Dhruv Trivedi
The 2022 iteration of the ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ features an especially twist-filled gruesome journey. It all starts with a group of young urban professionals arriving in an abandoned Texas town with the intention of making it into a trendy new community. Unfortunately for them, the enthusiastic youngsters awaken the vengeance of a murderous force that lives in the very town.
Leatherface makes quick work of most of the visitors with his trusty chainsaw. Since they are in a ghost town, there is no one to come to their rescue either, and the wealthy urbanites meet a gruesome end. The town of Harlow is mentioned multiple times in the narrative and seems to be the setting for all the violence. Are you wondering if the town is possibly based on a real-world counterpart? Let’s take a look at whether Harlow is an actual Texas town.
Is Harlow a Real Texas Town?
The film opens with Melody and Lila on the way to Harlow with their friends Dante and Ruth. At a gas station on the highway, the shopkeeper doesn’t seem too impressed by the noisy young entrepreneurs. Most notably, the sheriff also stops them and warns them to be “respectful” of the town’s history. Of course, at the time, it is unclear that the law enforcement official is referring to Leatherface, warning the youngsters to be cautious of the legendary mass murderer.
In fact, Harlow was an actual town in Texas. Though there don’t seem to be too many similarities between the town on screen and the real world counterpart, there does seem to be one notable common trait — both are sparsely populated towns. In the film, Harlow is depicted as a completely deserted town. A rusty and dilapidated board claims that at one point, it had a population of about 1300.
According to reports, the real town of Harlow could have been settled in the late 1800s and was named after the Harlow family. In maps from the 1930s, the town appears to consist of farms and a business establishment. However, it seems as if Harlow stopped appearing on highway maps by the 1980s, and the community might have fragmented. Thus, one of the notable similarities between the real town and the one in the movie seems to be that they are both former settlements.
Where is Harlow Located?
Before the town stopped being marked on maps, Harlow was reportedly located in central Hunt County in Texas. The town’s exact location was seemingly about four miles south of Greenville and just to the West of State Highway 34.
Read More: Does Lila Die in Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)? [Spoilers]
