Breaking Down The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006) Opening Credits

breaking down the texas chainsaw massacre: the beginning (2006) opening credits

as i promised, here's a post going through tcm 2006's beginning credits frame-by-frame. buckle up, this is pretty damn long.

[3:59] first shot is one of thomas’ baby photos, it’s in black-and-white and very blurry and there’s no date provided, but it looks like he has a unilateral cleft lip on the left side of his mouth (his left, our right).

remember to take this with a grain of salt due to the fact that the fucked-up cgi baby that luda mae picks up out of the dumpster doesn’t seem to have a cleft lip, and his face reveal in the 2003 movie seems to be lacking one too. so this is something that you can choose to include or exclude from your writing imo.

there seems to be a dark line going down from the left corner of his mouth and down his face??? but it could be something superficial on the photo itself.

[4:01] the same photo of thomas shown previously. here the cleft lip is shown in much better detail, and as you can see, it doesn’t extend up to his nostril. this implies that his particular birth defect isn’t all that extreme, which is why i headcanon him to have a unilateral incomplete cleft lip.

looks like he has his “skin disease” by this point, judging by the markings around his mouth. he looks to be merely an infant in this photo, maybe less than one year old.

that mysterious dark scar (?) remains.

[4:05] thomas’ first medical files are shown, unknown date. the text is partially cut off, but i can make out “deteriorating flesh” and “disfigurement” written with circles drawn around the lower left half of his face.

“disfigurement” can be referring to both his cleft lip and whatever birth defect his affecting his lower left jaw.

[4:09] a picture of an older thomas, i’d say between the ages of 3–5. his face is being covered completely by someone else. i’d argue that those are “man hands”, but honestly, it could go either way. i doubt it’s luda mae, due to her fondness towards thomas, but i do believe it’s a hewitt. this would imply that at least one hewitt was ashamed of thomas in his younger years, and didn’t want him to be visible in pictures.

[4:13] more medical files. roughly reads “patient: thomas hewitt, age: 3, [date of] examination: 7/20/??”

if thomas is three years old, it can be assumed that the year is 1942.

[4:15] another picture of thomas, but this time he’s hiding his face on his own. age is harder to discern here, but he’s definitely under 8–10 years old. he’s already learned to be ashamed of his face.

“age: 6” flashes on screen at [4:19], which can imply that thomas was six years old at the time that the previous photo was taken.

[4:20] first live action shot. thomas is touching his face, which looks to have an open, bleeding wound. initially, this shot looked like some sort of scrape or even bite to me (with the torn skin and all), but it may be psoriasis that’s been scratched at, causing the wounds to reopen over and over and become more severe. this would be the beginning of thomas’ self-harming behavior.

[4:24] yet another photo of thomas, older and with his face uncovered. cleft lip doesn’t look present but as i stated, the filmmakers seem to forget about that fact every now and again. he does, however, seem to have scarring on his left cheek from his skin condition. he’s looking away from the camera.

[4:26] more medical files. from what i can make out, they say “… boy suffers from a degenerative facial disease. … birth defect”

[4:29] shot of thomas picking up some sort of blade with the words “tedency towards self-mutilation” popping up on screen. this seems pretty self-explanatory.

[4:37] longer shot of thomas raising the blade to his face and slicing into the flesh of his cheek.

from [4:41] to [4:51], you can see thomas’ face being wrapped up in some sort of guaze/bandage. due to the bandages covering nearly his entire head, i believe that his wounds were far more extreme than the footage actually shows.

during this time, you can here a voice (presumably charlie’s, though r lee ermy also played what we can assume to be luda mae’s husband in the very beginning of the film) telling thomas “don’t worry about it, tommy. you don’t have to look pretty to work down at the slaughterhouse.” this tells me a couple of things: 1.) if this is charlie, this is the first instance of him comforting thomas, which he continues to do throughout the film (while still manipulating him). this shows that charlie, from at least this point on, is a kind older brother figure to thomas. 2.) it’s already being ingrained in thomas that he isn’t pretty, even if that fact is being delivered through reassurance. 3.) he’s already being set up to work at the slaughterhouse, somewhat implying that he drops out of school to start working. with the hewitts’ poverty, i wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case.

