All American Massacre (partially found unreleased Texas Chainsaw Massacre spin-off film; 1998-2000)

This article has been tagged as NSFL due to its disturbing subject matter.

The poster of the unreleased film.

Status: Partially Found

All American Massacre is an independent film that was an unofficial spin-off to Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1 and 2. Starring fan-favorite Chop Top, Bill Moseley reprises his role as the character for a second time in this prequel/sequel. The film features director William 'Tony' Hooper, son of Tobe Hooper, the director of the original two Chainsaw films. Despite having been completely finished, All American Massacre has never been released to the public.

Plot

Intended to be a 25th-anniversary tribute to "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", The film was to act as both a prequel and sequel to the first two films, with flashback sections bridging the plot together. As stated in the official press release, there would be no connection to the third or fourth Chainsaw films, as these movies were not directed by the Hooper family.

Set 12 years after the events of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Chop Top has been captured and placed in a psychiatric prison. When interviewed by a tabloid newspaper, we get to see flashbacks of his life. A much younger Chop Top, now known as "Bloody Bobby" for copyright reasons,^[1] would make an appearance. These flashback sequences would serve as a connection to the first Chainsaw film, as we would see characters such as the Hitchhiker and Leatherface return. After these flashback sequences, Chop Top would then escape and start a new Massacre, an All American Massacre.

Chop Top (played by Bill Moseley) as he appears in the film.

Cast

Bill Moseley as Chop Top aka "Bloody Bobby"
Brian Patrick Carroll (Buckethead) as Leatherface
Todd Bates as a young "Bloody Bobby" Sawyer and the Hitchhiker
Stephan Lokotsch as Steven
Danielle Burgio as Nikki
Greg Herger as Grampa, a Prison Guard, and a Television Reporter
Jessica Joyce as Julie
Stan Giesea as Dr. Thorn
Merrill Moore as Hayden's Assistant
Genous Novin as Donna
Sommer Rogers as 50's Girl

Crew

Director: William Hooper
Producers: William Hooper, Stephan Lokotsch
Executive Producer: Eric H. Lasher
Script: William Hooper
Editor: William Hooper
Director of Photography: William Hooper
Music: Buckethead
Phosphor Films, Serial Filmakers Ink, Abominable Entertainment

Production

In 1999, the film began as a 10-minute short that was known as The All-American Chainsaw Massacre. The plot at the time hadn't been developed; however, such elements such as Todd Bates playing a younger Chop Top had already been planned.^[2] As time passed, it eventually became a much longer film. This press release from August 16th, 2000 confirms that the finished film would now roughly be 60 minutes, and was shot "entirely in high-resolution video".^[3] The score for the film was composed by Buckethead, who also played the role of Leatherface.^[4]

Executive producer Eric H. Lasher was interviewed by Stefan Jaworzyn for the book The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Companion and would reveal more information on the production of the film. Stu Carney, the film's publicist, does not exist and was a pen name created by Lasher. Lasher spent an estimated $14,000 to $15,000 on the film and stated it was all shot in his garage and in Hoopers' backyard. Although Buckethead was cast as Leatherface, Lasher would often fill in and play the role instead.^[5]

While the reason for it not being released is unknown, it's speculated that rights issues are the case. The film uses Texas Chainsaw Massacre characters, included Leatherface and the rights to the series are constantly changing. The entire production also seemed to be unauthorized. It's rumored they were scared to release it as they felt it would just further damage the series after "The Next Generation" came out. However, Tony Hooper said this was not the case and it was just due to money problems during post-production. There has been a Facebook account and website teasing its release. There was even a Kickstarter which failed to reach its goal.^[6] Bill Moseley doubts the film will be released.

Availability

In June and July of 2013, an eBay auction with original film negatives^[7] and 35mm film^[8] belonging to executive producer Eric H. Lasher surfaced online. It is unknown who bought these items, and whether or not these listings contained a copy of the movie.

On March 8th, 2020, a small clip of the film surfaced on YouTube, featuring Buckethead playing the character of Leatherface. This is some of the only footage that has been found of the film, besides interviews with cast members and the trailer.