Leatherface (2017) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Sheriff Hartman sends Jed to the asylum because he holds the teenage boy responsible for his daughter Betty's murder. After discovering Betty's lifeless body in a barn, Hartman took vengeance into his own hands rather than pressing formal charges, arranging for Jed to be institutionalized for troubled youths.

Foreshadowing: Earlier in the film, Jed appears injured and lures Betty into the barn, setting the tragedy in motion.

• sheriff hartman
• jed
• mental asylum
• betty
• betty's death
• revenge

Jackson is actually Jedidiah Sawyer, the youngest son of Verna Sawyer. He was sent to the mental asylum as a teenager after being blamed for Betty Hartman's murder. The film reveals his true identity when Verna calls him by the name Jed during the climactic confrontation with Sheriff Hartman.

Foreshadowing: Verna's urgent mission to free 'her son' from the asylum hints at her connection to the patients.

• jackson
• jedidiah
• jed
• vera sawyer
• identity reveal
• true identity

Verna Sawyer breaks her son Jed out of the asylum because she wants to rescue him from institutionalization. She arrives with a court order demanding his release and, when refused, violently attacks the staff, triggering a riot that allows Jed and the other patients to escape.

Foreshadowing: Verna's presence at the asylum is foreshadowed by her earlier role in Jed's brutal initiation into the family.

• verna sawyer
• jed
• asylum breakout
• rescue

The diner massacre occurs when the escaped patients Ike and Clarice take Lizzy and Jackson hostage and force them to stop at a roadside diner. Inside, Ike and Clarice proceed to kill the customers and staff in a brutal attack, leaving a bloody aftermath that Sheriff Hartman and Deputy Sorrell later discover.

Foreshadowing: Ike and Clarice are established as deranged escapees who take hostages shortly after the asylum riot.

• diner
• massacre
• ike
• clarice
• lizzy
• jackson

After the climax, Verna stitches up Jed's injuries and forces him into the family's brutal rituals. She gives him his first chainsaw and instructs him to kill anyone who threatens the family. Most chillingly, Jed creates his first mask from Lizzy's face, marking his transformation into the iconic Leatherface.

Foreshadowing: Jed's initiation at his birthday, where he's given a chainsaw and ordered to kill, foreshadows his eventual embrace of the family legacy.

• leatherface
• mask
• chainsaw
• jed
• vera sawyer
• origin

Sheriff Hartman becomes obsessed with revenge because his daughter Betty was murdered by the Sawyer family. He discovered her lifeless body in a barn after she was lured there by the seemingly injured Jed, and this tragedy drives his relentless pursuit across the entire film.

Foreshadowing: The opening scenes establish Betty as a sympathetic victim whose death triggers Hartman's vengeful arc.

• sheriff hartman
• betty
• revenge
• death
• daughter

Lizzy is captured by the Sawyer family after escaping into the woods. She becomes Leatherface's first victim and the source of his iconic mask, as Jed uses her face to create the mask he will wear throughout the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise.

Foreshadowing: Lizzy's earlier capture and the family's history of using human remains foreshadow her grim fate.

• lizzy
• leatherface
• mask
• death
• captured

Jed hesitates when about to kill Lizzy because a flicker of his original humanity remains, possibly triggered by her pleas and her treatment of him during their time together at the asylum. However, Verna's arrival and the family's influence ultimately push him over the edge into embracing his monstrous legacy.

Foreshadowing: Earlier interactions between Lizzy and Jackson/Jed show moments of genuine connection.

• jed
• lizzy
• hesitation
• humanity
• moment

Ike doesn't kill Clarice, she is captured and killed by Sheriff Hartman. Ike himself is killed earlier at the abandoned mobile home when Bud fatally stabs him during an altercation. Both meet violent ends as the chaos of the escape escalates.

Foreshadowing: The tension between the escaped patients builds throughout their time on the road.

• ike
• clarice
• death
• killed

The Sawyer family traditions involve brutal initiation rituals where younger members must kill to prove their loyalty to the family. At Jed's birthday, he's given a chainsaw and ordered to hurt a thief. Later, Verna forces him to kill to protect the family, continuing the cycle of violent indoctrination that defines the family's legacy.

Foreshadowing: Jed's refusal to kill during his initiation contrasts with his eventual embrace of violence.

• sawyer family
• traditions
• initiation
• chainsaw
• killing

After being captured by Sheriff Hartman, Clarice defiantly taunts him, provoking his wrath. Her death serves as another example of the film's relentless violence and the sheriff's descent into brutality as he deals out punishment to those he holds responsible for his daughter's death.

Foreshadowing: Clarice's violent actions at the diner set up her grim fate.

• clarice
• captured
• hartman
• taunt
• death

Bud is inadvertently killed during the chaotic escape when he is stabbed by Ike in the abandoned mobile home. His death triggers Jackson's rage, leading him and Lizzy to steal a police car in their desperate attempt to escape Sheriff Hartman's pursuit.

Foreshadowing: Tensions among the group of escapees escalate throughout their time on the run.

• bud
• death
• ike
• stabbed
• escape