| Errors | Missing | Unverified | Supported |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
Franklin Hardesty: Pam's paraplegic brother. He is killed by Leatherface in the woods after the group separates to look for Pam. Leatherface hits him with his hammer and then finishes him off with the chainsaw.
Pam: Kirk's girlfriend. She and Kirk separate from the rest of the group. She's captured after entering the Sawyer house while looking for Kirk. She's impaled on a meathook in the "game room" of the house while still alive.
Kirk: Pam's boyfriend. He's the first to die. He enters the Sawyer house after hearing what sounds like gas running in the generator. Leatherface appears and kills him with a hammer blow to the head.
Jerry: The boyfriend of Sally. He finds Pam's body in the freezer while looking for his friends, and Leatherface ambushes him and murders him with a hammer.
The hitchhiker: Is run over by a semi truck after Sally escapes the Sawyer family's home.
Grandpa: The grandfather of the family, who participates in the terror.
It is worth noting the film leaves Sally alive.
The AI summary states Jerry finds 'Pam's body' but multiple sources confirm she was still alive (though near death) when found in the freezer. She lunged out before being forced back in. Her exact moment of death is not shown on screen - she may have died from the meat hook wound, hypothermia in the freezer, or a combination. The film leaves this deliberately unclear.
The summary doesn't establish the temporal progression: Kirk and Pam die in daylight, Jerry dies as evening arrives, Franklin dies at nightfall, and the Hitchhiker dies at dawn the next morning. This progression adds to the horror of Sally's ordeal lasting through the entire night.
The summary mentions who dies but omits Sally's prolonged captivity and torture at the Sawyer family dinner table, which is one of the film's most iconic and disturbing sequences. This represents roughly the final third of the film and is central to understanding Sally's trauma.
The summary conflates weapons - Leatherface uses a sledgehammer for Kirk and Jerry (quick, efficient kills) but uses the chainsaw for Franklin and in chasing Sally. This pattern is significant to the film's escalating horror and Leatherface's character.
By listing Grandpa as someone who dies, the summary misses the darkly comedic/horrific scene where Grandpa (described as 'the best killer' with a sledgehammer in his day) is too weak to kill Sally despite multiple attempts, leading to her escape opportunity.
The summary doesn't note that most deaths are implied rather than shown graphically. Kirk's death happens in a flash, Franklin's death is shot from behind, and much of the horror comes from suggestion and Marilyn Burns' performance rather than explicit violence. This is a notable aspect of the film's effectiveness.
The summary mentions the Hitchhiker and Grandpa but doesn't note that Drayton (the Old Man/Cook who runs the gas station) is also part of the Sawyer family and participates in Sally's capture and torture, though he survives the film.
In The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), four of the five young protagonists die, plus one member of the Sawyer family:
Kirk (Pam's boyfriend) - Dies first. He enters the Sawyer house searching for gasoline after hearing a generator, and Leatherface kills him with a single blow to the head with a sledgehammer.
Pam (Kirk's girlfriend) - After Kirk doesn't return, she enters the house looking for him. She stumbles into a room filled with human and animal remains, attempts to flee, but is caught by Leatherface and impaled on a meat hook through her back while still alive. She is forced to watch as Leatherface dismembers Kirk's body with a chainsaw. Later, when Jerry finds her in a freezer, she is still alive but near death and convulsing. After Jerry is killed, Leatherface forces her body back into the freezer. Her exact moment of death is not shown on screen.
Jerry (Sally's boyfriend) - Goes looking for Pam and Kirk in the evening. He finds Pam still alive in the freezer, but Leatherface appears and kills him with a sledgehammer blow to the head.
Franklin Hardesty (Sally's paraplegic brother) - At nightfall, Sally pushes Franklin in his wheelchair through the woods to search for Jerry. Leatherface ambushes them and kills Franklin by ramming/chainsawing him through the chest with the chainsaw.
The Hitchhiker/Nubbins Sawyer - A member of the Sawyer family. After Sally escapes the house at dawn, the Hitchhiker and Leatherface chase her to the road. The Hitchhiker catches up to Sally and slashes at her with a knife, but is accidentally run over and killed by a passing semi truck.
Sally Hardesty survives as the film's sole survivor (the 'final girl'). After witnessing Franklin's death, she is chased by Leatherface, captured, and tortured by the Sawyer family at their dinner table throughout the night. She escapes at dawn, is nearly recaptured, but ultimately flags down a passing pickup truck and escapes in its bed, laughing hysterically as Leatherface swings his chainsaw in rage.
Grandpa Sawyer does NOT die - he is the elderly, nearly mummified patriarch of the family who participates in attempting to kill Sally with a hammer but is too weak to do so. He survives the film.
The deaths occur over the span of one day and night, with Kirk and Pam dying in daylight, Jerry in the evening, Franklin at nightfall, and the Hitchhiker at dawn the following morning.