_ The Dallas Morning News Sunday, October 19, 2003 Page 3I

Have Leatherface, will travel:Fans flock to sites of cult chiller

Story and Photo Illustrations by G. NOEL GROSSStaff Writer

I t’s only a movie. No coed ever met a grisly fate at the businessend of a meat hook or served as a cannibal combo meal. Yetthree decades and a new Hollywood remake later, Tobe Hoop-

er’s 1974 horror hallmark, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, still digsits teeth deep into Lone Star legend.

This tall tale follows a vanload of roadtrippers whose sweltering excursionfinds them running on empty and squareinto a macabre mess of Southern inhos-pitality. It’s enough to give real-life travel-ers pause or even night sweats. Otherscan’t resist retracing the steps of thedoomed, however.

Four notable filming locations survive,

all within 60 miles of the state capitol inAustin, and Saw fans know them by sight.Often lugged along for cheeky photo-opsis the chainsaw two-stepper himself,Leatherface, or rather his diminutive anddecidedly less cranky stand-in (shownhere in photos), an 18-inch figure avail-able for $39.95 from McFarlane Toys.

So, let’s top off the tank and go.

Quick HillIt’d be easier to note what wasn’t shot here. The remnant of OldCountry Road 172, most recently trafficked by strictlyvegetarian bovines, was the setting for Sally’s climatic rescueby a passing motorist and Gunnar Hansen’s immortalchainsaw two-step as a deeply despondentLeatherface. The gentle hill is due to beredeveloped as part of RoundRock’s La Frontera business andresidential project. A newMarriott overlooks it, and a freshstretch of State Highway 45parallels the property where the“Leatherface House” oncestood. Signs of its gravel drivewayremain, as does the scraggly treethat screened its facade. However, therailroad-tie swing set, windmill and rusted vehiclesof countless cannibalized victims have long sincevanished. Yet, if fans squint, they’ll swear they can almost seeSally scampering down the fence line, steps ahead of a fatalwhomping. “Grandpa’s House” sat just south of old 172 until itburned less than 10 years after filming.

Hills PrairieGrocery

After booting an insane hitchhiker fortrying to carve his initials into the arm ofFranklin (the whiny one), the kiddosstopped at this lonely gas station nearBastrop for a fill-up. Unfortunately, thepumps remain dry today, though thebuilding still stands. Just don’t huff or puff.It’s here Ms. Hardesty and pals werewarned not to “go fooling around otherfolks property ... [because] some folksdon’t like it and don’t mind showing you.”If only they’d listened to their elders! Laterthat night, the spot is also the finish lineof Sally’s screeching six-minute foot

race against acertain

chainsaw-wieldingmaniac.

Bagdad CemeterySurprisingly, the pre-credit grave-robbing sceneranks among the flick’s most gruesome moments.Flashbulbs burst in the pitch-black night, slowlyrevealing portions of what morning radio reportsdescribe as a “grisly work of art” lashed atop a

headstone. Naturally, no tombs were needlesslydisturbed at this Leander graveyard, as the corpse of

the movie and its faux perch were placed among existingmarkers. The neighboring monolith had already stood 108

years at the time of filming.

Wanna take a ride?Directions and site maps, 5I

Four Bears RestaurantIf the film were Gone with the Wind, this would be Tara. If Citizen

Kane, it’d be Xanadu. To horror hounds, this white Queen Annecottage is the not-so-sweet home of Leatherface and his killer kin.For 27 agonizing hours, in blazing August temperatures, cast and

crew holed up inside, shooting cinema’s mostdepraved din-din scene — without air

conditioning! No wonder poor, poor SallyHardesty (Marilyn Burns) so hastily beatfeet through that front plate-glasswindow.

Twenty-five years later, the ailinghouse was, well, chainsawed into seven

pieces and hauled from its foundation inRound Rock, roughly 50 miles west to

Kingsland where it joined the quaint groundsof The Antlers Hotel. Extensive renovations soothed

years of neglect and transformed the former den of horrors into acharming Hill Country eatery known as Four Bears Restaurant.

“They come from all over the country,” co-owner Tom Fox says ofSaw-enthused patrons. “They know so much about the movie andwant their pictures taken in certain places. I wish we had abreak-out window!” But the most requested photo-op? Mr. Foxdoesn’t blink: “Back there where that first guy got whacked!”

That would be the former steel doorway at the base of the stairs.(It was built for the film and doesn’t look the same today.) Left ofthe stairway is the aforementioned dining room and the adjoining“Chicken Room.” Fortunately for diners, lovely lace curtains,handsome hardwoods and Spanish artwork have long sincereplaced Leatherface’s roadkill decor.

Four Bears will likely sellout its inaugural Halloween ode to Saw,which will feature an outdoor showing of the film on a 20-by-40foot screen, filmmaker Q&A, guided house tours and the requisite

costume contest. (Careful with thosechainsaws, fellas.) Resident culinary

maestro Sebastian Weddle hasoutlined a special indoor feast for VIP

ticketholders of Osso Buco —roasted pork shank with the boneappropriately prominent.Outdoors? Tasty barbecue and,as featured in Texas ChainsawMassacre 2, the Sawyerfamily’s award-winning chili.For information on the event,call 512-474-1510 or visitwww.rollingroadshow.com.

One killerWeb site

Tim Harden twistedhis ankle and landedcrossways on a cactus thefirst time he went huntingfor Leatherface’s crib.

His second trip was lessaccident-prone. Early oneSunday morning, a friend’shand-drawn map ledthen-29-year-old telecomtech and his indulgent wifeCheri straight to thehallowed homestead.

“The house had beenmoved only days before Igot there. It was verydisappointing,” recalls Mr.Harden who now lives inRound Rock. “But I tookgood enough picturesto start a very simpleWeb site.”

Five years later, thatsimple site’s swelled into aclearinghouse of all thingsSaw (www.texaschainsawmassacre.net) and hasinspired other chillerfans to make their ownpilgrimages.

“One of the mostimpressive things I see arepeople traveling from allover the world,” Mr. Hardensaid. “I vividly remember aguy from Australia whoasked me a few questionsand said he’d be flying in tosee the locations. Sureenough, he came andhad a ball.”

Fellow native Texansoften make the trip as well.“Most invite me to comealong as a tour guide,” saysMr. Harden. “I’m veryflattered by that, but thinkI’m done with my daysof jumping fences. MyWeb site is the best tourguide around.”

But how did the moviefirst become such a personalpassion? “I was about 16years old and a friend ofmine somehow got it onVHS. We locked ourselvesin the total darkness of hiswindowless garage,” Mr.Harden recalls. “I felt as ifI’d been dragged throughthe halls of insanity when Iwalked away from that film.It changed me forever.”

E-mail ngross@dallasnews.com