[4:58] shot of an empty road. “age 9” is overlayed on top of this image, implying that thomas was no older than nine years old when he injured himself and presumably got drawn out of school.

[5:00] very very quick snapshot of a dog (?) carcass, looks like roadkill. thomas is then shown to take interest in the corpse, dragging it away by its tail.

from [5:07] to [5:26], you can see thomas going through the process of creating his first leather mask out of that roadkill. he moves with intention, he doesn’t seem to be skittish or queasy when it comes to corpses and death. there’s a shot of his reflection at [5:20], with only his nose and eyes being visible. they look pretty normal, and you can see that he’s out of his bandages by this point.

[5:28] “12 yrs. old” flashes on screen, again implying that thomas was no older than twelve when he began wearing masks to cover his face.

the frames between [5:31] and [5:37] are hard for me to fully make out, but there looks to be a blade, some sort of flesh, and machinery.

i believe he’s already started working at the slaughterhouse by this point, as at [5:38], you can see thomas trace his fingers over the still blade of a chainsaw—something he later steals from his job in 1969.

his fingers look like they belong to his older self, but i can’t tell exactly when this takes place.

[5:43] thomas takes his apron off of a rack in what i can assume is the slaughterhouse. he’s in his older teens or beyond at this point, i think—his forearms are thick and hairy here, so it’s clear he’s aged significantly.

[5:47] newspaper dated friday, june 9, 1967 flashes on screen, followed by an outside shot of the lee bros meat plant. thomas would be 28 by this point in time.

the meat plant processes not only cows but poultry as well, and was established in 1929.

[5:50] friday, june 9, 1969. exactly two years after the last shot (though in reality, june 9th was a monday that year, but it’s a simple error). here’s what i can read:

MEAT PLANT CONDEMNED, HUNDREDS LEFT JOBLESS

lee bros. meats, fixture (?) of fuller for forty years

unemployment rate near 76% according to mayor clayton

devastating three-year drought has far reaching consequences. some proclaim “second dust bowl”

CLOSED FOR GOOD lee brothers processing plant was … by … on wednesday and forced to suspend all activity on thursday. drought related illness in cattle is sited as the cause of stomach ailments throughout west texas

note: travis county is closer to central-east texas than west texas, so that’s another inconsistency… at this point i don’t know where exactly fuller is.

from what i can understand, a drought had been affecting fuller since 1966. this drought brought sickness to the cattle and other livestock, likely due to undernourishment. this meant less business for the slaughterhouse, which meant less work for the people who worked there, which meant mass unemployment. by the time we reach 1969, there’s over 75% unemployment in fuller and the meat plant finally shuts down.

the article also mentions the meat plant being condemned, which implies that there were underlying safety issues within the building that contributed to its closure.

a dead cow flashes on screen shortly after the shot of the newspaper.

[5:54] okay, this is where the timeline starts jumping around and i don’t like it. according to the friday, march 9, 1968 article of “the fuller bee”, the meat plant is condemned and the town has offically DIED in big, capital letters. this doesn’t make sense, given the article shown literally seconds before and the fact that the audience knows thomas is dismissed from his job in 1969, so i’m choosing to believe this is merely a mistake.

