Chain Saw Confidential: How We Made the World's Most Notorious Horror Movie, by Gunnar Hansen
The urban legends that swirl around the film Texas Chainsaw Massacre, that it was based on real events; that there were violent, drug-fueled orgies on set; that it was a “snuff” film; are far nuttier than the real deal. And yet—even the most outlandish rumors have kernels of truth in them.
Gunnar Hansen sets out to give us the real dope—and an eye-opening lesson in film-making along the way.
It’s just as juicy and pop-cult-crazed as it sounds—the heightened tension on the set, the unending brutal heat, blown takes, and the pot brownies, everyone just barely holding it together—it gets a little visceral.
Not to mention the horrific truth about the radical financial and physical exploitation of the cast and crew.
Chain Saw Confidential, is a remarkable film history document, that covers everything from scene-to-scene breakdowns, to the philosophical and aesthetic debates over the nature of horror itself.
Anyone aspiring to work in the film industry could learn a thing or two from Gunnar.
Narrated from the backwoods of Maine by Gunnar Hansen himself.
--Susie Bright and Willow Pennell
