The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Becomes an Animated Film

Leatherface's look is about to change. Over fifty years after the release of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Tobe Hooper's film will be transformed into a new version created through rotoscoping, with a debut expected in 2027.

The project by Dark Sky Films and Exurbia Films starts from the original images of the 1974 film, on which animators intervene by drawing each frame manually. This is not a simple digital re-elaboration: the idea is to build a new visual experience while maintaining the interpretations and tension of Hooper's work.

Leatherface Returns, But With Different Skin

A first taste of the result will arrive on August 18, during the US screenings organized for Texas Chain Saw Day. The public will be able to see a dedicated featurette on the production and some sequences of the new version, created without the use of artificial intelligence.

Leading the work is Paul Beck, an Austin artist and long-time collaborator of Richard Linklater, already involved in Waking Life, A Scanner Darkly, and Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood. Working alongside him are animators Max Peake and Nate Bayless, along with Background Artist Jeremy Martinez.

The first official image thus offers a preview of what could become one of the most unusual ways to return to Leatherface's nightmare.