Horror Happenings! – The 40th Anniversary of TEXAS CHAINSAW MANICURE (1984)

Today marks the 38th anniversary of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE PART 2, and what we have here is a case of life imitating art.

Bill Moseley is a genre favorite these days, immortalized as the one and only Otis B. Driftwood in Rob Zombie’s two-fer HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES (2003) and its sequel, THE DEVIL’S REJECTS (2005). However, back in the 80s, he was just an up and comer looking for a big break. This was it.

Purportedly, Moseley handed the short off to a friend who was able to get it in front of Tobe Hooper, who was just getting plans together to make THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE PART 2 (1986). When Edwin Neal turned down the chance to reprise his role as Nubbins “The Hitchhiker” Sawyer in the sequel, the idea to give the character a twin brother was concocted and, you got it, Hooper sought out Moseley for the role now commonly known as “Chop Top”. The odds of this are astronomical to be sure, but Moseley was deservedly on his way to becoming a horror star, later appearing in such flicks as THE FIRST POWER (1990), Tom Savini’s reboot of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1990), and even snagging a small role in ARMY OF DARKNESS (1993) before galvanizing his place in scare history for his turn as Otis B. Driftwood.

Though the full short film of TEXAS CHAINSAW MANICURE is still a rare find, I was able to scrounge up this clip of it, which also features a short glimpse of the Moseley performance that obviously gave Hooper quite a laugh. Strangely enough, more than 30 years later there was a yet another short with the exact same name submitted for the MTV Movie Awards in 2007.

#horrorhappenings #texaschainsawmanicure #billmoseley #choptop #thetexaschainsawmassacrepart2 #tobehooper #edwinneal #thefirstpower #nightofthelivingdead #tomsavini #armyofdarkness #otisbdriftwood #houseof1000corpses #thedevilsrejects #robzombie