The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a hot, sweaty, brutal nihilistic slab of a movie with no character arcs, redemption, or poignancy. It is one of the most effective horror movies ever made, because there’s not a second of screen time that couldn’t happen — mainly because it was loosely based on true events. There are no demons, spectral entities, dream killers, zombies, or supernatural boogiemen.
Just Leatherface and his family.
Like the movie itself, Leatherface burst onto the screen with no fanfare or warning. He was just there, suddenly and explicitly, with no remorse or pity. He was a simple human monster who saw everything that wasn’t “family” as “food.” And, of course, he had a chainsaw, which is the least subtle and yet most terrifying of all murder weapons. It can take down a tree; meat and bone is nothing by comparison. And unlike a knife, which is always silent, or a gun which needs to be prodded into making a sound, the chainsaw speaks constantly in a language all its own: it growls, it roars, it screams, it shrieks. It’s always hungry and always angry.
Just Like Leatherface and his family.
With Jason and Freddy already getting fully articulated NECA figures, I’ve been waiting for a good Leatherface and Michael Myers. This new Ultimate initiative NECA has been enacting has done a great job at putting out top quality accessory-laden figures, and Leatherface is no exception.
First things first: that blood spattered apron is made of a super-soft pleather-type fabric, so there’s absolutely no hindrance to his leg or waist articulation. He has no torso articulation other than a waist twist. His arms have the standard articulation NECA has been putting in all of its figures and have enough range of motion so that he can successfully two-hand his chainsaw. It would have been a massive disappointment if he wasn’t able to do that simple thing.
He’s got a good range of motion in his legs for poses. He’s not double-jointed or anything, but he can do plenty for what he is. His ankles have a decent range as well.
Gunnar Hansen, the actor who portrayed Leatherface, is 6’4″, and Leatherface is scaled appropriately to other NECA offerings, looming decently over the (supposedly) 6’2″ Schwarzenegger figures. You know, in case John Matrix ever took a drive through Texas. Why does that movie not exist? I don’t know either. I do recommend the Jason vs Leatherface comic put out by Topps Comics a long time ago if you ever wanted to see those two butt heads.
The sculpting and painting is good across the board, with some nice drybrushing to make his clothes look properly weathered. He comes with two heads: regular Leatherface face and “mother” face, because one must always look presentable when fixing dinner.
Yeah, there’s nothing disturbing about that at all. Both heads feature his awesome dental work because the combination of inbreeding and never having brushed his teeth a day in his life leads to way more than gingivitis. Both heads pop on and off easily.
For accessories, he comes with a properly blood-spattered chainsaw, which is made from a soft plastic, meaning the handle is bendy but it doesn’t impede the play value.
He also comes with a cleaver, a hammer, a knife, and a meat hook. None of these are bloodied except for the meat hook, so it looks as it’s been freshly used. It has a loop so you can hang it in a diorama and then hang a spare figure from it if you want. Nobody will judge you for it.
Mostly.
You can get him at Big Bad Toy Store and Amazon
