Stayed in a with a friend on Halloween, watched the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Then, because she’s a DVD junkie, we watched all the trailers for the TCM sequels, just about the only thing that made the Edition “Special.” Curious about the purportedly true events that inspired the film (it’s actually just one of a dozen films featuring a takeoff of serial killer Ed Gein), we checked out Wikipedia, where we naturally came across information on both the original and remake series.
One of the things that I find most amusing about Wikipedia is what the writers of pop culture entries reveal about their personalities, essentially that (as you might imagine of people who voluntarily input a great deal of information about films and comics for free) they’re anal-retentive nerds who spend way too much of their time thinking about things like continuity. To wit:
“After The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, in which the bulk of the Sawyer family apparently meet their demise, several other members of Leatherface’s family are introduced in the next two films; though due to some continuity discrepancies, it remains vague as to whether or not Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III and Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, and the family members that appear in them, are canon to the first two films of the series.”
That’s right, discussion of how well the third and fourth trashy installments of a slasher series fit into series continuity and whether or not certain aspects are “canon.” Sounds a lot like many comics fans. No sooner had I had that thought than I came across the section on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in other media, specifically the video games and also… the comic books.
Turns out The Texas Chainsaw Massacre has been published by four different publishers, Northstar, Topps, Avatar and, currently, DC/Wildstorm (which makes sense, as Time Warner owns both DC and New Line Cinema, the studio that produces the films). Northstar’s contribution, Leatherface, is a loose adaptation of Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III. Avatar and Wildstorm’s series are in the continuity of the TCM remake series from a few years ago, and just from the Wikipedia synopses show how trying to create an ongoing continuity sucks the life out an original story.
Subcribe to The Wright Feed.
