The Final Mystery of Chain Letter

Last time around I established, by thoroughly watching a thoroughly unwatchable film, the identity and motive of the killer in 'Chain Letter'. But in researching that article I came across a mystery that even I couldn't solve. Take a look at this-

That shot appears at the end of the opening credits. A bald man has a chain wrapped around his neck and a gun pushed against head. Who is this man? Why is he being murdered? By whom?

It seems like a complete non-sequitor, except for one thing. This man appears in one other scene. In fact, the chronologically first murder scene in the film!

These are the two jocks who wind up murdered over the course of the film. The one in grey gets kidnapped and burned alive later, the one in red gets killed right now through a simple application of chains, leverage, and tension-

I'm being glib, of course, the actual murder sequence goes on way too long and is far too unpleasant. The fascinating element within this scene, however, is the series shots of other murder scenes that are inserted, almost subliminally, into it:

Who is this bald man? I have no idea, but to help you solve the case, if you can manage it, I'll now include all of the bizarre shots that are inserted into this sequence.

That's the bald man wrapping a chain (or having it wrapped around him?).

This blur is the bald man getting hit across the face with a bundle of chain.

Now here's someone wearing a plaid jacket, grabbing the face of some guy with a bloody face wearing a black shirt - but not the bald man!

This is 'plaid man' twisting black shirt's head far to the side, perhaps trying to break his neck.

Now here's black shirt being choked with a chain. Note the simple chain around his neck, which seems like the kind designed to hold dog tags.

This blur is a post-chain-smash bald man with a bloody mouth.

Now we can see someone with rough hands (presumably plaid man) holding someone's jaw open so he can go after the man's teeth with a set of strange plier-like implements.

Now here's the bald man screaming while being strung up by a chain.

And someone with rough hands (plaid man?) grabbing the face of bald man while yanking the chain around his neck.

Note that although the jacket's design isn't visible in this shot, he's clearly wearing one, unlike the Chain Letter killer. In fact, the 'plaid man' with rough hands that I keep referring to is profoundly not this movie's killer.

The Chain Letter killer, an ex-army, former blacksmith who loves to kill with chains, always wears black fingerless gloves and cutoff shirts, to better show off his chain-themed arm tattoos.

The murder scene then wraps up, with the final shot being between 3-5 frames of the Chain Letter killer's unbandaged face:

A shot which has no logical place in any scene in the film.

This sequence poses us with any number of questions. Who was the bald man that appears at the end of the opening credits, and intercut into this murder sequence? Who was the black-shirted man who wears a chain around his neck?

None of the remaining male characters in the film wear a chain, so it can't have been an earlier version of their murders...

There's an old man who wears a plaid shirt at one point in the movie-

But it's clearly of a different design and much thinner than the one the plaid man was wearing.

So who are plaid man, bald man, and black shirt? Your guess is as good as mine - but I'd love to hear any theories.