Sarah Yarkin Came To Slay In Netflix’s ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’

There’s no denying that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the most iconic and well-known horror franchises in the history of cinema. Even if you have never seen any of the films, which range from classic to shockingly bad, you know about it.

With Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the latest entry in the series, debuting on Netflix, Leatherface rises again. Sarah Yarkin leads the cast as an entrepreneur who buys the small town of Harlow, Texas, with a group of friends. They unknowingly inherit a sitting tenant whose brutal instincts are reawakened, and the blood quickly begins the flow. It’s up to Yarkin’s Melody and the sole survivor of Leatherface’s killing spree in 1973 to try and stop him.

“So the first kill is the most horrifying. Am I right, or am I wrong?” Yarkin enthused as we discussed the fact that things get wild pretty quickly. “That was the one day I wasn’t on set, so I had no idea what happened until I saw it. At the time, Nell Hudson, who plays Ruth was like, ‘I think it was okay. I don’t know how I did.’ Watching it, I was like, ‘Wait, I’m sorry. What?’ It’s the best scene of the whole movie.”

As a film packed with creative and bloody slayings, Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a meaty buffet of potential best kill scenes. Being at the heart of the mayhem was somewhat hellish for the actress, who isn’t a big fan of horror movies even when she’s center stage.

“You only see everything from your personal experience, so seeing them and being in them are two different things. Those days were grueling, physically and emotionally. You are under the elements but seeing it is was a totally different experience. I can’t say it was worse because that would sound wrong,” she explained. “I hate watching it because I don’t like watching myself act, so that’s bad enough, but watching myself be traumatized and it’s a horror movie, I’m like, ‘Oh, no.’” 

“I will never watch it again, and I can say that confidently. It’s so insane,” Yarkin laughed. “It was a terrible experience watching it. I hope people enjoy it.”

“I was covered in blood for maybe 75 percent to 90 percent of the movie,” Yarkin added. “There was a lot of blood, and viscerally remembering the smell of it is nauseating. I don’t think this is a spoiler, but at one point, I’m watching a person hit a sandbag that was meant to be someone’s head. I’m reacting to it, and having the makeup people spurting blood on my face was something else.”

However, she knew what she was in for right from the get-go.

“I read the script front to back, and I read the whole thing because I’m a good reader. I don’t do it wrong. I just thought that it was going to be fun,” Yarkin recalled. “I was like, ‘I want to get covered in blood tomorrow. I want to crawl and be totally screwed. Let’s friggin’ go.’ When you’re doing it, and the reality is you are spending three days under a bed or wherever, crying, covered in blood, it’s so much crazier than you ever could have imagined. The difference between reading it and doing it and living it for months is something you can’t fathom until you are experiencing it.”

“We were shooting Bulgaria for Texas, as you do, and they built a whole Texas town on this lot. It was incredible. We were on this backlot every day for three months, and it was so surreal.”

Has the experience made Yarkin want to check out any other entries in the now nine-strong film franchise, which has grossed over $252 million at the worldwide box office? 

“I think I’ll need a second before I watch any horror movie ever again,” she mused through a smile. “I’ll never say never, but I don’t know if I can, at least anytime soon.”

As has happened with previous films in the series, because of the strong IP’s enduring popularity, Texas Chainsaw Massacre would make for an interesting incarnation at the mecca for fans of the genre, Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios in Los Angeles, California, and Orlando, Florida. However, you might not see Yarkin there.

“Friends dragged me to one three or four years ago, and I’m pretty sure people were chasing us with chainsaws, but I didn’t remember that until I was on this set,” the actress recalled. “I remember last October this movie obviously wasn’t out yet, and we didn’t know when it was going to be dated, but they did have a Texas Chainsaw Massacre maze. My friends invited me, and I was like, ‘There’s no way I’m going to be chased with a chainsaw willingly,’ so I did not go.”

In the meantime, Yarkin will find calm via, among other things, her more sedate but very creative Instagram feed. It showcases her hobby of capturing amusing license plates from her travels. I’ll confess that I’m a fan. Has she considered publishing them?

“No, but if you know any, like coffee table book editors, send them my way,” she half-joked. “I had to take a step back from the license plate game because I find too many. I had to stop taking pictures because, at a certain point, there were just too many. The camera roll on my phone was just full of really good license plates. I was just in New York, and there were about ten incredible ones. I had to stop.”

Texas Chainsaw Massacre lands on Netflix on Friday, February 18, 2022.