10 Insulting Ways Characters Were Killed Off Between Horror Movies

10. Sally Hardesty Passes Away in a Nursing Facility - Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III

Years before Halloween’s Laurie Strode became horror’s most famous final girl, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s Sally Hardesty triumphantly escaped Leatherface and the rest of the dementedly homicidal Sawyer family.

Played with terrifying authenticity by Marilyn Burns, Sally ends the picture physically and psychologically scarred by what she’s endured. Specifically, she’s left screaming in horror and confusion on the back of a pickup truck as Leatherface famously dances with his titular tool of terror.

Understandably, moviegoers might’ve expected Burns – or someone else – to bring Sally Back in the direct follow-up. Yet, aside from a brief reference of her traumatic experience in the opening narration, alongside the fact that her uncle – protagonist Lt. Boude “Lefty” Enright – is out for revenge, there’s no real update or closure regarding her character.

That was probably for the best, though, considering the damage done to her at the start of Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3. During that opening narration, it’s conveyed that Sally “died in a private health care facility in 1977.” That’s it! No further details are mentioned and no respect to her is paid once the story begins.

Clearly, such throwaway treatment is a slap in the face given Sally’s horrifying story, and the less said about her equally distasteful representation in the timeline-adjacent The Next Generation and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the better.