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Description
The original 1974 version of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" has a way of emotionally clobbering you over the head with a sledgehammer, every time you watch it. But every single "clobber" in the movie is different, and certain scenes strike with such force that you can find yourself too stunned to even feel the next hit.

But that's a wonderful thing, because the next time you watch the film and go into another session of clobbering, you can catch the beatings that you were too dazed to feel the last time around.

Thatvery thing happened to me, on my most recent re-viewing. A scene that had never really "struck me" before, hit me very, very hard this time... and inspired this illustration.

I'm talking about the scene right after Leatherface kills Franklin (the kid in the wheelchair) and then starts chasing Sally through a seemingly endless dead forest of brittle trees, sharp branches and crackling twigs. It happens at night under the glow of the moon, and everything is blue and the world is filled with the sputtering roar of Leatherface's chainsaw motor and Sally's pathetic shrieks of terror.

Now... as a life-long horror fan, I've probably watched the ORIGINAL Texas Chainsaw a million, zillion times... Because, let's face it, the ORIGINAL "TCM" is to true horror fans what "Fantasia" is to animation fans... it's like required reading or something, and your education is not complete without having experienced it.

But, for whatever reason, on previous viewings, this chase scene just seemed to skim by for me. I guess I just thought of it as a bridge between bigger landmarks... Or maybe I was always too stunned by Franklin's sad, shocking death, and Grandpa sucking blood from Sally's sliced fingers, to feel the sting of events that transpire in between...

But this time - that chase through the dead forest seemed to be one of the most powerful moments in the film.

I guess I had never before really appreciated how it seems to go on forever, with all that noise and terror... And poor Sally being forced to lacerate herself to ribbons, while running top speed through all those sharp, dead tree branches... And old Leatherface right behind her, chasing her like a mindless predatory animal, with no instinct but to kill.

So I decided to draw it up. I figured Leatherface probably chased a lot of different girls through those woods in his time. So I decided to throw him one of my random female characters and watch the fun...

Description
The original 1974 version of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" has a way of emotionally clobbering you over the head with a sledgehammer, every time you watch it. But every single "clobber" in the movie is different, and certain scenes strike with such force that you can find yourself too stunned to even feel the next hit.

But that's a wonderful thing, because the next time you watch the film and go into another session of clobbering, you can catch the beatings that you were too dazed to feel the last time around.

Thatvery thing happened to me, on my most recent re-viewing. A scene that had never really "struck me" before, hit me very, very hard this time... and inspired this illustration.

I'm talking about the scene right after Leatherface kills Franklin (the kid in the wheelchair) and then starts chasing Sally through a seemingly endless dead forest of brittle trees, sharp branches and crackling twigs. It happens at night under the glow of the moon, and everything is blue and the world is filled with the sputtering roar of Leatherface's chainsaw motor and Sally's pathetic shrieks of terror.

Now... as a life-long horror fan, I've probably watched the ORIGINAL Texas Chainsaw a million, zillion times... Because, let's face it, the ORIGINAL "TCM" is to true horror fans what "Fantasia" is to animation fans... it's like required reading or something, and your education is not complete without having experienced it.

But, for whatever reason, on previous viewings, this chase scene just seemed to skim by for me. I guess I just thought of it as a bridge between bigger landmarks... Or maybe I was always too stunned by Franklin's sad, shocking death, and Grandpa sucking blood from Sally's sliced fingers, to feel the sting of events that transpire in between...

But this time - that chase through the dead forest seemed to be one of the most powerful moments in the film.

I guess I had never before really appreciated how it seems to go on forever, with all that noise and terror... And poor Sally being forced to lacerate herself to ribbons, while running top speed through all those sharp, dead tree branches... And old Leatherface right behind her, chasing her like a mindless predatory animal, with no instinct but to kill.

So I decided to draw it up. I figured Leatherface probably chased a lot of different girls through those woods in his time. So I decided to throw him one of my random female characters and watch the fun...