The Texas Chainsaw Massacre – 1974
Available now on Amazon Video
Written by Kim Henkel & Tobe Hooper
Directed by Tobe Hooper
Starring Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, Gunnar Hansen, Teri McMinn
Original release date: October 1, 1974
FEARnyc screening: October 21, 2016

When one thinks of the movie title The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, even those who’ve seen the film, we think of gore, bloodshed, and visceral horror. That is the reason, maybe more than any, why The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a classic of the genre. After watching a special screening on Friday night at the FEARnyc Film Festival in Manhattan, it again amazed me just how little blood and gore are in that film. What director/co-writer Tobe Hooper does use is a hot, disgusting atmospheric vibe; a grotesque arthouse quality, and unnerving sound design and score. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre screening was introduced by FEARnyc director John Capo and hosted by Heather Buckley from Fangoria and Dread Central.

In Memoriam 2015: Film, Television, Sports, Literature, the Arts…

Another year has come to an end. 2015 was full of life in so many vivid ways: creatively, intensely, and tragically, but also wonderfully presenting its own set of challenges and obstacles to overcome in the new year. And as a year also brings, we also lost many shining figures in the entertainment world among other fields.

Here’s a rundown of some of those figures who touched our lives and will continue to touch our lives always as we remember some of the key people in Television and Film, in front of the camera and behind the scenes, people who are legends, pioneers, luminaries, inspirations, and above all, timeless.

Gunnar Hansen, who played the iconic killer Leatherface in the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre, died yesterday from pancreatic cancer at his home in Maine, according to the LA Times. He was 68.

Hansen was born in Reykjavik, Iceland and moved to the United States at 5. His family moved to Texas where he grew up and attended the University of Texas, studying English and Scandinavian Studies. He was a hulking figure and was cast by Tobe Hooper as the flesh face, chainsaw-wielding psychopath in the 1974 horror classic, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.