10 Horror Movie "Facts" That Aren't Actually True

5. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Is Based On A True Story

Jason Mask
Bryanston Pictures

In The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, a group of teenagers encounter a chainsaw-wielding cannibal called Leatherface who has a nasty habit of wearing masks crafted from his victim's faces. But what makes the premise even scarier is how it's supposably based on a true story.

To highlight this claim, the film's poster reads "What happened is true. Now the motion picture that's just as real." When the movie begins, the opening crawl reads like a news report, indicating further that the events in the story genuinely happened.

For years, there were urban legends that the grisly murders depicted in the film actually that took place in Poth near San Antonio. Of course, this can't be true because the plot is 100% fiction. The only part of the story that has a semblance of truth is the villain, Leatherface, who is very loosely based on the killer, Ed Gein.

However, this is misleading since Gein wasn't a cannibal and he never murdered his victims with a chainsaw. The only traits of Gein that were incorporated into Leatherface was how he turned human faces into masks and decorated his house with body parts.

Contributor
Contributor

James Egan has written 80 books including 1000 Facts about Superheroes Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about Horror Movies Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about The Greatest Films Ever Made Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about Video Games Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about TV Shows Vol. 1-3 Twitter - @jameswzegan85