[5:57] newspaper with no date provided, with the headline “DRAFT MORE TROOPS”, likely in reference to the war in vietnam.

shortly after, another headline flashes on screen: “REINSTATED FOR VIETNAM CONFLICT”. this article is dated saturday, december 1, 1969. this is a historical error, as i can’t find anything about the draft being reinstated in 1969. according to wikipedia, the deferment of married men ended suddenly on august 26th, 1965, but that’s the only big change to the draft that i know of around that time. also, if the article was accurate, then it would be reciting events after the film, which takes place in july 1969. you can see why this doesn’t make sense.

from [5:58] to [6:33], thomas can be seen slamming his fist against his baby photos before going on to burn them, with his diagnosis of mental deterioration flashing on screen. i believe this implies that he volunteered for the army, which i already wrote a whole post about here.

these shots are also spliced with scenes of thomas making what i assume to be a new mask. it’s very obviously raw flesh, which by now i know that’s not how leather is Made, but he’s a little freak so what can you expect. maybe this is meant to show thomas leaning in to his shame after being rejected from the army.

this is the longest “scene” by far, showing how the writers really wanted us to know just how much thomas hates himself.

and that’s the end of the opening credits, cutting to july, 1969.

OKAY SO, what have we learned??? here’s a rudimentary tl;dr—

thomas is born 1939 with a cleft lip and possibly an additional birthmark/defect. his “skin disease” looks to be present at birth/in his infancy.

he is diagnosed with “deteriorating flesh” and “disfigurement” by the time he is three years old.

by the age of six, thomas begins showing signs of self-consciousness and low self-esteem.

by the age of nine, thomas has begun engaging in self harm and cuts into his face with a blade, leading to him presumably dropping out of school to work at lee bros. meat processing plant.

by the age of twelve, thomas has begun to use the flesh of roadkill to craft leather masks for himself. i believe he’s also confirmed to be working at the slaughterhouse by this point in time.

a drought hits fuller in 1966 and lasts for at least three years. this drought causes the livestock to become ill, which leads to the closure of the slaughterhouse in 1969. other safety concerns also factor into this closure.

sometime between 1965–1969, thomas volunteers to fight in vietnam but is denied due to his “mental deterioration”. he burns his baby pictures in response.

as we all know, thomas is formally fired in july of 1969. he looks to be the last one left at the slaughterhouse, clinging to the job he’s had for almost twenty years.

i literally went through this fucking film frame-by-frame for this info. i hope this helps at least one of you in your writing!

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the texas chainsaw massacre texas chainsaw massacre tcm Thomas Hewitt thomas brown hewitt tcm 2006

{Thomas} Hewitt Family Dynamic/Psychology Analysis

TW: Canon-related dynamics/activities, Incest, Rape/SA, Pedophilia, Abuse {Mental, Psychical, Emotional}, Discussions of mental health, extreme language, Usage of R!slur, War, Hoyt {Biggest warning of them all}

Yapping session again, I apologize {Wrote this whilst listening to Preacher's Daughter, GOATED ALBUM} Poorly edited, a bit more coherent than the last post 🩷

{Thomas} Hewitt Family Dynamic/Psychology Analysis

The family dynamic seems to be very..unconventional yet unsurprising. It’s a family of traumatized, traumatizing, enablers who’re struggling to survive both in spirit and in actuality. This post was intended to focus mainly on Thomas but I dove deep into Hoyt and the other family members as well because I feel they have such a big impact on Tommy:(

___

Thomas is obviously a very closed-off and introverted individual. His childhood was full of ridicule, cruelty, and abuse. His main father figure was and still is Hoyt - Charlie, but his biggest influence is his Momma, Luda Mae. I’ve seen multiple people paint Luda as a saint when in all actuality, she’s not. Although she may not be as malicious, she’s an enabler with intense family pride and protectiveness. Her automatic dislike of Erin is proof of this. She assumes Erin {and her friends, brother, boyfriend} are judgemental and arrogant ‘city-slickers’ who’re out to get Thomas. In all actuality, Erin never comments on Thomas’ looks besides her small conversation with Henrietta: “I couldn’t, I couldn’t look at him.” Even in this segment, she never says anything bad about Thomas except warning Henrietta and the Tea Lady {we’ll just call her ‘Kathy’ based on her actor} of his arrival. During this segment, we learn additional information about how the family views Thomas, as well as his general behavior. Dialogue from family members include:

