RIP Gunnar Hansen (original Leatherface)

www.cbsnews.com/news/gunnar-hansen-leatherface-of-texas-chain-saw-massacre-dies

Crap! That sucks!

That chainsaw-wielding scene at the end of the original TCM is a classic in horror cinema.

RIP Gunnar.

tohostudios wrote:

That chainsaw-wielding scene at the end of the original TCM is a classic in horror cinema.  

Apparently that dance was Gunnar's idea. The more I watch that movie the more I'm impressed by his relentless energy in pantomiming his character.

corplhicks wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

That chainsaw-wielding scene at the end of the original TCM is a classic in horror cinema.  

Apparently that dance was Gunnar's idea. The more I watch that movie the more I'm impressed by his relentless energy in pantomiming his character.

Watch him in Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers or worse yet Hellblock 13 and you'd swear it's a different actor.

He really brought it all to TCM and it fit his acting ability; just be menacing, don't say much.

RIP, sir. You scared the crap out of me as a kid.

the sentinel wrote:

RIP, sir. You scared the crap out of me as a kid.

He still scares the crap out of me as an adult in TCM. All these years later...

I was going to post this yesterday on here, but I thought I would let someone else. The weird thing, when I saw it on Yahoo last night, I thought Gunnar Hansen was already dead! I had probably heard he had pancreatic cancer a couple of years ago, when he was diagnosed and figured he was a goner. Cancer is awful, but pancreatic is lethal. You hardly hear about anyone who survives that.

Regarding the TCM, that movie is sadistic. Most horror movies I chuckle at, but that movie is beyond disturbing! The score to that movie is the creepiest ever as well.

metalinmyveins wrote:

I was going to post this yesterday on here, but I thought I would let someone else. The weird thing, when I saw it on Yahoo last night, I thought Gunnar Hansen was already dead! I had probably heard he had pancreatic cancer a couple of years ago, when he was diagnosed and figured he was a goner. Cancer is awful, but pancreatic is lethal. You hardly hear about anyone who survives that.

Regarding the TCM, that movie is sadistic. Most horror movies I chuckle at, but that movie is beyond disturbing! The score to that movie is the creepiest ever as well.

And yet the genius of the original TCM is that you think you see more gore than you actually do. I credit Hooper's direction for a lot of that but the actors also deserve some credit.

If you watch the original TCM compared to some current movies, I think it would rate a mild R rating at worst and if you looked at what is actually shown on-screen, you might even be able to argue for a PG-13 rating.

R.I.P sir, that movie is still the most disturbing thing I've ever watched. Scared the hell outta me when I was a kid and still bothers me.TCM and the original Halloween are my two all time favorites.

tohostudios wrote:

metalinmyveins wrote:

I was going to post this yesterday on here, but I thought I would let someone else. The weird thing, when I saw it on Yahoo last night, I thought Gunnar Hansen was already dead! I had probably heard he had pancreatic cancer a couple of years ago, when he was diagnosed and figured he was a goner. Cancer is awful, but pancreatic is lethal. You hardly hear about anyone who survives that.

Regarding the TCM, that movie is sadistic. Most horror movies I chuckle at, but that movie is beyond disturbing! The score to that movie is the creepiest ever as well.

And yet the genius of the original TCM is that you think you see more gore than you actually do. I credit Hooper's direction for a lot of that but the actors also deserve some credit.  

If you watch the original TCM compared to some current movies, I think it would rate a mild R rating at worst and if you looked at what is actually shown on-screen, you might even be able to argue for a PG-13 rating.  

Great point, toho. It's the power of suggestion, much like the shark in Jaws.

Bummer. "Texas Chainsaw" has never been high on my list of favorite horror franchises, but I revisited the original a year or two ago and it is still one disturbing-as-hell ride. I haven't bothered with many of the remakes/reboots/sequels/etc. though...once they got to "Leatherface: TCM III" in the early 90s I decided I'd had enough.

Quote :

And yet the genius of the original TCM is that you think you see more gore than you actually do. I credit Hooper's direction for a lot of that but the actors also deserve some credit.

I didn't see the original TCM till I was in college. During my early teens (i.e. the first big home video boom) I was literally scared to check it out cuz it had a rep as the "goriest film ever made." Legend had it amongst kids in my school that "you'll never make it thru the whole movie without puking!" etc., etc. (Lucio Fulci's Zombie had a similar reputation at the time... I didn't feel brave enough to watch that one, or many other Italian gore flicks, till I was in my early 20's! Haha)

Anywhoo...when I did finally check "TCM" out, yep, I was actually kinda surprised at how relatively bloodless it was, but it didn't really need splashy gore anyway. The film's atmosphere and grimy/pseudo-documentary look was unsettling all by itself.

That's sad.

R.I.P.

That is very sad indeed.

Read his book last year about the making of TCM and it was a great read.

RIP