SCRANTON — Leatherface is coming to town this Halloween and he’s bringing his chainsaw with him — to help teach a safety class.
Dan Yeager, who plays the iconic serial killer in 2013’s “Texas Chainsaw 3D,” will visit the area Oct. 30 and 31 to take part in a variety of Halloween-themed events throughout the city. Yeager, who visited Northeastern Pennsylvania last year as part of the Infect Scranton 2014 zombie event, is brought back by Plains resident Bob Savakinus.
“We became friends last year during the Infect Scranton program,” Savakinus said. “He was there along with some of the other actors from” the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies.
Savakinus said Yeager’s visit begins the morning of Oct. 30 with a chainsaw safety demonstration at The Mall at Steamtown. The event, like most of Yeager’s calendar, is child-friendly, so the actor won’t be bringing Leatherface’s trademark outfit and eponymous mask with him.
“The Wilkes-Barre Law and Library Association is doing a continuing education program for attorneys called trick-or-tort,” Savakinus said. “It’s also open to the public and students. The special guest will be Dan and he’s going to talk a little about product safety, especially with chainsaws.”
From there, Yeager will head to Sidel’s for their annual Halloween party. He’ll be there for the duration for autograph and photo opportunities.
Leatherface will return to Steamtown for a sequel — this time, on rails. He’ll be a part of four different rides on the Halloween Express, a spooky 45-minute train excursion where he’ll be talking about the “Texas Chainsaw” movie and his experiences in Hollywood. His haunting of antiquated transportation continues that evening at Electric City Trolley Museum with two iterations of the Trolley of Terror at 5 and 6 p.m. This time, Yeager will be joined by a few actors in creepy costume.
“After that last trolley run the Lackawanna Historical Society is doing a historical paranormal walking tour of downtown Scranton,” Savakinus said. “They’re going to tell the stories of some of the buildings in Scranton and also talk about some of their more spookier aspects; I know one of the buildings was used as a morgue at one time. Dan will be accompanying the group.”
At the end of the night, Yeager will be at Trax inside Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel Scranton for a Halloween bash that starts at 9:30 p.m.
“I’m looking forward to the visit,” Yeager said. “Scranton is great. I was really struck at how immediately at home I felt when I was there last year. It’s just a good bunch of people.”
Yeager, a native of Columbia Station, Ohio (40 minutes from Cleveland), has enjoyed horror movies his whole life. There were multiple stations with dedicated, hosted horror movie blocks in the Cleveland viewing area and his access to horror, subversive cinema and monster movies shaped his tastes and eventual career path. The theatrics? Those come from his “suitably twisted” brother.
“He used to dress me up as all sorts of things,” Yeager said. “We would try to bring terror to people all year long, but mostly on Halloween. As soon as the leaves started to turn you had to start thinking about death.”
Yeager’s childhood practice paid off when he was asked to play Leatherface in “Texas Chainsaw 3D.”
“People ask me what it’s like to have played Leatherface and I always tell them that if anybody ever offers to put a skin mask on you, hand you a chainsaw, cover you with blood and then tell you to chase some girl like you want to kill her, you should do it,” Yeager said. “Its fun. I don’t know why it’s satisfying, but it is.”
