- "I'm the one that got away and I'm here to make sure you don't."
- ― Sally Hardesty to Leatherface
Sally Hardesty Enright is the main protagonist of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, having become the sole survivor of the slaughter committed by the Sawyer family, she became a well-known final girl within the horror community.
Sally is the sister of Franklin Hardesty Enright, the niece of Lieutenant Boude Enright, and the daughter of Ted Hardesty.
Biography[]
1973[]
On August 18th, 1973, Sally and her friends decide to go on a road trip to visit her grandfather's grave but on the way meet a hitchhiker. During the ride, she kicks the hitchhiker out due to him assaulting her brother with a razor. The gang parks at the old Hardesty house and Sally, with Franklin and Jerry, wait for Kirk and Pam as they leave for gas. They never return so Jerry goes looking for them leaving Sally and Franklin.
Once night time arrives, Sally goes searching for Jerry with Franklin but gets ambushed by a man wearing a human face. The man, now known as Leatherface, saws into her brother with a chainsaw, which Sally flees while he is doing so. Sally gets chased by Leatherface and she eventually makes it to a gas station, where she is kidnapped by the Cook.
Sally being chased by the Hitchhiker and Leatherface.
After being kidnapped and sent to the Sawyer house, where she was tortured by the Sawyer family, they attempted to have Grandpa Sawyer kill her for dinner. However, Sally manages to break free and makes her escape by jumping out of the window. However, the Hitchhiker and Leatherface began chasing after her. During the chase, she received multiple slashes and wounds from the former. She was then saved by a truck driver, who accidentally ran over the hitchhiker. After the driver picked her up, Leatherface began slashing his chainsaw at the truck door, forcing the two to escape the other way. While the driver continued running down the road, Sally was able to escape on the back of a pickup truck. She began to joyfully laugh like a maniac while Leatherface, in his fury, does a chainsaw dance.
Later Life[]
After her successful escape from the Sawyer Family, Sally—in her madness—told her tale to the authorities and then fell into a catatonic state. Though it was said that she died a few years later, in 1977, she actually was being held in a private medical facility. Sally recovered after a while and became a Texas Ranger, always on alert in case Leatherface ever returned. Because of the trauma that continued to haunt her, she refused to talk about it to anyone, and never spoke of the events again. Despite this, however, thanks to Sally's knowledge regarding her traumatic experience, all of Texas now knew of the gruesome fates that befelled on her brother and their friends, and their murders officially became known as the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
2023[]
Sally in 2023
In 2023, Leatherface would return after the death of his caretaker from the orphanage, Sally would learn of this from Ruth's message, and decided to go to Harlow to find him. Reaching Harlow in the night, Sally encounters Lila and Melody, and locks the sisters in the car for their own safety so she can lure out Leatherface.
She then goes into the orphanage and demands Leatherface to remember the pain he inflicted on her and her friends, but he silently walks away to kill the siblings. Before he could kill Melody and Lila, Sally returns and shoots him before being mortally wounded by Leatherface with his chainsaw. Despite her wounds, Sally manages to shoot Leatherface, which makes him escape. Before dying, Sally tells Lila to not run away as he will haunt her forever. Though Lila heeds her warning, she would witness the death of her sister by Leatherface, making her the sole survivor.
Physical appearance[]
Sally is a young woman with fair skin, green eyes, and dirty blonde hair. Her outfit consists of a light blue tank top with white lines on the sides, she also wears white bell bottom pants and strappy black platform sandals on her feet.
Appearances[]
- The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (mentioned; as "Sally Hardesty-Enright")
- Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 (mentioned)
- Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation
- Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Trivia[]
- She is the first in the series to escape Leatherface.
- She has the longest chase scene in the series.
- She evades death 6 times from Leatherface and the Slaughter family.
- Her nightly chase scene is voted the best of all time by many horror film fans.
- Marilyn Burns couldn't physically run faster than Gunnar Hansen (Leatherface) which explains the many close calls with him.
- Marilyn Burns had to do her own stunts due to the low budget.
- Marilyn Burns returns as a different character Verna Carson in Texas Chainsaw 3D after 28 years.
- Though Sally's age wasn't told in the original film, the newspaper clippings from Texas Chainsaw Massacre indicate she is in her late-teens or early-twenties by calling her a college student.
Gallery[]
