What actually happens
A wounded child as a roadside trap
Our story starts in 1955, when a couple, Betty Hartman and Ted Hardesty, are driving along a country road when they see a seemingly wounded child named Jedidiah Sawyer. Betty follows him to a run-down barn to help, and the Sawyers, a murderous and sadistic family, promptly kill her. Sheriff Hal Hartman, her father, gets the call to come to the scene and finds her dead. Verna Sawyer, the family matriarch, tries to intervene, but Hal retaliates by taking Jedidiah into custody. He sends the boy to a mental institution called the Gorman House Youth Reformery.
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A reformery with a visitation policy
Ten years later, patients at the Gorman House are given new names so their dangerous families cannot find them. A nurse named Lizzie forms a bond with a boy called Jackson. Verna turns up with an injunction demanding family visits, and Doctor Lang, the director, rejects her. On the way out she breaks security, which starts a riot, and many nurses and patients die. Jackson gets Lizzie outside with another inmate, Bud, and then the escapees Ike and Clarice take them hostage. They stop at a diner, where a fight with the waitress, Tammy, becomes a murder spree. Hal arrives and works out that one of the escapees is Jedidiah. The group shelters in an abandoned mobile home, where Ike fights Jackson and insults Bud. The next morning Clarice goes to find Ike and runs into Hal, who kills her after she insults him and his dead daughter. Lizzie flees with Jackson and Bud, and when a police car drives by she screams to get its attention.
A wrecked police car and a very familiar barn
The deputy tries to call for backup, and Bud is killed in the struggle that follows. Jackson, furious, kills the deputy. He and Lizzie steal the police car, but Hal chases them and opens fire. One bullet hits Jackson in the face, another wounds Lizzie, and the car goes off the road. That night Lizzie wakes in the barn where Betty was killed and finds that Hal is holding her and Jackson hostage. Hal plans to kill them and tells Lizzie, with obvious pleasure, that Jackson is Jedidiah Sawyer. Before he can, the Sawyer family arrives to rescue Jedidiah, beats Hal down, and takes Hal and Lizzie captive.
A muzzle, and then a gift from Verna
At the Sawyer home, Verna stitches what is left of Jedidiah's face and fits a muzzle to hold it together. Next she brings him to a room where his siblings are guarding the captives, Lizzie and Hal. This is the scene people dread most, and it comes near the end of the movie: Verna gives Jedidiah a chainsaw, and he cuts Hal in half while Lizzie watches. The family celebrates.
The ending, explained
Lizzie runs into the woods while the Sawyers chase her, and she is caught in a bear trap. She appeals to Jedidiah's sympathy, since he cannot remember anything from before his injury, and Verna urges him to kill her to protect the family. He starts to listen to Lizzie, but he kills her once she insults Verna. Next day, Verna burns the evidence, while the other Sawyers give what is left of their victims to the pigs. Down in the basement Jedidiah makes a mask out of the faces of Hal and Lizzie, puts it on in front of a mirror and applies lipstick. The movie ends with him smashing the mirror when he sees his reflection.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether there's a scene after the credits.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Leatherface scary?
Leatherface is a 6 out of 10 with medium dread. It is a violent slasher with some jump scares, a family that turns every scene nasty and a chainsaw scene near the end.
How does Leatherface end?
The Sawyers kill both Hal and Lizzie. Jedidiah makes a mask from their faces and smashes a mirror when he sees himself in it.
Does the dog die in Leatherface?
No dog dies in Leatherface. A dead cow appears, and characters hide inside it.
Is there a post-credits scene in Leatherface?
Nobody has confirmed whether Leatherface has a scene after the credits.
Who becomes Leatherface in Leatherface?
It is Jedidiah Sawyer, who lives in the reformery under the name Jackson. After a bullet to the face, Verna stitches him up with a muzzle, and he ends the movie wearing a mask made from the faces of Hal and Lizzie.
