# Chop-Top
**Chop-Top** (also written Chop Top) is a fictional cannibal killer and one of the central antagonists of *The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2* (1986), played by [Bill Moseley](https://www.edgepedia.org/bill-moseley). He is the twin brother of the Hitchhiker, the hitchhiking killer from the 1974 original, and a [Vietnam War](https://www.edgepedia.org/vietnam-war) veteran with a metal plate in his skull. Although he has appeared in only one theatrical film, he has become an icon of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, surpassed only by [Leatherface](https://www.edgepedia.org/leatherface) in fan recognition.[1](https://www.altpress.com/underrated-horror-villains/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| First and main appearance | *The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2* (1986), the only sequel in the series directed by franchise creator Tobe Hooper[1](https://www.altpress.com/underrated-horror-villains/) |
| Portrayed by | Bill Moseley, for whom the role was a breakout performance[2](https://comicbook.com/horror/news/texas-chainsaw-massacre-2-bill-moseley-chop-top-3-from-hell/) |
| Family role | Twin brother of the Hitchhiker (Ed Neal) from the 1974 film; a constant irritation to his older brother Drayton "The Cook" Sawyer (Jim Siedow)[1](https://www.altpress.com/underrated-horror-villains/) |
| Signature look | Metal plate in the skull from a Viet Cong machete wound; tea shades and a Sonny Bono wig, in a 1960s hippie persona[1](https://www.altpress.com/underrated-horror-villains/) |
| Characteristic behaviors | Scratching his plate with a heated wire hanger, eating dead skin from his scalp, and catchphrases such as "Dog will hunt!", "far out", and "groovy"[1](https://www.altpress.com/underrated-horror-villains/) • [3](https://whatculture.com/film/10-one-off-horror-movie-villains-who-must-return?rf=homepage) |
| Critical standing | Ranked #2 on AltPress's list of 20 underrated horror villains and #173 on ScreenAge Wasteland's 500 greatest horror characters of all time[1](https://www.altpress.com/underrated-horror-villains/) • [4](https://screenagewasteland.com/the-500-greatest-horror-characters-of-all-time-175-151/) |
| Rights status | Created for the 1986 sequel, which is owned by Sony, a fact that has kept the character out of later films[5](https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/310917/exclusive-bill-moseley-on-three-from-hell-why-chop-top-never-returned-to-texas/) |
## Role in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
Chop-Top appears as a member of the Sawyer family, which in the sequel lives in a subterranean lair beneath the abandoned Texas Battlelands Amusement Park, where the remains of their victims hang from the ceiling. His brothers in the film are Leatherface ([Bill Johnson](https://www.edgepedia.org/bill-johnson)) and Drayton "The Cook" Sawyer (Jim Siedow), with Grandpa also present.[6](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-texas-chainsaw-massacre-part-2-1986) • [7](https://archive.newportbeachlibrary.org/NBPL/0/edoc/1295960/1986-09-12%20-%20Orange%20Coast%20Pilot.pdf)
The backstory given in the film's framing is that he was stationed in Vietnam during the events of the first film, where a [Viet Cong](https://www.edgepedia.org/viet-cong) machete left him with his signature head wound and protective plate. His behavior is that of a 1960s hippie out of time, complete with tea shades, the [Sonny Bono](https://www.edgepedia.org/sonny-bono) wig, and dated slang, and he is a constant irritation to his older brother Drayton.[1](https://www.altpress.com/underrated-horror-villains/) His most infamous physical tic is scratching the metal plate with a heated wire hanger; fan guides also note his habit of eating dead skin from his scalp and his unpredictably sinister yet cartoonish manner.[4](https://screenagewasteland.com/the-500-greatest-horror-characters-of-all-time-175-151/) • [3](https://whatculture.com/film/10-one-off-horror-movie-villains-who-must-return?rf=homepage)
His principal plot role is the assault on the radio station where disc jockey Vanita "Stretch" Brock (Caroline Williams) works, which he carries out alongside Leatherface; later scenes take place in the family's underground caverns beneath the theme park. He assists Leatherface in his killings and mortally wounds L.G., Stretch's engineer.[8](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092076/plotsummary/) • [9](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/YMMV/TheTexasChainsawMassacre2) In the finale, Stretch fights back with a chainsaw; Chop Top is seriously wounded by her but then falls and disappears into a hole, and the film leaves whether he died deliberately ambiguous, a door the subsequent sequels never reopened since none picked up where this one left off.[9](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/YMMV/TheTexasChainsawMassacre2)
