* CatharsisFactor: While it’s [[SavedByCanon inevitable that Hoyt will survive this movie]], given how much of a sadistic monster he is in this, seeing Dean slam his head into the ground several times for his troubles (which, by all accounts, really should’ve killed him) is extremely satisfying.
* CompleteMonster: ''Also in the [[Film/TheTexasChainsawMassacre2003 2003 film]]''; [[AxCrazy Charlie Hewitt, Jr.]], [[ImpersonatingAnOfficer better known as Sheriff Hoyt]], is a sadistic [[UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar Korean War]] veteran who obtained a taste for human flesh. [[KillAndReplace Murdering and replacing the true sheriff Hoyt]] in their derelict county, Hoyt uses his position to waylay travelers and direct them to his family so he can torture, butcher, and eat them. Abusing his own family at whim, including unnecessarily amputating his Uncle Monty's legs, Hoyt is gleeful in his brutal torture of others, such as forcing a runaway draftee for [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar The Vietnam War]] to do pushups to escape all while Hoyt savagely beats him. Hoyt is also implied to rape captive women and enjoys psychologically tormenting his victims with fake executions before finally murdering them for real, often at the hands of Leatherface.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Dean, Eric and Bailey may all be supporting characters to Chrissie, whose focus is arguably secondary to Leatherface, but all three tend to be fairly popular and well-liked characters even by many detractors of the film.
* FanPreferredCutContent: Many fans feel that the first (out of three) alternate endings is better than the final version, due to [[spoiler:giving Chrisse a more ambiguous, NothingIsScarier fate compared to the AssPull one in the finished film]] and having a powerful and terrifying montage showcasing the scope and heartbreak of the Hewitts' future crimes.
* FandomSpecificPlot: There's a few fanfiction stories out there where [[spoiler:some, or even all, of the kids]] manage to get away from the Hewitts.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The beginning of the remake featured a traumatized girl who barely survived her implied but never actually shown encounter with Hewitts. Since this movie is a prequel to it, you'd think that it tells her story but she is absent entirely.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: the Hill brothers, Chrissie and Bailey are all interesting, well-acted characters [[spoiler: who deserved better than to be DoomedByCanon]].
* TooBleakStoppedCaring: It's essentially a film where some well-acted and developed protagonists get put through some of the worst hell in the series. [[spoiler:And all of them die in the end, which is a ForegoneConclusion for the audience given the film's prequel status]].
* TheWoobie: All four of the main victims have it pretty bad, being subject to horrific torture, cruel [[HopeSpot Hope Spots]], and seeing loved ones die in front of them.