, followed by a female biker named Alex. Dean decides he's not going to Vietnam, and burns his draft card, before Alex draws a shotgun and orders the group to pull over. A chase ensues, and the group crashes; Chrissie is thrown from the jeep and lands in a field, out of sight. Sheriff Hoyt soon arrives at the scene, and immediately shoots Alex. After finding the burnt draft card he demands to know who it belongs to. To save Dean, Eric claims that it's his. After making them put Alex's body in his car, Hoyt forces the rest of the group in as well, and calls for Uncle Monty to tow the wreckage. Monty arrives shortly after, and tows the car, which Chrissie hides in.

Hoyt brings them to the Hewitt house, and calls for Leatherface, who hangs Eric and Dean by their arms from rafters in a barn, and ties Bailey to a kitchen table inside the house. Monty brings the wrecked car back to the Hewitt house, and Chrissie sees her friends tied up from afar. She runs back to the highway to get help, and flags down Holden, one of the bikers from the diner, who follows Chrissie back to the Hewitt house when she tells him they took Alex.

At the Hewitts', Hoyt wraps Eric's face with cellophane, slowly suffocating him for trying to dodge the draft. Dean begs him to stop and finally admits that the draft card was his. Hoyt allows Eric to breathe and releases Dean, promising to free him if he can do 10 push ups. As he does them Hoyt beats him with his nightstick. Dean eventually does 10 push ups and Hoyt beats him more, leaving Dean incapacitated. When Hoyt leaves, Eric breaks free from his restraints and gets Dean to safety, and then sneaks back into the house to free Bailey. Hoyt comes outside with his shotgun and Eric stands in his way while Dean runs. However, Dean is caught in a bear trap, and Hoyt knocks Eric unconscious. Bailey takes Monty's truck and drives down the road, but Leatherface stabs her in the shoulder with a meat hook and pulls her out of the truck, dragging her back into the house. Leatherface carries Eric to the basement, where he sees Alex's mutilated body hanging from the ceiling. Leatherface straps Eric to a table, and inspects the shape and form of his face, while Eric begs for his life.

Holden and Chrissie arrive at the house, and Holden ends up shooting Uncle Monty in the knee, before taking Hoyt hostage. When Leatherface removes the skin from Eric's arms, Chrissie hears his screams and locates the door to the basement. Hoyt calls Leatherface for help, and Chrissie enters the basement unnoticed. Hoyt shows Holden to Bailey, who is tied to a bed, incorrectly thinking she's the girl he's looking for. As Holden prepares to shoot Hoyt, Leatherface arrives and kills Holden with his chainsaw. Chrissie finds Eric and tries to free him, but cannot remove his restraints, and hides under the table when Leatherface returns. Leatherface inspects Eric's face again before impaling him with his chainsaw. He then skins Eric's face, and wears it as a mask. Hoyt calls Leatherface upstairs, and tells him to cut off Monty's legs, since the bullet cannot be removed.

Chrissie later finds Bailey. As Chrissie attempts to untie her friend, Hoyt and Leatherface catch her and bring her downstairs for dinner. There, Dean sits unconscious, and Leatherface slits Bailey's throat with a pair of scissors after revealing that her teeth have been extracted. Leatherface then grabs Chrissie and tries to carry her to the basement, but she stabs him in the back with a screwdriver and escapes by jumping out of a window, pursued by Leatherface.

Dean regains consciousness, and repeatedly smashes Hoyt's head into the porch, before heading off to find Chrissie. Meanwhile, Chrissie hides in the slaughterhouse. After noticing that Leatherface has found her, she grabs a knife, and hides in a tank of pigs blood. She cuts Leatherface's face with the knife, but before she can escape, he throws her to the ground. As he is about to kill her, Dean arrives to stop him but Leatherface kills Dean with his chainsaw. Chrissie makes her way to a nearby car and drives off, spotting a state trooper who has pulled someone over in the distance. As Chrissie pulls over Leatherface suddenly appears in the back seat, and impales her with his chainsaw, causing the car to run over both the trooper and the man he pulled over. Leatherface then exits the car and walks along the road back towards the Hewitt house.

## Cast

* Jordana Brewster as Chrissie
* Taylor Handley as Dean A. Hill
* Diora Baird as Bailey
* Matt Bomer as Eric Hill
* R. Lee Ermey as Charlie Hewitt Jr. / Sheriff Hoyt
* Andrew Bryniarski as Thomas Hewitt / Leatherface
* Terrence Evans as "Monty" Hewitt
* Kathy Lamkin as Tea Lady Hewitt
* Marietta Marich as Luda Mae Hewitt
* Allison Marich as Young Luda Mae
* Leslie Calkins as Sloane
* Tim De Zarn as Owner of the slaughterhouse
* Marcus H. Nelson as Jed
* Lew Temple as Sheriff Winston Hoyt
* Cyia Batten as Alex
* Lee Tergesen as Holden
* John Larroquette as Narrator (uncredited)

## Release

### Box office

In the US, the film opened on $18,508,228, averaging $6,563 at 2,820 sites and ranked #2, behind *The Departed*. Overall in the US, the film had a final grossing of $39,517,763. As of 2009 the film had a worldwide gross of US$51,764,406.

### Reception

Upon release the film was heavily panned. On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 12% "rotten" rating, with consensus stating: "*The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning* is full of blood and gore, but not enough scares or a coherent story to make for a successful horror film." Peter Travers from *Rolling Stone* awarded the film half a star out of four stars, calling the film "putridly written, directed and acted", also criticizing the film's obvious plot turns. *Nathan Lee* from *The New York Times* panned the film calling it "an invitation to hard-core sadism". The film was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Awards in 2006 in the category "Worst Prequel or Sequel".

**Films:** *The Texas Chain Saw Massacre* • *2* • *III* • *The Next Generation* • *The Texas Chainsaw Massacre* • ***The Beginning*** • *Texas Chainsaw 3D* • *Leatherface*
**Miscellaneous:** Comics • Characters (Leatherface)