## Creation and casting
The character's development had a documented wrinkle. [Tobe Hooper](https://www.edgepedia.org/tobe-hooper) stated on the film's audio commentary that the character was originally written as the Hitchhiker himself, with a metal plate grafted onto his skull after the events of the 1974 film and referred to in development as "Plate-Head"; the character later evolved into the Hitchhiker's twin, Chop Top.[10](https://texaschainsawmassacre.fandom.com/wiki/Chop_Top) The Hitchhiker's death at the end of the first film, run over by a semi-truck, is the reason a replacement family member was needed.[11](https://theslicemovie.wordpress.com/2020/10/02/the-texas-chainsaw-massacre-2-dark-humor-and-catharsis/)
Bill Moseley received the role on the strength of *The Texas Chainsaw Manicure*, a parody film he had made in which he played the Hitchhiker, and which Hooper loved.[12](https://www.ichoosetostand.net/2019/01/retrospective-the-texas-chainsaw-massacre-2-1986.html) Moseley has said that playing Chop-Top in 1986 "totally changed my life", and in interviews has named it as his favorite horror role, saying "Chop-Top just feels the most like me"; he has credited Hooper as both teacher and supporter during the shoot.[13](https://www.horrortalks.com/en/interview-with-bill-moseley-2010/) • [14](https://www.screamhorrormag.com/chatting-with-bill-moseley/)
## Style and reception
*The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2* deliberately abandoned the documentary realism of the 1974 original for black comedy, and Chop Top embodies that shift: where the Hitchhiker was a more grounded psychopath rooted in reality, Chop Top is, in one retrospective ranking's words, an over-the-top wacko with manic energy, swinging between gleeful sadism and almost childlike excitement. Moseley's performance is described as scene-stealing, blending dark comedy with terror, and it made the character a cult favorite and Moseley a horror icon.[4](https://screenagewasteland.com/the-500-greatest-horror-characters-of-all-time-175-151/)
Contemporary and later assessments diverge on the film but converge on the character. Roger Ebert's 1986 review panned the film while noting the brothers' subterranean mortuary setting, and a 1986 local review described the family as functioning like "the Three Stooges", with Moseley "nearly stealing the show".[6](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-texas-chainsaw-massacre-part-2-1986) • [7](https://archive.newportbeachlibrary.org/NBPL/0/edoc/1295960/1986-09-12%20-%20Orange%20Coast%20Pilot.pdf) Later rankings have placed the character high among underappreciated horror villains; AltPress put him second on its list of twenty, behind only a single other entry, and ScreenAge Wasteland placed him 173rd among all horror characters, arguing that no new character in the franchise has matched him.[1](https://www.altpress.com/underrated-horror-villains/) • [4](https://screenagewasteland.com/the-500-greatest-horror-characters-of-all-time-175-151/)
## Rights, retirement, and the lost spinoff
**Why he never returned.** In a 2019 interview, Moseley explained that the 1986 sequel is owned by Sony, while later Texas Chainsaw projects did not hold rights to the character. When *Texas Chainsaw 3D* (2013) was made as a sequel to the original film, the producers did not negotiate with Sony for Chop Top, so Moseley was instead cast as Drayton Sawyer, a role he accepted with the observation that it was like asking Curly to play Moe in a remake of [The Three Stooges](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-three-stooges). He has said he would gladly play Chop-Top again but the character would have to be "rescued from Sony's legal department".[5](https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/310917/exclusive-bill-moseley-on-three-from-hell-why-chop-top-never-returned-to-texas/) • [2](https://comicbook.com/horror/news/texas-chainsaw-massacre-2-bill-moseley-chop-top-3-from-hell/) Early drafts of *Leatherface* (2017) also included Chop Top, but the character was reworked into a female homage, the asylum patient Clarice.[15](https://bloody-disgusting.com/exclusives/3461807/exclusive-chop-top-was-almost-in-leatherface-but-inspired-a-new-character-instead/)
The character's only screen return came in *All American Massacre*, an unofficial spinoff begun in 1998 by writer-director William Hooper, Tobe Hooper's son, in which Moseley reprised Chop Top. What started as a short expanded toward a feature, but budgetary issues and legal complications prevented release, and the unfinished footage became a long-sought piece of lost horror media.