Spoiler Discussion
1. As soon as hitchiker (Edwin Neal) shows up the whole movie felt really uncomfortable. His manic portrayal of a violence-loving butcher kept me on edge, and I was just waiting for him to do something terrifying. Then when he stabbed his hand and proceeded to take a picture, I had to force myself to stay looking at the screen. I find it really interesting that the group was so slow to react, but I think that helps drive home the more thematic elements at play.
The group of college kids seems really relaxed, laid-back, optimistic, and free spirited. They casually approach the earlier events in the film, and ignore the ominous fortune telling scenario. Hell, even after Franklin (Paul A.Partain) was stabbed and the hitchhiker gets kicked off, the group is fairly calm. They even make jokes within the day about the situation, so watching Sally forced to take things seriously was symbolic in a way. Their way of life is literally cleaved away from them, as the villains engage in cannibalism and excessive violence almost in a transgressive mystical way. The way the hitchhiker talked about how people use all the parts of the cow in the older days, his love of violence, and his pride in his butchering skill were almost like a sick foil to the groups values.
2. When Sally is pushing Franklin in the forest to find the rest of their crew, and then Leatherface comes out of nowhere, I felt so bad for Franklin. He got stabbed, then disregarded, constantly degraded, and then finally just sliced in half. The jump scare was also amazing and well deserved. The lighting and sudden introduction of the character into the immediate slicing is stunning and jaw dropping.
3. The family dynamic between the gas attendant (Jim Siedow), Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen), and the hitchiker was like a sick mockery of the traditional American family structure. The attendant acts as a father, in charge of getting the bills in check with his store work. Given that butchers are being phased out, the family’s way of life is at stake. As such, he’s preoccupied on making sure they remain undiscovered. That’s why he tries to initially steer away the kids from driving over there to begin with. It also explains his rage at his “children” for risking their secrecy. The hitchiker is an an angry, rebellious, adolescent. And Leatherface, is like the child. His “father” gets very upset that his “brother” wasn’t watching out for him. He also doesn’t ever speak and exhibits a real sense of reverence towards the other figures in the twisted family. He follows his fathers commands like a good child should- except in this case those commands are to ensure there are no survivors.
Everything here seems like a perversion of the normal family, but it all gets amplified with the introduction of the grandfather. There’s a really strange tension that arises with the family’s attempts at having the grandfather kill Sally. It’s funny, because his attempts are so feeble, and it’s clear to see he’s decaying and incapable of doing it. But his “family’s” constant encouragement, laughing, and energy infuse the scene with a disturbing undercurrent. Sally’s not laughing- and even though the hammer misses repeatedly and there’s no real chance he can land a hard enough blow, it feels like there is. That’s the beauty of the interaction. It’s humorous, but the humor becomes dark and twisted into itself when it becomes contextualized with the nature of the event and the reaction of Sally.