“He knows better than to be messing around here…Poor Sweet boy--He’s no harm; Always keeps to himself.” - Henrietta, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2003--1:02

“I know your kind--Nothing but cruelty and ridicule for my boy, all the time he was growing up. Does anybody care about me and my boy?” - Luda Mae, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2003--1:06

“He ain’t retarded; He’s misunderstood.” - Sheriff Hoyt / Charlie, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning 2006--16:30

“You don’t like playing with me anymore because I’m a pussy, that’s what you said. Well, my nephew Tommy ain’t no pussy; Maybe you’d like to play with him for a little while.” - Sheriff Hoyt / Charlie, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning 2006--51:35

“You beautiful bastard, you!” {Honestly this entire scene could be used here} - Sheriff Hoyt / Charlie, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning 2006--1:01:21 - 1:02:40

“Thomas, quit playing with your fucking dolls and get up here!..Hmm, I like your new face.” - Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning 2006--1:06:15 - 1:06:35

“There you go, nice work, Tommy.” - Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning 2006--1:09:55

“There’s a time when every boy becomes a man.” Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning 2006--1:17:53

As you can see, most of the praise Thomas gets is from Hoyt. Honestly, reviewing Hoyt’s character on his own, this may seem surprising, but diving past face-value, this isn’t surprising at all. Hoyt is a sadistic, impulsive, traumatized veteran who very clearly values his family. I think both Thomas and Hoyt have the same thought{s}: “Family is all I’ve known, family is all I have consistently. Therefore, I need to protect it.” This is very apparent in Hoyt’s speech in The Beginning 2006: “Us... we're staying right here. The ashes of six generations of Hewitts have been tilled into the soil of this farm. We will never abandon the place of our birth. We're on our own now, people. And alone... we will rise above it all.” Both Hoyt and Thomas value family so much, and this is apparent in their immediate protection of them; As well as how violent they get once the family's safety is in jeopardy. The family also heavily depends on both of them, Thomas more than Hoyt. Luda Mae immediately calling out for Hoyt once Eric throws a brick through their window {48:25}, relying on Thomas to chase down Chrissie, ordering Thomas to ‘wrap things up’ after Monty’s amputation, Thomas being the main source of income prior to the meat plant shutting down, Hoyt Charlie being the one to protect Thomas from the original Sheriff Hoyt, the deleted scene where Charlie protects Thomas from malicious classmates, Thomas protecting Hoyt by killing the biker {1:01 - 1:03}.

I’d also like to add; As someone with multiple military family members, the military changes you. War changes you. Considering Charlie is a POW, his trauma has to be so deep. {I’d like to make this clear: !!I’M NOT DEFENDING NOR SYMPATHISING WITH HOYT!!} His lust for violence, domination, control, and protection is most likely a combination of his personality, growing up dirt poor, his relationship with Luda Mae + other family members {which I’ll talk about below}, the war, and their current situation. He definitely gets defensive of his country, the military in general, the South, and his family. I.E: “Ain’t nothing I hate worse than a draft-dodging hippie protester.” - The Beginning 2006--40:30. He most likely has the same views on “City-slickers” as Luda Mae, just more extreme. In fact, I think it’s safe to assume the entire family has that view, maybe even Thomas. {Though his would be more protection-based as opposed to politically divided.} *cough-cough, Hoyt*