[16](https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3931801/bill-moseleys-long-lost-texas-chainsaw-spinoff-all-american-massacre-is-buzzing-back-to-life/) In the project, the character is referred to as "Bobby" by police, doctors, and family, a name Tobe Hooper's son Tony has also given as the character's real name, Robert/Bobby Sawyer.[10](https://texaschainsawmassacre.fandom.com/wiki/Chop_Top) Decades later, the UK-based studio Dragon Studios restored the original footage and planned new scenes to complete the film, publicizing a CineBacker campaign with a £75,000 goal, though [Bloody Disgusting](https://www.edgepedia.org/bloody-disgusting) reported that parties involved in the original production had no knowledge of the campaign, putting its validity in question.[16](https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3931801/bill-moseleys-long-lost-texas-chainsaw-spinoff-all-american-massacre-is-buzzing-back-to-life/) Separately, an A24 reboot in development has been reported as possibly drawing on *Part 2* characters including Robert Sawyer, aka Chop Top.[17](https://www.techradar.com/streaming/entertainment/we-just-got-an-update-about-a24s-texas-chainsaw-massacre-and-it-gives-us-a-huge-clue-about-the-plot)
## References
1. [20 underrated horror villains ranked in order of most terrifying, AltPress](https://www.altpress.com/underrated-horror-villains/)
2. [Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 Star Still Wants to Reprise Chop Top for a New Film, ComicBook.com](https://comicbook.com/horror/news/texas-chainsaw-massacre-2-bill-moseley-chop-top-3-from-hell/)
3. [10 One-Off Horror Movie Villains Who MUST Return, WhatCulture](https://whatculture.com/film/10-one-off-horror-movie-villains-who-must-return?rf=homepage)
4. [The 500 Greatest Horror Characters of All Time (175-151), ScreenAge Wasteland](https://screenagewasteland.com/the-500-greatest-horror-characters-of-all-time-175-151/)
5. [Exclusive: Bill Moseley on THREE FROM HELL + Why "Chop-Top" Never Returned to TEXAS, Dread Central](https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/310917/exclusive-bill-moseley-on-three-from-hell-why-chop-top-never-returned-to-texas/)
6. [The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Part 2 movie review, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-texas-chainsaw-massacre-part-2-1986)
7. ["'Chainsaw II' disgusting", Orange Coast Pilot, September 12, 1986](https://archive.newportbeachlibrary.org/NBPL/0/edoc/1295960/1986-09-12%20-%20Orange%20Coast%20Pilot.pdf)
8. [The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) plot summary, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092076/plotsummary/)
9. [YMMV / The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/YMMV/TheTexasChainsawMassacre2)
10. [Chop Top, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Wiki (Fandom)](https://texaschainsawmassacre.fandom.com/wiki/Chop_Top)
11. ['The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2': Dark Humor and Catharsis, The Slice](https://theslicemovie.wordpress.com/2020/10/02/the-texas-chainsaw-massacre-2-dark-humor-and-catharsis/)
12. [Retrospective: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986), I Choose to Stand](https://www.ichoosetostand.net/2019/01/retrospective-the-texas-chainsaw-massacre-2-1986.html)
13. [Interview with Bill Moseley (2010), Horror Talks](https://www.horrortalks.com/en/interview-with-bill-moseley-2010/)
14. [Chatting With Bill Moseley, Scream Horror Magazine](https://www.screamhorrormag.com/chatting-with-bill-moseley/)
15. [Exclusive: Chop Top Was Almost in 'Leatherface' But Inspired a New Character Instead!, Bloody Disgusting](https://bloody-disgusting.com/exclusives/3461807/exclusive-chop-top-was-almost-in-leatherface-but-inspired-a-new-character-instead/)
16. [Bill Moseley's Long Lost 'Texas Chainsaw' Spinoff 'All American Massacre' Is Buzzing Back to Life!, Bloody Disgusting](https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3931801/bill-moseleys-long-lost-texas-chainsaw-spinoff-all-american-massacre-is-buzzing-back-to-life/)
17. [We just got an update about A24's Texas Chainsaw Massacre, TechRadar](https://www.techradar.com/streaming/entertainment/we-just-got-an-update-about-a24s-texas-chainsaw-massacre-and-it-gives-us-a-huge-clue-about-the-plot)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Film characters and fictional worlds › Horror film characters*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license