The director of 2022's Texas Chainsaw Massacre has revealed yet another reference to the original hidden in the film. This entry is the ninth film in the franchise spawned from the 1974 Tobe Hooper classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Texas Chainsaw '22, which debuted on Netflix today, will be, in the parlance of Scream 2022, a "re-quel," combining new characters with those from the original film - in this case the killer Leatherface (originally played by Gunnar Hansen, now played by Mark Burnham) and the Final Girl Sally Hardesty (originally played by Marilyn Burns, now played by Olwen Fouéré).
The new characters will be played by a solid ensemble that includes Jacob Latimore, Elsie Fisher, Sarah Yarkin, Alice Krige, Moe Dunford, Jessica Allain, and Nell Hudson. Although the sequels to the original film aren't technically being removed from the continuity, the new film will focus exclusively on being a follow-up to the original. This is actually the third film in the franchise to take that approach after The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (which had no other option) and Texas Chainsaw 3D. This is vitally necessary because the canon of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of horror cinema's most tangled and confusing to parse out.
Screen Rant had the opportunity to sit down with Texas Chainsaw Massacre director David Blue Garcia. He revealed that there are so many Easter eggs in the film that even he is still discovering some of them "because I forgot that we put them in." However, one of his very favorites comes in the scene in the bus: "Look in the lightning flashes in the windows and you'll see something pretty interesting." Read the full quote below:
There's a lot of easter eggs in the film, some of which I'm still discovering because I forgot that we put them in. When I rewatch the movie, I'm like, "oh yeah! Forgot about that." But one of my favorites is, if you just look in the bus scene, look in the windows. Look in the lightning flashes in the windows and you'll see something pretty interesting.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre is going to be chock full of references by the sound of things. In addition to the recent reveal that the production of the film managed to locate the original film's chainsaw to use as a prop, the original narrator John Larroquette will be returning to read the new film's opening crawl. Screen Rant's previous interview with stars Sarah Yarkin and Elsie Fisher also revealed that there are plenty of references to Garcia's 2018 directorial debut Tejano included among the Texas Chainsaw nods.
Garcia was intentionally vague about what an eagle-eyed viewer might spot in those lightning flashes in Texas Chainsaw Massacre. There seem to be only two possible options, however. The lightning could form the shape of a familiar face, or maybe instead it lights up a sign or location from the previous film, perhaps the W.E. Slaughter gas station or even the Black Maria truck that Sally stops while running away from Leatherface at the end of the first film.