Going back to Thomas’ “father figures”, Monty and Hoyt were the only men in the house for Thomas to look up to. Hoyt was gone when Thomas was around 13, meaning during his very “experimental” years, he only had Monty to look up to. Both Monty and Hoyt are sexual deviants with no shame at all; Monty very openly gropes Erin in the 2003 remake whilst calling her a “Good girl.” {I almost turned off the movie, I kid you not} Whilst Hoyt very openly gropes Bailey multiple times, and even toys with Erin. It’s also heavily implied he raped Bailey {poor girl, this entire movie was so poor to her and Chrissie.} And whilst Luda Mae does get Hoyt to calm down with Erin, she still actively enables this behavior and completely ignores it. Now, I don’t think Thomas would replicate this {fingers crossed}; I’m sure Thomas has ‘urges’ but he has so much to do, such little extra energy, and a shit ton of {religious} trauma which would most likely coerce him away from sexual activity. He also very obviously wants praise. The more Hoyt praises and encourages Thomas, the more sadistic he gets. And yes, Thomas is sadistic. Sure he’s trying to survive, protect, and feed his family, but he also actively tortures his victims. I.E; skinning Eric’s arms, bathing Andy’s amputation in salt, ect. And I don’t wanna blame this on his ‘mental deterioration’, because that’s not it in my opinion. Thomas has crossed the threshold of “I’m doing this to protect my family / because I’m forced to.’ No, he’s violent and angry. He’s so done with everything. He needs an outlet to take his anger from him, and the victims are practically begging him with how infuriating they can be. Also, wearing Kemper’s mask to catch Erin??? Jesus Christ, Thomas, that’s traumatizing. And he knows he’ll get away with it. The law enforcement is gone, Hoyt has done worse, Momma doesn’t seem to speak on it, why not continue? And I’m sure he feels powerful when he finally gets the chance to bite back. This is exactly the kind of manipulation Hoyt did to get Thomas fully on board with this killing-spree shit; “It’s one of those assholes who used to fuck with you in the schoolyard, Tommy!” - The Beginning 2006--1:01:40. This brings me to my next point -

The family is immensely good at manipulation. Kinda by default, too. I know Southern hospitality can be viewed as passive aggressive and unnecessary depending on where you’re from, especially if you’re from up North; And I can’t disagree in some instances. Luda Mae is the MOST likely to use her ‘Southern hospitality’ as means of manipulation. Her little coo to Bailey about “We got to get you cleaned up, you don’t want to look dirty for company, do you?” at around 42:30 {Which by the way, was Marrietta Marich’s [Luda Mae’s actress] idea apparently.} It was not only a way to distract Bailey from the torture below them, but to indoctrinate herself into believing everything was fine. This was their life, and Charlie Hoyt knows what’s best, doesn’t he? I’m sure this was really difficult for her; Truly seeing who her son was and how the war affected him so deeply. Her seeming so closed off to Bailey and Chrissie at the community center was a result of the intense lifestyle change. Hoyt is EXTREMELY manipulative as well. I mean, he was a POW, you need a lot of skills in pattern recognition and psychology to survive such things. The way he speaks to everyone; Beginning slightly rational and neutral, only to quickly be angered and intimidated by his lack of power in the situation. This is especially prominent when he speaks to Morgan, Erin, and Pepper; But mostly Morgan. In the first movie, when the car breaks down and he tries to “calm Erin down” only to scold all of them for possession of drugs and such; Trying to convince Erin that Kemper killed the hitchhiker when he knew what really happened; Making Morgan reenact the scene whilst threatening him with an unloaded gun, pressuring him into “shooting” whilst taunting about how they’ll be “accomplices to murder.” Smashing the bottle in Morgan’s face when he says Hoyt can have the Skynyrd tickets. The way he kisses and rubs on Bailey during the dinner scene in The Beginning?? How he coos and taunts Erin once she wakes up from the poison?? He’s a master in manipulation and puts on a damn good show at that. Henrietta and the Tea Lady / Kathy are also extremely manipulative. When they force Erin to drink the tea, blame her for the baby crying, saying that she “looks tense” and “needs to relax”?? Yeah, this family is full of manipulative and emotionally abusive cycles. Anyway, back to how this affects Thomas.

Thomas was most definitely manipulated in multiple ways. I’m sure Luda Mae has manipulated him into ‘doing what's best for the family’ and all that bullshit. He definitely has some religious trauma and sure as hell has endured abuse of many kinds.

To tie this all together, I present to you: The Family Dynamic.

