R. Lee Ermey’s Sheriff Hoyt: A Terrifying Horror Villain Who Outshined Leatherface
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With the loss of R. Lee Ermey, we’ve lost a truly great horror villain.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise is an interesting one, as the villain isn’t merely one monster but rather an entire family of them. In each of the Chainsaw movies, Leatherface is flanked by colorful characters that he calls family, which sets him apart from lone wolves such as Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers. While Leatherface himself may be mute, characters like Chop Top, Drayton, Tex and Vilmer serve to bring a whole lot of personality to the proceedings; I’d go so far as to say that the success of any given Chainsaw movie is largely dependent on those secondary antagonists, who are the proverbial teeth of the big guy’s chainsaw.
It takes a special kind of actor to outshine the iconic Leatherface in a Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie, and I don’t suspect you’ll argue with me when I say that R. Lee Ermey did just that in the 2003 remake of Tobe Hooper’s 1974 classic.
The casting of R. Lee Ermey as “Sheriff Hoyt” in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ’03 was nothing short of a stroke of brilliance, as it essentially allowed Ermey to channel his most memorable role: Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, a performance that nabbed the late actor a Golden Globe nomination. Ermey’s Hartman is unquestionably one of the most imposing and intimidating characters in the history of cinema, so much so that there are times when Full Metal Jacket feels like a full blown horror movie. You could say that Sergeant Hartman was the role Ermey, a real life Gunnery Sergeant, was born to play; and you could say the very same thing about Sheriff Hoyt, a war vet himself.
As Sheriff Hoyt, Ermey essentially took his Golden Globe-nominated performance to a whole new level, bringing to the screen a horror villain who hardly even needed Leatherface as his muscle in order to be truly terrifying. When it comes to Sheriff Hoyt, the fear isn’t that Leatherface is surely close behind, it’s that Sheriff Hoyt is right in front of your face, screaming in your ear and asserting his dominance over you. Hoyt doesn’t need a chainsaw. His voice alone cuts right through his victims, with its shocking, on-a-dime upticks in intensity proving more intimidating even than Leatherface’s iconic weapon of choice.
Take, for example, what is easily the most chilling and tense scene in the entirety of Chainsaw Massacre ’03. After Hoyt arrives on the scene, discovering the body of the young woman who blew her brains out, Hoyt makes Morgan get back into the van and re-enact the suicide; he forces Morgan to put the gun in his own mouth and demands he pull the trigger. Ermey is at his terrifying best in the scene, and if actor Jonathan Tucker wasn’t genuinely intimidated by his co-star as the cameras rolled, he damn sure could’ve fooled me.
The likely reason the ’03 remake spawned a prequel in ’06 rather than a sequel is that Leatherface had his arm lopped off in the final act of the remake, but you could make the argument that the prequel was the best route if only because it allowed for Ermey to reprise and expand upon the role of Sheriff Hoyt – he was pretty definitively killed off in the remake, you may recall. Ermey’s performance is once again the star of the show in Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, the actor solidifying that he’s maybe the single biggest reason the remake was a success. Hoyt becomes an even stronger character in the prequel, as we learn the backstory behind his cannibalism and discover that, well, he’s not actually the real Sheriff Hoyt.
Just try to imagine either of those Texas Chainsaw Massacre films without R. Lee Ermey. Like Full Metal Jacket, you simply can’t. And that’s the truest testament to Ermey’s one-of-a-kind screen dominance. There will never be another like him. And we were fortunate that he spent some time in the world of horror, giving us an unforgettable horror villain for the ages.
Editorials
‘The Vampire Lestat’ Concert Event Launches New Season With The Ultimate Expression Of Fandom
There are thousands of passionate fans decked out in gothic chic and champing at the bit like feral creatures. They’re screaming for Lestat, a legendary vampire-turned-rock star, as if the entire crowd has been glamored into submission.
The entire experience is magic, but not because some supernatural thrall has been activated. What’s going on is even more special. It’s the power of the effusive fandom that’s been authentically assembled by AMC’s sublime Immortal Universe, namely Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, now, The Vampire Lestat.
The Vampire Lestat is far from the first Anne Rice adaptation, and it’s not as if there’s been a lack of erotic vampire material for audiences to sink their teeth into. On June 2nd, during a one-night-only spectacle, New York City’s prestigious Beacon Theatre shook from Sam Reid’s bravado performance and an audience full of adoring fans who had already memorized Lestat’s songs.
It’s clear that The Vampire Lestat just hits differently than its predecessors. It’s become more than just a TV series at this point, and this opulent display of ego, swagger, and pure sex is the perfect way to premiere the new season and give back to the fans who helped make Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Lestat such a breakout success. It’s exactly the sort of hyperbolized hedonism that would make Lestat cackle.
For all intents and purposes, AMC has successfully created the illusion that this concert/premiere is just one of the many destinations on Lestat and his band’s 54-stop tour that is simultaneously playing out on this season of television. It’s such a sophisticated and thorough level of interactive fan engagement that the audience doesn’t just understand, but also manages to accentuate through its involvement.
It’s a level of seamless synergy that’s not unlike the give-and-take relationship of vampire and victim.
Before the concert started, “LeStans” were sitting in the Beacon and flipping through a fake Rolling Stone issue with Lestat emblazoned on the cover, complete with interviews with the undead frontman inside. Other fans were admiring the vinyl pressing of Lestat’s EP as they walked past a section of undead band merch. Fandom and fantasy blur together, and it all becomes this elaborate, immersive experience. Fan celebration, erotic gothic fantasy, and a lavish rock concert transform into one beautiful thing.
To this point, AMC Global Media’s Chief Content Officer and President of AMC Studios, Dan McDermott, introduced the event by reiterating to fans, “You are the heartbeat of the series.” That’s abundantly clear on nights like this as that heartbeat collectively pulses to this performance. In terms of how AMC engages with The Vampire Lestat’s fans, it’s as bold a reinvention as the season itself.
This intuitive gamble speaks to AMC’s creativity in this department and a fandom that is eager to seize such opportunities. It’s the same innovation that led to zombie walks for The Walking Dead and real-life Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant pop-ups from Breaking Bad. It’s a great way to pump up the audience for The Vampire Lestat and then maintain that enthusiasm for the whole season.
For most series, a rock ‘n’ roll concert just doesn’t make any sense as a promotional tool. The Vampire Lestat finds itself in a very unique position where it can deliver an excellent concert at an iconic theater, but also use it to showcase The Vampire Lestat’s music by Daniel Hart (who was shredding on stage alongside Reid and the rest of their band) and, more than anything, Sam Reid’s endless charisma.
The way in which Reid feeds off of the crowd’s energy, modulating his performance and giving different sections of the Beacon life, is a perfect distillation of the series’ thoughtful relationship with its audience and how it’s become such a breakout success for AMC. AMC Studios President Dan McDermott emphasized that the fans are the reason that the show is still here and why an event like this is even possible. It’s rare to see a series in which every single cog in the machine is so perfectly attuned to its fans. Reid’s fans already cheer whenever they see him, so why not translate that to a concert setting?
It’s clear in this season of television that Reid was born to be a rock star, but it’s surreal to see him effortlessly command the stage — and the audience — at every step of the concert. He recites Shakespeare monologues and bitches out Armand between songs, all while the audience screams in support. For the duration of this concert, Reid is Lestat, and he’s given thousands of fans a memory that’s as immortal as any vampire.
Now bring on the encore and get this show on the road!
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