Can someone tell me if the Texas Chainsaw Massacre is based on a true story? I am getting conflicting reports.

Answer 1

The story is based on true events in the 40s when
Police discovered the remains of 15 different mutilated female bodies in Ed Gein's filthy farmhouse, parts of which (mostly skin and bones) had been fashioned into a variety of bizarre objects (including drums, bowls, masks, bracelets, purses, knife sheaths, leggings, chairs, lampshades, and shirts), as well as a refrigerator full of human organs.

Gein later admitted to killing two women, one in 1954 and one in 1957. He was suspected of involvement in the disappearance of four other people in central Wisconsin (two men and two young girls) between 1947 and 1952, but the remains found in his farmhouse all came from adult females, and none of them matched up with any of the four missing persons. (Gein maintained that with the exception of the two women he had admitted killing, all of the body parts in his farmhouse had been taken from corpses he dug up in the local cemetery.)

Answer 2

Claim: The film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was based on a true story.

Status: Sort of.

Origins: When The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
hit movie theaters in 1974, it quickly supplanted the previous year's top horror flick, The Exorcist, as "the most terrifying movie ever made."
The 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre has been touted with the tagline "Inspired by a true story," leading many horror fans to wonder whether the grisly film was actually based on real events, or whether the claim is simply another bit of Hollywood promotion intended to attract filmgoers via the extra-chilling lure of a macabre tale not entirely the product of a screenwriter's imagination (a technique successfully used by the Coen brothers to entice viewers into suspending disbelief for 1996's Fargo, their gruesome cinematic depiction of a kidnapping-for-hire scheme gone awry).

Actually, the The Texas Chainsaw Massacre has been promoted as being "based on a true incident" for quite a few years now.

Tobe Hooper (director) also said that he based the character of Leatherface on Ed Gein, a Wisconsin farmer who robbed graves (his own mother's supposedly among them), allegedly engaged in necrophilia and cannibalism, and murdered at least two women in the 1950s (one of whose corpses was found hanging naked — decapitated and disembowelled — in Gein's residence). As Gunnar Hansen, the actor who portrayed Leatherface, notes in his Texas Chainsaw Massacre


There is more information on the web site below - it ends by saying it was up to the cinema-goer to decide if it was based on truth or not.

Answer 3

It was loosely based on a true story. The director got inspiration for Leatherface from real-life murderer Ed Gein, however, it's not a retelling of his ghastly deeds. In fact, director Tobe Hooper claims to have got the idea for the film while standing in the hardware section of a crowded store. While thinking of a way to get out through the crowd, he spotted the chainsaws - hence the title. And even though massacre is in the title, in the first movie only one person gets killed this way!

Answer 4

Despite being heavily touted as "inspired by a true story," both Tobe Hooper's original 1974 film and the 2003 Marcus Nispel remake are only lightly based on the real-life murderer Ed Gein, who is suspected to have taken several victims between 1954 and 1957. Perhaps the most recognizable similarity is the film's house, whose gruesome content was similar to that found in Ed Gein's home in 1957

Answer 5

it is NOT based on a true story. the documentary crap the movie shows at beginning and end is all made up, just to make you think its based on true events but it's really not. find the phone number of the local library near the area and call em and ask if you dont believe me.

that ed thing is rediculous he's not even in texas or fugly or kills with a chainsaw.

Answer 6

It is loosely based on the killings of Ed Gein. Who dug up bodies in the cemetery to make ornaments in his house (in the beginning of the original TCMassacre, you see a corps which has been dug out of his grave)
Also the body of one of Gein's victims (he claims to have only killed two) was found hanging from the rafters, skinned and carved like a pig, he never used a chainsaw though, that is added thanks to Hollywood artistic license.
Also, Jamie Gumb (the killer from Silence of the Lambs) is based on him, for skinning his victims. And even Francis Dolerite (the killer from Red Dragon) because Francis was influenced by his grandmother, Ed Gein, by his mother.
You can even go as far as to argue that Dr. Hannibal Lecter's cannibal tendencies where influenced by Ed Gein, who if claims are correct, was also a cannibal.
So you see, many characters, including leather face from TCM, was based on Ed Gein.

Answer 7

No, it's not based on a true story but it IS INSPIRED by a true story. Tobe Hooper wrote the movie after reading about Ed Gein, a serial killer who flayed his victims, removed their skin and made it into clothing and household items.

Answer 8

its based verry, verry loosly on a amn named ed gien, he lived in a small cottage on the outskirts of a small town in the 50's. every one int the town thought ed was a little weird, but harmless. eventualy a door to door salesman reported "an odd stench" after vistiting his house, and seeing what appeared to ab a large amount of blood on eds shirt. the sherif went up, and looked around. Ed had been kidnapping femal hikers, and skinnning them. he had a necklace made out of fingers adn other disturbing things. ed was put into a phsyciatric hospital. i have no idea what happened after that, i will try to ask a friend who is studying to be a criminologist about it, he is fascintaed with the minds of serial killer(i dont understand it)

Answer 9

Yes based on a true story but when you put Hollywood to it things change, Look how many movies have been made and all have something different.

Answer 10

Yes, i live in texas, it's loosely based on an incident that happened in Travis County, not sure which town exactly though. but it did involve a chainsaw and a homocidal maniac.