I saw a post by I believe Scrapnick?{Their art is so so appealing} Anyway, someone had asked why Thomas and Hoyt are both “brothers and uncle/nephew.” They responded with something like: “Luda Mae most likely got assaulted by her father as a child.” Their post was more detailed than that but that was the main point. And honestly, I agree. At first I thought Hoyt was Luda Mae’s husband, and then I heard him refer to Thomas as his “nephew”, and then I heard him call Luda Mae “mama.” I went researching on wikis and such only to find results such as “he doesn’t view Thomas as a real brother, therefore he uses uncle/nephew.” Whilst this may be true, Hoyt and Luda Mae only have at MAX a 15 year difference. The actors {Marrietta Marich, R. Lee Ermey} only had a 14 year difference. Considering he also calls Monty his uncle, I think it's safe to assume Luda experienced assault from her father during her teens, resulting in pregnancy. Tying this back to religious trauma, I think this fact really upsets Hoyt. He loves his family, obviously, but I think the idea of him being ‘born of sin,’ I.E: Out of wedlock, incest, pedophilia; most likely affects him. I wonder if he ever thought “Well, I’m going to hell anyway, might as well sin.” I’m rambling right now, I apologize; Welcome to my blog {Yappville.}

Now, this dynamic obviously affected his relationship with Luda Mae. I doubt she loves him any less, but I think it was definitely difficult considering A.) Growing up religious; B.) Being such a young mother; And C.) Growing up and continuing to be excruciatingly poor. I think Hoyt gets a bit jealous of Thomas, surprisingly. He’s jealous of how much Luda Mae adores him; How he really gets to have a mother instead of a struggling sister/mother who was trying so hard to get by. Hoyt seems to have a closer {yet still distant} relationship to Monty than Thomas does. I think Monty is just a distant, miserable old man whose patience is low and tiredness is high. He’s worn out, especially after the amputation. The entire family is worn out; Slowly losing their grip on humanity with each passing day. The only consistent thing they have is each other, and yet still their relationships escape them. I think everyone, but especially Thomas {and Jedidiah, poor baby} just want a home to feel safe in. Really, just a stable income, stable food supply, and the ability to rest both physically and mentally. He wants to be able to have a purpose; To work again without needing to worry if his family will be okay. Being able to walk around the house without having to shut himself in the basement to avoid scoldings, demands, or endless calls. This entire family is really fucked up and in need of some rest, family therapy, maybe some physical therapy, and some damn prozac.

Okay, yay!! You made it to the end; I apologize for the long post again, I get so into analyzing things and I couldn’t resist looking into the Hewitts. Tommy needs some prozac and some Southern cooking {He’s just like me fr}

Love you all, thank you so much for the support on the previous post 🫀

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leatherface texas chainsaw massacre tcm Thomas Hewitt thomas brown hewitt

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slasherdungeon

2 weeks ago

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real tcm Thomas Hewitt thomas brown hewitt

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slasherdungeon

1 month ago

all my tcm merch so far 🔪

they’re all for the 2003 version bc merch from 2006 is stupid expensive

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leatherface slashers texas chainsaw massacre tcm Thomas Hewitt thomas brown hewitt texas chainsaw massacre 2003 texas chainsaw massacre the beginning

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slasherdungeon

2 months ago

ok WHERE exactly is this pic from?? there wasn’t a scene like this in the movie, nor the director’s cut, so is this a deleted scene? if so, where can i find it??

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leatherface slashers texas chainsaw massacre tcm Thomas Hewitt thomas brown hewitt texas chainsaw massacre 2003 texas chainsaw massacre the beginning i must see every deleted tcm scene

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slasherdungeon

3 months ago

do y’all think thomas hewitt can talk? i wonder whether he can but chooses not to, or never has

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leatherface slashers texas chainsaw massacre tcm Thomas Hewitt thomas brown hewitt texas chainsaw massacre 2003 texas chainsaw massacre the beginning

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slasherdungeon

3 months ago